General Hospital Performers of the Week: Steve Burton and Asher Antonyzyn as Jason and Danny Morgan

General Hospital's Sam McCall would have been proud watching her son bond with his dad and his dad finally step up to the plate as a parent. This past week, Jason took Danny to the batting cages, with Steve Burton and Asher Antonyzyn stepping up to the plate as Soap Central's GH performers of the week.

Father-Son bonding done right

Danny really loves his dad on General Hospital | Image: ABC

It's been about a year since Jason returned to Port Charles after allowing his family to believe he was dead for five years. Even before Jason reunited with Sam, he shared scenes with Danny, who stumbled upon his dad hiding out in the Quartermaine boat house. We immediately saw an immediate chemistry between the older, seasoned Burton and the teenage Antonyzyn, which has just grown over the last year.

Antonyzyn makes sure we always know how much Danny idolizes his dad, but this week we felt how much he misses his mom. Since Sam's been gone, we have watched Danny take on the tough guy persona when confronting Cyrus Renault, trying to channel his father as much as he could. But this week, he showed us the lost boy side of Danny, a kid who is just trying to navigate not having his mom to prod him to make his bed or be on time for school.

The young actor displayed a quiet maturity as he thanked Jason for being there, while also understanding why Sam had wanted Danny to stay away from Jason when he first returned. She was just afraid that Jason would break Danny's heart by leaving again.

Burton shows a different side of Jason

General Hospital's Jason looks up at Sam | Image: ABC

There's been a change in Jason over the last year that has been both subtle and palpable, and that's thanks to Burton's subtle acting choices — and the fact that he knows and understands his character like the back of his hand. Burton has played two versions of Alan Quartermaine's younger son. He was there as the teenage Jason Quartermaine before Jason Q morphed into Jason Morgan. The Jason we have now almost feels like a hybrid of the two, especially since Jason chose to FINALLY move back home to the Q mansion to be a dad to his motherless son.

One hallmark of Jason Morgan has been his hesitancy to show emotion, one of the reasons he earned the nickname Stone Cold years ago. Burton has always understood that the brain damage Jason sustained, which turned him into a new person, was the driving force behind that hesitancy. Jason had to learn how to show emotion again.

As a grown man with two nearly grown sons, Jason M has come into his own now and has lived longer than Jason Q. The new Jason now tries to hide his emotions, but can show them if he wants to, which is exactly what he did with Danny this past week. Burton made sure we saw Danny's love for his son shine through. When he took Danny into an embrace and quickly looked up, signaling that he was looking toward Sam, we had to wonder if that was in the script or if Burton improvised the moment. Either way, what we watched was perfection, thanks to two incredible performers who moved us to tears.

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.