Gio Palmieri Quartermaine Falconeri Corinthos, Welcome to the Nurses' Ball: General Hospital Two Scoops for the week of May 19, 2025

So, um, it seems that General Hospital decided to be a proper soap this week, and we couldn't be happier. Not only did the week begin with a good, old-fashioned soap opera catfight, it also ended with a massive reveal and a major return. How's that for a soap soaping?

So many times over the last few years, GH has dropped the ball when it came to long storyline payoffs, but not this time. What we saw during the last few days was everything a soap should be and took us back to those massive ballroom soap reveals of the 1980s, where everyone was dressed to the nines, ready for a good time, only to have someone drop the bombshell of the year on the whole town.

That's exactly what happened at the Nurses' Ball, even if it didn't quite play out the way we envisioned it. Instead, it was even better and more than we could have hoped for — all because of a young man named Gio on-screen and off.

Our little baby Gio comes with quite a pedigree

Who could have imagined a year ago that a never-before-heard-of Cerullo cousin from the old neighborhood near the Verazzano Bridge would be one of the two Quartermaine-Corinthos offspring who would make this year's Nurses' Ball one of the most memorable ever?

We had been waiting for this reveal for months on end and felt the Nurses' Ball was the appropriate place for it to happen. However, we didn't expect it because of too many letdowns over the last few years when the perfect setup was there for something, and General Hospital chose not to take it. By the time the ball started, we were sure it wouldn't happen because it seemed that too many layers had not yet been peeled back.

We just assumed that Dante would learn he had a son and want to find him, so Lulu would get the definitive proof by swiping some hair strands and running a DNA test. Even when Lulu first approached Lois backstage and Lois blew her off, we thought we'd be seeing Lulu with a series of near-misses for at least a week, but nope, within 20 minutes of that moment, all of Port Charles knew that Gio was Brook Lynn and Dante's son.

The GH writing team deserves a ton of credit for how this played out, but so does Giovanni Mazza, whose Emmy-worthy performance aired on his 20th birthday. After absolutely stunning the Port Charles and living room audiences with his performance of Glow, an original piece written by Mazza when he was just 12 years old, Gio (the character) was on an emotional high as he prepared to take the stage again to play violin as Chase and Anna danced the Tango.

When he overheard the truth about his parentage through the dressing room door, we were sure he would never make it on stage for his next number. But he had to play, and the show had to go on. Too bad he couldn't do it, no matter how hard he tried. It was an epic moment indeed when he dedicated his performance to the parents he thought didn't want him before suddenly smashing his violin to bits, stunning the father who didn't know he existed and the mother who didn't know he was her son.

And THAT'S how you do it, folks. THAT'S how to soap.

Lois had better start talking

Lulu and Lois are both in the hot seat, except not too many people know Lulu's role in this mess yet. However, they all know Lois was the maestro behind the whole thing. As Olivia said, she was the first one to run from the ballroom after Gio's meltdown. It all started making sense to Sonny, too. This is why Lois introduced him to this random kid she had taken in. He was his grandson.

Thanks to Lulu, Lois knew the whole thing was about to blow up in her face, so she did her best to get Brook Lynn out of there before it did. Good thing Brook Lynn refused to go, or Lois would have missed quite an emotional moment from her favorite grandson.

It's hard to feel sympathy for Lois here. While her Brooklyn charm is everything this Brooklyn native writer needs to feel right at home watching GH, the woman royally screwed up. First, if she really wanted to keep this secret, why would she move Gio into the Q mansion? That was certainly playing with fire. Since Gio had been living in Monica's house, Lois had ample opportunity to tell the truth, but she just compounded her lies. You would think her little trip to Bensonhurst would have put things in perspective for her, but nope. Lois just kept on lying, and when Brook Lynn reads her for filth on Tuesday, we will enjoy every second of it.

Why the heck was Tracy arrested?

The one person missing from this entire reveal who really, really should have been there was Tracy. We don't care if GH thought it would be fun to see her be arrested on the red carpet. Since the reveal was planned, they could have waited till next year's ball. We're sure there's always a reason to put her in cuffs. This was her third arrest this year already. Tracy and Jason can have monogrammed his and her chairs in the interrogation room at this point.

Tracy should have been in that ballroom for that reveal, snapping at everyone in the aftermath, and reading Lois for filth like only Tracy can. We know we will see plenty of fallout with Tracy next week, but seeing the look on her face when Gio made his announcement and smashed his violin was a missed opportunity for a perfect Jane Elliot reaction shot.

Your turn, Willow

Wait! Another massive story had a huge, unexpected moment at the end of the ball? GH, you spoil us! After watching Willow parade down the red carpet and around the ball in her scarlet red dress that should have had an "A" on it, it was only fitting that she would end the night devastated. It couldn't have happened to a nicer delusional gal.

This dimwit was so very confident that she could paint her severely burned husband as a deadbeat dad when he was undergoing treatment cause Drew said so. Seeing him walk in and just take his son home with barely a glance in her direction had to sting. Good. She deserved that sting.

Thanks to the soap opera rumor mill, we pretty much knew all week that Michael would appear at the end of the ball, but we figured he'd just walk out on stage to surprise all. Having Wiley spot him at the end of the kid-inspired finale was an excellent touch.

Really, Curtis?

We're not done with secrets revealed this week, or at least, half secrets. Curtis finally knows that Drew has been blackmailing his wife and what he has on her. However, he does not yet know that Portia (along with Nina) made things even worse by plotting to drug Drew with ketamine.

No, for now, Curtis is just mad that he was lied to again. We all know Curtis can't stand women who lie and keep secrets. However, that does not stop him from lying to women and keeping secrets. We can think of two right off the bat.

Portia has no idea that her husband was letting Selina Wu run an illegal backroom poker game out of his nightclub for years. She also has no clue that Curtis kissed Jordan and propositioned his ex-wife while married to Portia. We bet she'd find these two tidbits of information to be quite fascinating if someone should ever tell her.

"I meant to cut the brakes on Ava's car..."

Kristina also learned a secret. Alexis and Sonny's nutjob daughter is now aware that Lucky isn't the only person who knows she cut the brakes on Ric's car. Not only does Alexis know, but so do Ric and Ava.

Kristina and Alexis didn't even make it to the ball despite being all dressed, but we don't think Alexis even cares at this point. She got to learn that Kristina is more insane than she imagined. When she said she meant to cut Ava's brakes, not Ric's, Alexis nearly lost her mind. We are surprised she didn't grab that dagger out of her desk and put herself out of her misery by going after Kristina herself. You know damn well she was thinking, "You took the wrong one, God. Give me back my Sam."

Let's put on a show

Oh, right. The Nurses' Ball is also a variety show! We get to see our favorite Port Charles pals sing and dance for charity. With all the drama and chaos, we forgot we also watched a pseudo-musical this week. So, without further ado, our photo review.

The opening number was performed by the nursing staff, as usual, with Dr. Isaiah Gannon joining them. It just seemed weird without Elizabeth and Felix there.

Bradford Anderson showed off his musical theater training in fine form while singing "These Boots Were Made for Walking," but this was supposed to be Tracy's number, so we were sad we didn't get to see her. However, watching Lucy, Anna, and Felicia as the backup dancers was perfection.

It was nice to see Chase break out his rock star persona again, singing lead vocals for "The Look of Love." Dante and Cody were on backup, and we couldn't help but chuckle. We also wondered where Magic Milo and the Magic Wands were.

Without fail, the best performance of the night was Gio performing "Glow" on the violin before his entire life fell apart. BRAVO!!!

Joss and Trina have been best friends since they were kids, and we have watched them grow into beautiful young women. Seeing them perform a song about friendship with so much passion and emotion was just lovely.

The Nurses' Ball usually ends with Nurse Epiphany Johnson singing a rousing rendition of "You're Not Alone." Since both Epiphany and Sonya Eddy have sadly passed, it was only appropriate that GH start a new tradition this year with Donna, Wiley, Georgie, Scout, and James singing "I'll Be There." Because the legacy children are indeed our soap future.

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