General Hospital's Kristina in crisis
Kristina's life changed in an instant on General Hospital when the character tripped over a duffel bag in Ava Jerome's Metro Court room and fell out the window into the pool—while eight months pregnant.
Tragically, the baby Kristina was carrying died shortly after birth. While she was an egg donor and surrogate for Molly and T.J., with plans to hand the baby to them once the baby was born, Kristina was still attached to the little girl she carried all those months, and she feels Ava is to blame for her fall.
Kristina went to Ava's room in response to Ava's subpoena forcing Kristina to testify against her own father in Ava and Sonny's latest custody battle for Avery. Yes, Ava briefly touched Kristina during their altercation, but she did not push her out the window or directly cause Kristina's fall. Still, Kristina blames Ava for what happened and has vowed revenge, hoping her mobster dad can just take care of things in the way that mobsters often do.
Kate Mansi sees this as a shift in the character she took over playing last year.
"In the scenes and episodes that follow immediately after, there are so many moments where you will start to see Kristina’s whole personality shift in a way that’s like, 'Oh, this was sort of a loss of innocence and a fall from grace,'" Mansi told Soap Opera Digest. "I don’t know if she’s ever going to be the same, and even the scenes she has with her dad, with Sonny, there’s a moment where it’s like, 'Whoa, is she going to suddenly justify going after people?' You see her trying to almost bargain with her loss by seeking revenge and by all these different avenues that feel a bit out of character."
Alexis overheard Kristina begging her father to take care of Ava, so Alexis, in turn, begged Sonny not to listen to their daughter. Alexis felt that Kristina was not thinking straight in the immediate aftermath of losing the baby. However, from the looks of this week's GH promo, it seems Kristina is not going to let up.
A dream story for Kate Mansi
Mansi is relishing the material and how much she now has in common with her friend, The Young and the Restless' Courtney Hope, whose character, Sally, lost a baby girl last year. They discussed their respective stories at the gym recently.
"Courtney has been in a similar storyline and we were sort of commiserating about how you yearn for that kind of heavy, gritty storylines, and then, when you’re in it, you’re like, 'Oh, God! I can’t wait to do something light!'" Mansi said. "And then when you get to the other side, you’re like, 'Oh, I want to do something gritty!' I definitely acknowledge the absurdity there! But I really am loving Kristina’s journey right now."
Is this change in Kristina something that will last, or will Kristina realize revenge is often hollow? Stay tuned to find out.
Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.