Mother Knows Best? GH's Puzzling Portrayal of Portia

ABC

As General Hospital celebrated July 4 with characters watching fireworks by the lake, the real explosives were being lobbed inside the Quartermaine mansion between Portia Robinson (Brook Kerr, r.) and Laura Collins. (Genie Francis). The mayor has been checking into whether or not serial killer Heather Webber should have her case reevaluated on the grounds that her replacement hip poisoned her and may have caused her to go on her killing spree — and worried mom Portia was furious.

Don't Mess With Mama Bear

Considering that Portia's daughter Trina was on Heather's hit list, Portia has every right to be appalled at Laura’s apparent support for Heather’s conviction being overturned. Yet when she blasted Laura on the topic, it sure felt like the show was trying to portray Portia as unreasonable. Case in point: Liz — who is Portia’s trusted colleague and was the maid of honor at her wedding — walked into the room and Portia immediately snapped at her, accusing her, as Heather’s one-time daughter-in-law, of being poised to take Laura’s side over hers.

Not only was it totally out of character for Portia to preemptively attack her friend rather than appeal to her as a fellow mother — one who, like Portia, would go to the ends of the earth to ensure her child’s safety — but once Laura and Liz were alone, they basically agreed that Heather somehow deserved the benefit of Portia’s doubt, their dialogue seeming to suggest that Portia is in the wrong for not caring more about the romantic concept of “justice for all” than she does about making sure that Heather doesn’t have the chance to go after Trina again.

This viewer isn’t buying it. If anything, I want to know why no one in Port Charles is backing Portia up! It seems perfectly reasonable to me that a woman in Portia’s position would do whatever it took to ensure that Heather stayed behind bars — and I don’t think GH can convince me otherwise.

Are you Team Laura or Team Portia on the subject of Heather's conviction? Sound off in the comments below!