Exclusive General Hospital Preview: Molly Drops A Bombshell On Kristina!

CHRISTINE BARTOLUCCI/ABC

Contract Dispute: Sibling revelry is on hold for Molly (Kristen Vaganos, l.) and Kristina (Kate Mansi) when Molly comes to her sister with legal papers in hand.

TJ and Molly are up in arms over how their surrogate/Molly’s sister, Kristina, addressed her pregnancy in her interview with Perez Hilton — essentially, by not indicating that she is carrying the child for TJ and Molly. And this is going to lead to major conflict between the sisters.

Sister Act

According to Kate Mansi, Kristina’s portrayer, her handling of the issue “was totally intentional. I see it from Molly’s perspective, but from Kristina’s perspective, it was more about her trying to protect her sister, by not wanting to bring any unwanted attention to, ‘Oh, your sister’s infertile,’ or, ‘Your sister has endometriosis,’ or any of her health issues. Kristina felt like, ‘I'm not going to say I'm carrying my sister's baby because obviously anything you say in a Perez Hilton interview is now going to be the next viral topic.’ So, she was trying to protect her sister by being intentionally elusive with that comment, but it appeared to Molly and TJ that Kristina’s elusiveness was more about her supposed ‘ownership’ of the baby.”

Points out Mansi, “Molly is very heavily influenced by the pressure she's getting from her partner, which is another element here. I think that the two sisters would probably be able to see eye to eye and it wouldn't lead to such a blow-up if there was not another voice on Molly's side and also someone else that Molly has to advocate for, which is her partner.”

As it stands, reports the actress, “Molly comes in really hot and she's like, ‘You know, this is so typical, you're doing what you do. You’re making everything about yourself,’ and yada, yada. But really, all those accusations and that drama is fueled by her fear that's coming from TJ, which is, ‘Your sister is going to take the baby for herself.’ I think from TJ's perspective, he's operating out of a lot of fear and protection for his child, also.”

Kristina has her own reason to be concerned. Notes Mansi, “Kristina’s perspective, of course, is, ‘I am very worried that Molly and TJ are not in a good place. They've been together since high school, they've never fought and suddenly they really just cannot see eye to eye.’ And also, Kristina is starting to have a lot of maternal instincts, these hormonally-infused sort of peaks and valleys thinking about, ’Is my sister prepared to be a mother?’ She’s starting to question that.”

Paper Cut

As things come to a head, Molly makes it clear to Kristina that she intends to use the power of the law to ensure that Kristina doesn’t lay claim to the unborn child — and she proffers documents that she wants Kristina to sign that would sever her legal connection to the baby. “Kristina is so insulted when she hands her papers basically saying, ‘You have to sign over all of your rights,’ ” Mansi previews. “I think that getting slapped with the papers and holding the tangible proof is the ultimate trigger.”

Kristina reacts in anger, but Mansi contends that “the real issue at the root of this is that she is having [these feelings of] attachment to this baby and as it gets closer and closer [to being born], it becomes increasingly more difficult for her to imagine separating from the baby.”

The siblings’ confrontation may well have a huge impact on their dynamic moving forward. Mansi says, “The sisters are so different, and this [pregnancy] has always had the potential to either bring them further apart or closer together. And I think it's just been a constant balance vacillating between the two. Now it's on the extreme side, but it’s been ebbing and flowing along those lines the whole pregnancy.”

The actress and her on-screen sister Kristen Vaganos (Molly) have had a blast digging into their characters’ conflict. “What’s so oddly satisfying for both Kristen and myself is that we are such good friends, we are so, so close and we really are like sisters, and we’re both like, ‘Oh, my gosh, we can’t wait to go to work and fight with each other!’ It’s just such a nice feeling to have a really talented scene partner who you feel so safe with and you love so much. The depth of care between us really allows for such a deeper level of work.”