CHRISTINE BARTOLUCCI/ABC
Ex Marks The Spot: Ric (Rick Hearst) has dealings with ex-wives Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) and Elizabeth this week.
Rick Hearst kicked off his return trip to General Hospital last week when Ric arrived in Port Charles to support Molly at her daughter's funeral. And while he shared a few tense moments with ex-wife Alexis, this week they have a more sustained encounter — and Ric also lays eyes on another one of his ex-wives: Elizabeth. The actor spoke to Soap Opera Digest about what fans can expect of these highly anticipated scenes!
Mom's The Word
Ric drops by Alexis's house to have a chat about their daughter, with Ric prodding Alexis to make amends with Molly. Not surprisingly, Alexis chafes at Ric's attitude.
Hearst says that he and Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) brought their own points of view into the performance. "Co-parenting does involve two people," he begins. "And one is always going to feel like they know more than the other! But I felt that both Nancy and I came to the table, as we often do, with our own perspectives — not our personal perspectives, necessarily, but our ability to stand in the justification of why our characters are doing what they are doing."
The actor assesses that "while Alexis is very mired in the protection of her daughters, she is faced with the inability to be all things to all daughters at the same time. And that is what becomes the Achilles heel for her." And when Alexis calls out Ric for not having been around (at least in a physical sense) for Molly, Ric owns it. "There's an admission on his part [that she's right], but that, 'I don't seek to sit here and beat myself over the head because I've not been around.' The character has not been there on purpose because he knows what his reputation is in the town — a pariah is not gonna stay in the same place where he cannot actually walk around and feel like he can walk into any door and not be met with adversity, right? Doesn't mean he shrinks from it, but at the same time, Ric's connection with his daughter is more important than that."
Indeed, Hearst got confirmation from co-Head Writer Elizabeth Korte that Ric has stayed in close contact with Molly, just off camera. "Elizabeth and I spoke [and I learned] that he's been, probably, in the San Francisco and the L.A. area and has a very successful law practice, only high-powered cases. This is what he does. This is what he thrives on. [His career] is his marriage, as it were. But the only other thing that he is completely and totally connected to in his life, really, is his daughter."
Hearst is confident that Molly knows about at least some of the skeletons in Ric's closet. "She doesn't look on her father as some sort of deified figure," he notes. "She looks on her father as a guy with mad flaws, a bad history that she's obviously been privy to — from her mother, as well as probably from him; he's had to have that discussion because she's no dummy. And he respects that in her."
While things get heated between Alexis and Ric, Hearst insists that the exes do not actually hate each other. "People say that Ric and Alexis hate each other, but I don't think they do. They're contentious with one another. They're each other's worst enemy. And if they had the opportunity, they could be each other's greatest champions, but they just both have too much ego in the way to cross that line. But bottom line, they will both fight for their daughter in the ways that they know how."
The actor shot his first episodes out of order, and these scenes opposite Grahn were actually filmed on his first day back in the studio. "They were my first major scenes and they just took off," he marvels. "It was amazing."
Fancy Meeting You Here
After Ric's meeting with Alexis, he heads to the hospital, where he crosses paths with Elizabeth. As longtime fans recall, during Ric's last appearance on the show, in 2016, he was still holding out hope of reuniting with Liz, even though their most recent relationship redux had come apart at the seams after Ric was exposed for hiring Hayden Barnes to pose as "Jake Doe's" wife in an effort to block the budding feelings between Liz and "Jake." It was Carly who busted him for that particular plot — at the Nurses' Ball, no less.
"Ric is somebody who has maneuvered and positioned himself constantly to be able to come out on top and whoever [gets hurt] in the wake of that, 'Hey, sorry, but I had to do what I had to do,' " Hearst notes. "Elizabeth has always been that one person, for the most part, that he never, ever wanted to be collateral damage. But he knows how much collateral damage he has indeed left on her and their relationship."
So, it is a very loaded moment when Ric sees her for the first time in years.... and it is even more loaded because she's not alone. "Carly is with her," Hearst reveals. "What are the odds of that?!"
Details the actor, "Ric sees her off in the distance, sees that she's with Carly, and his intent is to approach her, meaning Elizabeth, and speak to her directly. But indeed, what happens is that Carly is there and she's not quiet. She jumps right in." Ultimately, Ric decides not to try to get into things on a deeper level with Elizabeth with Carly as an audience.
"The last thing he says to Elizabeth is, 'I hope we can catch up sometime soon,' " Hearst reports. "That's where it's left." But only for now, "LiRic" fans should rest assured....
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