He said/She said... Brenda Returns to GH

He said...

After almost seven years, Vanessa Marcil is coming back to General Hospital as Brenda Barrett. We last saw Brenda leaving for Europe after a failed wedding to Jax and haven’t heard from her since (unless you count the mysterious burned girl from season one of Night Shift). This August, we’ll finally find out what the fabulous model’s been up to since she left Port Charles, and from what I’ve heard, it’s a doozy. I think that Brenda’s return is a great move for the show. Brenda’s got connections everywhere - she’s been married or involved with Jason, Sonny and Jax, she’s Robin’s best friend and Carly and Skye’s enemy. There’s a ton of potential with Brenda returning to Port Charles and I can’t wait.

Unlike my gal Lauren, I think Brenda’s last return was gangbusters (no pun intended... maybe). She came back to town in the midst of a mob war and found herself torn between Sonny and Luis Alcazar, the man who saved her when she was presumed dead. She unintentionally broke up the marriages of Sonny and Carly and Jax and Skye, was forced to marry Jason so they wouldn’t have to testify against each other in court and participated in one of my favorite scenes in GH history, the “Amazing Grace” montage.

Do I think the powers that be will capitalize on Vanessa Marcil’s immense talent and give her the meaty story she deserves? It depends. I have a feeling (a STRONG feeling) that her return will connect with James Franco’s story, but hopefully more will come after that.

She said...

So the industry is buzzing over the impending return of Vanessa Marcil's return to General Hospital Everyone should be happy, jumping for joy, after all, Bob Guza has been dreaming for her return to General Hospital forever! I don't count her botched return(in my opinion in 2003)as a "real return" So why am I so meh on her impending arrival?I always have this love/hate relationship with General Hospital. This is where I set the bar for General Hospital, and then, they come back and disappoint me over and over.. So with Vanessa's return, I will show you what I mean..

What Lauren wants: Brenda And Sonny circa 1993
What GH will give her: Brenda following Sonny around like a sick love puppy, complaining about the mob.

What Lauren wants: Brenda modeling for Crimson, interacting with Kate(after all their paths should have crossed since Kate was such a high profile person in the fashion industry, mentoring Maxie and Lulu, actually having storylines involved around the magazine.
What GH will give: Maxie and Lulu sabotaging Brenda's modeling career, and Kate still off screen.

What Lauren Wants: Brenda to engage into a younger affair with Johnny, thus having a great cougar triangle involving Olivia
What GH will give her: Brenda, Olivia and Johnny sitting around talking about how great Sonny is.

Do I think that Vanessa's return will be a booster? Yes.

Do I have faith that Bob Guza will give Marcil a meaty storyline to sink her teeth into?(think Brenda sitting up Sonny with the Wire tap) probably not.

The problem with these "BIG" returns such as Marcil's, is that a lot of the time the writers will try to recreate that storyline magic, or go back to the hype of years past. With the soap industry barely hanging on, nowadays it's hard to have a great build up storyline. It's usually either the viewer has grown accustomed to the fast pacing of the storylines, and thus will not wait around for the buildup, or the writer will give up easily, or make the storyline so tedious and ridiculous, that both the writer and the viewer eventually gives up.

While Lee loved Vanessa's previous return(in which she won a Emmy) I personally think it wasn't all that great. I guess, I fell into that category of trusting the writers to recreate the magic of Sonny and Brenda, Brenda's friendships throughout Port Charles, making her an umbrella storyline character.

Unfortunately for me, it fell flat and I was actually glad Brenda left town, yet once again. Don't get me wrong, I was a hugggge Brenda and Sonny shipper back in the day, but I feel the hype of Vanessa Marcil will be sadly placed on wishful thinking. I just don't trust the writers to give her a storyline that will give the character justice. I would love to be proven wrong<>span>