Not since Lillian Gish was tied to the train tracks in the 1928 film The Wind has an on-screen heroine gone through as much peril as Sasha Gilmore Corbin (Sofia Mattsson) on General Hospital has. She’s suffered immeasurable losses and now, she’s being drugged by her late husband’s mother, Gladys, and a shady doctor. While Sasha’s suffering, Sofia is shining and Soap Hub is honoring her with Performer of the Week for GH honors.
Sofia Mattsson – Performer of the Week
Thanks to a drug combination prescribed by unscrupulous Dr. Damon Montague (Darin Toonder), who is in cahoots with greedy Gladys (the scene-stealing Bonnie Burroughs), Sasha is experiencing mental episodes. She recently mistook Cody Bell (Josh Kelly) for evil Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober), who once got her hooked on drugs, and stabbed the poor guy with a knife.
Mattsson brought an intensity to Sasha when she thought Cyrus (it was fun watching Kober play outright smirking evil again, however briefly) was out of jail and hanging out at the rooftop pool at the Metro Court. She was determined to keep him from hurting anyone ever again so she took a blade to him; Sasha still believed Cody was Cyrus after he fell to the ground. But when Maxie (Kirsten Storms) helped bring Sasha back to reality, she was crestfallen. Sasha was horrified as she began to realize she’d hurt Cody — not Cyrus.
It was clear that Sasha was suffering some kind of setback so instead of being brought to the police station, she was wheeled into General Hospital for observation and to be examined. Alas, poor handcuffed to her wheelchair Sasha was attended to by Dr. Montague, a man who hardly has her best interests at heart.
Sasha’s eyes helped tell the story of her pain — and we’re not talking just about the tear-stained mascara on her face. Mattsson played Sofia in a hazy state not due to the drug interaction but also to the realization that she had stabbed Cody, her pal who’s only been good to her.
Despite being drugged and in shock, Sasha had the presence of mind to object to Dr. Montague’s theory she was abusing her prescription. (There’s still a fighter in there!) The unethical physician made Sasha’s situation worse by injecting her with yet another drug to silence her concerns and then recorded her saying she thought Cody was Cyrus.
Diane Miller (Carolyn Hennesy), fortunately, burst into Sasha’s examination room as if she had opened the door to the interrogation room at the Port Charles Police Department, ready to defend her client. She ordered Sasha to stop talking and told evil Dr. Montague to shut off his recording device. Alas, she had already said and done enough that earned her (for now) a one-way ticket to Ferncliff Asylum for further analysis. Sasha’s last words before being wheeled onto the elevator were “thank you” to Sonny (Maurice Benard), who told her she’s not alone, but it’s we who should be thanking Mattsson for delivering such compelling performances.
Honorable mentions: Kudos are due not only to Mattsson but also to the actors involved in this storyline. They’re bringing deep concern to Sasha while also showing appropriate levels of suspicion to both Gladys and Dr. Montague. We’re hoping that eventually Sasha is freed from her mental and physical shackles — just like Lillian Gish was untied from those railroad tracks.
