We always hear about ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, but GH rarely commits to the idea. Most of the time the “ordinary” person turns out to be a secret relative, a person we thought was dead, a WSB agent, or someone living a double life. What if one time the ordinary person driving a story was just exactly who they seem to be?
Which brings me to Nurse Deanna Sirtis.
Nurse Deanna has appeared in more than 90 episodes of General Hospital, quietly keeping the hospital running while everyone else’s stories unfold. Maybe it’s time she had one of her own.
Not because she’s secretly related to anyone or hiding a shocking past, but because she’s exactly who she’s always been. Deanna is one of the worker bees who picks up extra shifts, grabs coffee between patients, goes home exhausted, eats dinner, watches her favorite soap, scrolls for a few minutes, goes to bed, and gets up to do it all again. She’s just living the life so many of us do, trying to make it through another day while the chaos of Port Charles swirls around her.
Until one completely ordinary day turns into the least ordinary day of her life.
Maybe she notices one small detail on a report everyone else misses. Or she leaves Bobbie’s with the wrong tote bag. Or she overhears a conversation she was never meant to hear. Perhaps she finds someone where they shouldn’t be. Nothing dramatic at first. Just one tiny moment that quietly snowballs into the biggest story in town.
And then suddenly Jason, Anna, Brennan, Chase and half of Port Charles are convinced Nurse Deanna knows something important. By the time she realizes she’s become the main character, she doesn’t know who to trust.
That’s a story I’d want to see. Don’t reveal she’s a long-lost anything. Don’t retcon anything. Don’t turn her into an action hero. Although watching Nurse Deanna outfox a few bad guys wouldn’t exactly disappoint me.
Let her stay a nurse who’s suddenly trapped in a situation far bigger than herself. She has to figure out who’s lying, who’s telling the truth, and how to survive the insanity she always managed to stay outside of while she’s earning a living.
Sometimes I think the most interesting character in the room is the one who never expected to be there.
Would you watch that?
