ABC
Fancy Meeting You Here: (from l.) Holly (Emma Samms), Sidwell (Carlo Rota), Anna (Finola Hughes) and Jason (Steve Burton) are on a collision course in Kenya.
Last week, Anna and Jason found themselves on the same flight bound for Kenya on a shared mission to track down Lucky Spencer. This week, as teased in the show’s weekly promo video, their expedition brings them into close contact with Holly Sutton and the menacing man holding Lucky captive, Sidwell.
Hello Again
Anna and Holly are, of course, far from strangers: They first met back in 1985, when Holly was married to Robert Scorpio. Anna befriended Holly, who was in for a shock when she learned that her new pal had once been married to Robert herself! Not only that, but Anna had secretly given birth to Robert’s daughter, Robin. In 2006, after both Anna and Holly had made separate returns from the dead, they came into contact again in the Markham Islands, and it wasn’t exactly a happy reunion (Anna nabbed her for jewel theft).
For her part, Emma Samms (Holly) was thrilled when the twists and turns of her storyline brought her the opportunity to work alongside Finola Hughes (Anna). Reuniting with Hughes was “fantastic,” the actress enthuses. “I mean, she is so gracious and so fun to work with — and so great to work with in regards to her skills and her performances. So that’s been just a complete joy for me. She’s very gracious to me and makes it very easy to do all of the complicated stuff that we’ve been doing.”
Jewel Tones
When their paths cross in Kenya, Anna and Holly are equally thrown by one another’s presence, and Holly has reason to worry that Anna will get in the way of her ultimate goal. Samms has a theory as to why her alter ego is once again on a diamond quest. Explains the actress, “It’s not just about making her enriched and her wanting a life of luxury. She wouldn’t complain about that, but at the moment, she’s still having to bail out her son,” Ethan. “I’m not sure this is even referenced in the script, but that’s certainly the backstory that I’m using,” she says. “She is still very much in need of raising funds for Ethan.”
Samms was dazzled by what GH’s production team came up with for the upcoming scenes set in Nairobi. “Just wait until you’ve seen the spectacle that they’ve made,” she praises. “The set design, the lighting design, costumes — and they brought in a bunch of atmosphere players and under-fives and their players. It’s really like they’ve pulled out all the stops for this story! It was really exciting to walk onto that set for the first time and just go, ‘Wow, this is lush!’ Lush is definitely the word for it.”
In the story, Holly is on the arms of the dangerous Sidwell. Their relationship, assesses Samms, “is complicated because yes, Holly is in it for the money. But I also think she is finding him to be a fun challenge, you know? She is really up against this very powerful, very smart guy, and I think she enjoys that. And I think that even if he cottons on to the fact that she’s pulling a con on him, he might still like her, but sort of regretfully. Even though Holly hates some of the things that she is having to do in order to perpetuate this con, there’s also an element between the two of them that they’re really enjoying.”
Dynamic Duo
Samms says that the dynamic between Anna and Holly is “quite funny, because Holly is really trying to avoid her. And then Holly finds something that she can use against her, and she thinks that is going to give her the leverage for Anna to keep quiet and not blow Holly’s cover. It’s a real cat-and-mouse situation and obviously, the writers have enjoyed that very much — as did we!”
The actress hopes the action will be a springboard for her to share more scenes with Steve Burton (Jason), as well. “Even though we’ve done things together, there hasn’t been that much interaction between Jason and Holly,” she observes. “Hopefully that will change!”
