Disney/Christine Bartolucci
The Games People Play: As if his life being on the line thanks to Sidwell isn’t bad enough, Lucky (Jonathan Jackson, l.) gets alarming news on the home front from Jason (Steve Burton).
Held captive by Sidwell, Lucky Spencer’s dire straits only grow more dire when his would-be rescuers, Anna Devane and Jason Morgan, enter the chat — with Holly in the mix, as well. As viewers saw on the Wednesday, September 25 episode, the dastardly Sidwell appears to be holding all the cards, and has proposed a game with incredibly high stakes: If Lucky wins, he and Holly live, but if Jason wins, they will die — and if Sidwell wins, he’ll kill all four Port Charles expats!
The Countdown Begins
According to Jonathan Jackson, the newly returned actor who plays Lucky, this predicament “is complex” for his character. “There’s the danger of his life being on the line and wanting to escape. Then, seeing Jason and Anna there gives him a little bit of hope of escape.”
As the story continues, Jason informs Lucky of the true reason motivating him and Anna to put their lives on line to break Lucky out of Sidwell’s grasp, revealing that Lulu is dying and in desperate need of a liver transplant — one that hopefully Lucky will be able to provide. “A huge complication comes into the picture with Lucky learning why they’re there,” notes Jackson. “What’s going on with Lucky’s sister adds another layer to his desire to escape immediately.”
Lucky is, of course, hit hard by the terrible news about Lulu’s failing health. “I think it’s just a visceral reaction of love for his sister and wanting to do everything he can to to get back [to Port Charles] and hopefully save her,” reports the actor. “And it’s a little bit of a wake-up call, too. You know, he’s been struggling, probably on a subconscious level, for a long time, but it’s starting to kind of rise to the surface, like when he had that dream of Elizabeth being in the jail with him. He’s struggling with that sense of shame and guilt around leaving his family. And I think that this — the timing of learning about his sister — just plays into all of those internal struggles he’s been having. But being the person he is, he’s kind of in go mode. There’s no time to think about it all with too much reflection as much as react in a visceral way and try to do everything he can to stay alive and get back.”
The urgency of the situation does not leave a lot of room for a deeper catch-up session between Lucky and Jason, who share a lot of history of their own — including romantic involvement with two of the same women, Elizabeth Webber and Sam McCall. “There’s not much of a moment for Jason and Lucky to really kind of connect too much,” Jackson explains. “They’re in survival mode, just trying to figure out a way to get out of there.”
That doesn’t mean that Lucky doesn’t appreciate that Jason put his life on the line for Lucky, and by extension Lulu. “That definitely lands, there’s just not much time to process it,” the actor points out. “I think processing all of that is gonna take some time!”
Time he won’t have if Sidwell wins the game….
