General Hospital: Who is the Real Luke Spencer?

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman

Tony Geary — Is it Luke or his doppelganger?

On soap operas, situations and characters change very slowly.  So it’s been somewhat of a shock that Luke Spencer, for most of his 35 years on General Hospital a lovable rogue, has turned into a major criminal.  It was revealed in the last few months that he’s the one who is bankrolling the drug ring run by Julian Jerome and that he wants to bring down Sonny Corinthos, the drug dealer who has been his friend for decades.

Some may argue that Luke is actually coming full circle.  After all, when he came to town in the late 70s, he was a criminal, albeit a low level one, in the Frank Smith organization.  But through the love of Laura Spencer, he transformed himself and became a hero.  He saved the world from the Cassidines’ weather machine and even became the mayor of Port Charles.

But what has really been strange about the Luke of recent days is why and how he has become a criminal again.  The “old” Luke was last seen when he was knocked out and held a drugged hostage at the Miscavige Home for the Criminally Insane by one of its residents, Heather Webber.  The “new” Luke, without any explanation, was seen plotting the take-over of the drug trade with Julian at Nicholas and Britt’s engagement party.

But is the new Luke really the same character as the old Luke?  Of course, he’s still being played by Tony Geary, master of the soap acting game after 35 years. But some fans suspect he may really be Luke’s look-alike cousin Bill Eckert, and a fan or two have suggested he might even be Heather in disguise.

Whatever, the new Luke is certainly behaving a bit differently than the old Luke.  He’s been seen doing drugs. He made more than one  pass at young Kiki, who kicked  him in groin in retaliation.  And he threatened the life of his fiancé Tracy’s Ned, who was trying to get him to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.

But whoever it is is certainly using Luke’s physical guise.  He’s again engaged to his ex-wife Tracy, not for love this time, but to get a job at ELQ, which he’ll use to launder the Jerome drug money. Does he still love Tracy? Who knows?  Geary’s excellent scenes with co-star Jane Elliot as Tracy continue after all these years. (How many total hours of air time have these two racked up together? Guinness Book of World Records, anyone?)

Why has GH decided to change Luke thus, especially without explanation.  It’s a question that needs to be answered if the audience is to get much further satisfaction out of the current storyline.  After years and years, it may be time to bring the unquestioned king of the Port Charles drug trade, Sonny Corinthos, down for good.  Sonny has been shown disintegrating with guilt after shooting and killing A.J.  Quartermaine. He’s poised for a fall.

But the last person anyone suspects might bring down Sonny is our Luke Spencer, the good guy who is a criminal once more.

Comments

  1. Sonny isn’t a drug dealer and he doesn’t import drugs, that’s been said on the show numerous times because Sonny HATES drugs! He imports coffee, which along with Poluzzo’s Restaurant, is a front for some kind of mob business that is never really known what he imports (guns maybe?).

    • I agree with you whole-heartedly, Sonny definitely is anti-drugs and anyone who has every paid any attention to the Corinthos storyline knows that he’s not about drugs. When he first came on the show in 1993 he slipped Karen some pills, but shortly after that when his character became more entrenched and bigger in the mob, he made it explicitly clear that he would not deal in drugs.

    • Lol he hates drugs why won’t he belive his brother
      It’s bad enough he’s having a baby by ava

  2. I don’t give a rats azz about Luke Spencer/Anthony Geary.

    To me, he’s only interesting when Laura is involved. If the actor would retire tomorrow, it would be a major plus for “General Hospital.”

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree .. The acting is beyond soap opera corny.. It is just plan BAD.. Just have Luke exit the show

    • Anonymous says:

      The show is enough to make me quit watching completely!! Luke is a lowdown, evil, nasty, man! And what’s with the rug on his head!! OMG, do you have to go that far. My 2 sisters and I watch faithfully, but now we fast forward through every scene that has to do with Luke or Sonny or Ava (grrhhh)!! How stupid do the writers of this show think we are — stop insulting our inteligence. This is supposed to be a show about doctors, nurses, and General Hospital. I don’t see Y&R going all haywire!! I’m pissed — either bring the old Luke back, or get rid of this wise guy Luke… because you will be losing a lot of your faithful audience.

      Love the gay storyline — all three are absolute hunks! So, they bat for the other side — it’s a good diversion from the stupid mob storyline.

      • Cheri Nelson says:

        I agree, this story line sux! No explanation, no reason for Luke to go off the deep end….and the acting…my God, what amateurs! i never post on these blogs…but these stories lately put me over the edge!

        • Anonymous says:

          I agree end the Luke show, get rid of the drug story.

        • Finally someone with a brain yes its Anthony Zacarra or julian Jeromes late Dad or mr jacks he didnt die when he went over the edge of that building and julian jerome rescued him

      • Anonymous says:

        Luke storyline is awesome GH you have outdone yourself

    • Anonymous says:

      I think that bringing Genie and Tony back together to straighten things out would be a great thing but I hate what they are doing to Tony’s part. Laura always changes things and makes even the most insane story work. She also make Luke human again. GH needs L&L back and not for just a short time. Give Genie a great contract and a great roll and I and my friends will start watching again. As of now its just not that appealing to us.

  3. anonymous says:

    I don’t know who he is I just know he isn’t luke. He was always sonnys’ friend. He doesn’t have money to pay rival mob families to get rid of sonny. He’d call tracy sparky. Wouldn’t hit on kiki. Would make sure no one ever tried to kidnap his grandson again. As for the spencer who’s a cassadine, he wouldn’t have heard uncle “luke” saying he’d hurt uncle sonny.

  4. This “Luke” who is a drug doing, sleazy, creepy, young enough to be daughter chaser criminal is not like any of the characters everyone is guessing. Once again, RC is pulling something out of the air. The only criminal that hates Sonny, is sleazy and wants in on ELQ has been Anthony Zaccara…………and he’s dead….or is he???? Now the question is……..does anybody care???
    Oh and no, Sonny may be a mobster, but it’s not drugs or guns (that would be Alcazar), I’m guessing importing knock off designer purses????

  5. What a shame FrankenRon don’t listen. We say less Sonny we get more and dirtier. Now Luke ,? The man is a pig. The Luke I didn’t watch raped Laura, this one threatens kids, runs over kids, does drugs, Manhandles young women.. WTH is FrankenRon thinking or are they ? I haven’t watched since they killed AJ again. except when I read AJ’S ghost is on and getting the best of the scummy mobster. Then its back to not watching .Are they trying to get the show cancelled?

  6. Chris is right, Sonny does not import drugs. Sean had a conversation with Duke Lavery a week ago about how Sonny refuses to get involved with the drug trade. The last time that Sonny had anything to do with drugs was almost twenty years when Karen danced at the Paradise Lounge that Sonny owned, and she got hooked on pills. I wish they would be more specific about what exactly Sonny is involved in that is illegal. It’s always vague, talking about shipments etc. If Sonny were an arms dealer that might actually be interesting. Or if he were involved with illegal gambling. At least we know what the Jeromes’ are involved in.

    Given that Bill Eckert died on camera in Luke’s arms, it will be interesting to see how the show gets around that, if indeed it turns out that Luke is really Bill.

  7. I have no interest in crime lords being portrayed as heroes any longer, something GH has done for many years. Of course, the flip side of that is the portrayal of cops as bumbling, inept, incompetent and just plain stupid, again, something I am done with. As for this new Luke, who cares? For some reason the powers that be at GH and Tony Geary refuse to give the fans what they want–Luke reunited with Laura. The return of Genie Francis for GH50 was heralded throughout the media, then, after a brief stay, Laura left with no explanation and the fans, the supposed reason GH is around to celebrate 50 (and now 51), are ripped off again. A similar ripoff occurred when Robin “returned.” Again, I ask, really, why bother having these people back at all? And previous poster Mama is exactly right–Luke is only interesting with Laura, no matter how much Tony Geary and the powers that be at GH may hate it.

  8. quinnde1 says:

    The real luke should stand up, obviously Helena or Heather has him. Or the writers need to read their history even 33 yrs ago he wasnt this mean !!!!

  9. thomas ohler says:

    I think the luke. Character. Is. Lame . He needs to go . And. The gay. Acting. Also needs to go off of the show, what. Was. You t-hinking of putting. Gay. People on the show. .discusting. story. Line.

  10. Marilyn Henry says:

    Some soap editors are praising Geary’s acting as this new Freuke. We all know Geary is just the best actor in daytime, so we don’t need that reassurance. Geary may be enjoying getting to exercise his acting muscles again, but this story goes against all we know and love of Luke. And both Geary and TPTB have never understood the importance of Laura in the pairing of Luke and Laura, and Genie has not generally been honored with the same high regard as Tony, yet she is a very fine, talented actress. She was half of a TV phenomenon, the full half of the team which raised GH to #1 for years, half of soap’s most memorable romance. Yet it was always Tony who got the vacation time, the story input, the ‘accommodating’ contracts. Genie was so young when it all began and TPTB seemed to just shrug her off when she asked for some of the pie. If she showed some temperament, she can hardly be blamed (and of course, I don’t know for sure that she did.)

    I have always enjoyed Tony when he was ‘working’; he is imminently watchable. But so is Genie. And together they are like a well-oiled machine, in perfect sync. Always had been. It is a disgrace that she isn’t working…that she isn’t the main female on GH. She earned that long ago. I like and admire Jane Elliot, but never once believed her Tracy was the object of Luke’s love, or that she could fall for him. Friends, maybe (even that’s a stretch). Lovers? Never.

    I actually had hope for a couple weeks when Genie returned, but it was quickly dashed. And I don’t find this Lukewhosit story the least interesting. As he has been written and portrayed, I just don’t care anymore. This Luke is abominable and no fun to watch. Guza did all he could to ruin Luke–saying he was a drunk, an irresponsible wanderer, a murderous driver, a womanizer (we knew he wasn’t). It was difficult to care during the Guza years, but it is nearly impossible now.

    I feel sad about it all. I used to feel so tuned in to Luke’s psyche, his heart, his soul, feel so close that I could practically hear him thinking. I felt close to Laura, too, though she kept more of herself to herself.
    I was emotionally involved in these very consistant characters, but then Guza began unraveling them. Laura became unstable and crazy enough for a rest home, Luke became a careless drunk and his famed sense of humor was allowed only now and then. Instead of maturing two people we knew, Guza changed them into characters we didn’t know or want to. I began to lose interest in soaps in general then.

    If the Labines had stayed it wouldn’t have been entirely good for the pair. They wrote great soap opera, but they didn’t seem to understand these two most remarkable golden characters either; Laura became a hausfra and Luke an average husband. Lucky joined them and that was good and fun, but they could never be average parents. Guza’s way of dealing with them was to break them up and then tell lies about them. Well, why should he care–he had Sonny. Endless Sonny. Day after day after day after tedious day. For years.

    If the soap had better continuity now, less unbelievable twists and turns, more depth, I could be a happy watcher and not just for Luke. But the show is something of a shambles, with a cast so large noone gets enough air time to become interesting or readable. There are excellent moments, but a show can’t consist of only moments. I hope GH begins to turn wise and correct itself soon. It has such potential.

  11. I don’t like the new Luke. He’s scary.

  12. John Fan Of Show says:

    I actually think the new Luke storyline is fascinating! It creates a big mystery and the writers are doing a good job in making it linger so you get so in suspense! Who is really Luke, or why is he the way he is and most of all how is he known by Julian as a long time mobster when we saw him in action as no one of they type to be fully devious? It will be interesting to learn the truth when it unravels.

    Most of all, I like the fact that he wants to take down Sonny, who needs to be put to rest, as his character is too old. Plus he is a mobster doing the bad stuff and always getting away with it. Like Jax once said, “Sonny will survive Armageddon” and he always seems to walk away with minor scratches after being in many compromising situations and now is going to beat a murder rap for AJ Quartermaine’s murder which he did in cold blood while the victim was trying to explain that he himself did not kill Connie as Sonny blames him for. Also the fact Sonny stole Michael from AJ and would not even let him be part of his life growing up is another dispicable. act the mob boss did. Whether AJ is a good person or not, he had every right to be in Michael’s life!

    It seems the show does need to let the mobsters being the lead storylines and the cops rhat appear to be bumbling to go back to the other way around in the Scorpio day;s of the 80’s. Then it was the bad guys only around for a bit, while Robert would eventually bring them down up until the next villain arrived for a new exciting story line.

    I will still keep watching in hope some turn is coming though.

    • If Tony Geary is such a great actor as everyone seems to think, why is Laura the only cgaracter anyine can see with him? If hecwas truly a great actor, he would have be able to act with anyone they pair him with and make it believable.

  13. megogdeg24 says:

    Oh my gosh….. Enough is enough!!!!
    Ava is a horrible character ( and actress!!) and everywhere I look fans are asking to get rid of her and instead of letting sonny kill the dumb blonde you make her pregnant…WHAT!?!?!??! She’s like 100 years old and a slut ITS GROSS! just kill her off already!!!
    and as for Luke, this is getting old fast. The acting is bad and the content is sickening. Can we finish this storyline already.

  14. Starr to Nikki, Todd to Franco, Laura and Robin here and gone, and now this whole Luke thing, whats going on? No wonder the show wasn’t nominated for any awards this year. they’re really scrambling and reaching for straws these days. I thought this show was about a hospital.. There’s enough criminal shows (that make sense) on at night.. Tired of following the who’s who. Taking the show off of my DVD ,as are others that have been watching for decades. Check with someone who still watches from time to time and when its worth an hour of my time I’ll check it out again. Really feel sorry for the regulars of the show that are probably hoping to keep a job. Bring back AMC andOLTL. Time to switch to CBS or NBC where I can watch some of my old favorites. Good move on their choice. HuLu here I come. Also the new rug on Luke looks like something I’d mop the floor with. Please!!!!!!! bring back the award winning GH.

  15. I think this new Luke could be an quartermaine
    Ad he was really eager to become and run E.l.q and
    And this is his revenge to ava for turning sonny against him

  16. Rick he’s Sonnys brother and he won’t belive him I feel so bad for the real rick

  17. grneyedangel says:

    I guess everyone missed the episode where Luke is still locked up at Miscavige Psychiatric Care Facility
    the Freuke even visiting him there and Luke asked him who he was…Can’t wait to see where this story is going to take us

  18. mary curcio says:

    Enough of the Luke imposter! Too crazy and boring.Why doesn’t Robin call someone and tell who Jake really is..another unbelievable scenario.Please let Helena die again! Keep bringing back the same annoying and boring storylines..please let something believable happen…Perhaps Robin could reunite Jake and Sam..or LUKE AND Laura. Meet…Getting bored.

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