General Hospital’s Maurice Benard addresses ‘mental health’ talk after GH bombshell

General Hospital recently dropped a bombshell about who is running Pikeman.

While Valentin’s (James Patrick Stuart) involvement with Pikeman was not a secret, the idea that he’s the brains behind the entire operation was stunning.

The scenes between him and Jack Brennan (Charles Mesure) were telling, and not in a good way if you ask some General Hospital viewers.

Not only did Valentin open up about his intentions to kill Sonny (Maurice Benard), but he also revealed that he was having his medication dosage altered.

This is a storyline many have seen before — with Ava (Maura West) and Morgan (Bryan Craig).

After the episode aired, many voiced their takes on the situation on social media.

Maurice Benard speaks out about the current storyline

Among the chatter online, there were some unhappy viewers regarding Ava and Valentin working against Sonny.

Maurice Benard took to X (formerly Twitter) to comment, writing, “There’s a lot of talk about what’s going on on the show. Some talk about mental health. We have to remember it’s a TV show. It can’t always be perfect. But I will say this, I haven’t had this much fun acting in a long time !!!”

It is an interesting take, given Maurice and Sonny both have bipolar disorder and take medication to help them.

Maurice hosts a fantastic podcast highlighting those with mental health struggles called State of Mind. He shares his own stories, offers a place for others to tell theirs, and provides a place where people don’t feel so alone.

General Hospital viewers weigh in on Valentin/Sonny storyline

It seems not everyone is on board with Valentin and his plans to mess with Sonny’s meds. However, some viewers are incredibly interested in seeing where this is headed and what Ava’s involvement is in all of it.

One viewer wrote, “I haven’t watched the episode yet but people being so put off at Valentin messing with Sonny’s meds is wild to me because didn’t Ava do the same to Morgan and we still love the s**t outta her? #GH”

There’s some debate about whether Ava is working with Valentin or if she has her own agenda.

Some believe Ava is the “inside man.” And honestly, it made sense.

Some viewers don’t love the under-medicated bipolar storyline.

One wrote, “I hate this storyline, its so dangerous to mess with someone’s meds. I really wish they weren’t going down this path again.”

Another agreed.

There’s plenty more to come on General Hospital with this complex storyline as the writers are setting the stage for what could be the most exciting sweeps period in recent years.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.