General Hospital Paints a Target on [Spoiler]’s Back… That 100-Percent Doesn’t Belong There

Ah, only on General Hospital could the most hated character be the federal agent who’s working to bring down a mobster and his moll. Granted, Cates has a knack for rubbing everybody the wrong way. But he’s doing his job. With extra intensity, owing to his history with Sonny? Yes. With particular relish? Yes. Without regard for coloring outside the lines? Yes. At the end of the day, though, he’s still trying to see that some criminals are served their just desserts.

Yet it’s the damnedest thing. All of Port Charles seems to sympathize with Sonny and Carly and Jason. Viewers, too. What Bizarro World is this where we’re hoping that the mobster who once ordered Cates murdered is the guy for whom we feel sorry? Are we in the Upside Down? How else to explain why Carly gets to act self-righteous even as she’s been caught dead to rights on racketeering charges? How much Kool-Aid has to have been drunk for the root-for character to be Jason when his “horrible punishment” has been working, in essence, for the cops instead of the robbers?

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GENERAL HOSPITAL - “Episode 15517” - "General Hospital" airs Monday - Friday, on ABC (check local listings). (Disney/Christine Bartolucci) LAURA WRIGHT
GENERAL HOSPITAL - “Episode 15517” - "General Hospital" airs Monday - Friday, on ABC (check local listings). (Disney/Christine Bartolucci) LAURA WRIGHT

Even when Michael decided to try to have his adoptive father brought to justice, he didn’t do so because Sonny had amassed a fortune by proving that crime pays, he did it because Sonny had dumped Carly for Nina.

It’s freakin’ weird!

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Stranger still, the broken moral compass of General Hospital has painted a mile-wide target on Cates’ back. We’ve been thinking for a while that the show was planning a “Who killed Ava?” murder mystery. But now… now we’re thinking Cates will be the character at whom someone takes aim. And watch the would-be killer be Danny so that Jason can play the hero by volunteering to take the fall for his and Sam’s son.

What’s your take on Cates? Drop your thoughts in the comments, and while you’re here, check out the below photo gallery that lines up and runs down a list of Port Charles’ criminal element over the years.