Soaps are traditionally a genre for and about women, but dynamics between male characters are far from uncommon. The father/son bond between Ryan Paevey‘s Cassius and Gary James Fuller‘s James on General Hospital was filled with rich conflict, secrets, and pathos.
Paevey shined last week as a man who didn’t want to hurt the boy he’d come to love as his own son (even though he’s James’ uncle). Also, Fuller’s performance as the confused and sensitive James reminded us why he’s the best child actor on soaps right now. The tender scenes have earned the two performers TV Insider’s Daytime Performers of the Week.
While it was heartbreaking to learn that “Nathan” was, in reality, his ambitious twin brother, Cassius on GH, his portrayer, Paevey, imbued qualities into his new character that proved Cassius was far from the stereotypical “evil twin.”
There was always something suspect about “Nathan’s” return from the dead as the character had had an open casket following his death. Slowly, the writers gave Paevey mysterious colors to paint on the show’s story canvas as it became clear that Nathan hadn’t done the Lazarus bit.
There was a silver lining to the story twist. Paevey showed that the most interesting characters on soaps aren’t the dark villains or the white knights, but rather the anti-heroes who have many shades of gray to them.
Cassius revealed he had no desire to break the heart of a little boy who was overjoyed that the father he never knew had come back from the dead. In fact, he appeared to be contemplating taking James with him when he went on the run. He was at least going to do one last ice cream run with him.
Fortunately, James’ uncle and surrogate dad, Cody Bell (Josh Kelly), listened to a delayed voicemail message from James’ grandmother, Felicia (Kristina Wagner), tipping him off to that fact that “Nathan” wasn’t the real deal and that James needed a guardian.
Protectively holding James, Cody informed “Nathan” that he should probably take off, and scrap his idea to take his “son” to get him some dessert.
ABC
A great deal was unspoken between Cody and Cassius at this point. We saw Cassius change his mind about leaving with James. He wasn’t going to cause a ruckus, confusing his “son” even more.
“Yeah, I guess, I guess ice cream wasn’t the best idea…I just wasn’t ready,” Cassius said, resigned to the fact that he’d be leaving Port Charles alone.
Turning his attention to the son that’s not his, Cassius said, “I don’t think I can stay, bud. Maybe you and Cody could go get ice cream instead, what do you think?”
Cassius hadn’t even left yet, but he was trying to make sure that James wouldn’t be lacking a father figure by encouraging James and Cody’s relationship.
Cody explained to James that his father had to leave on important business. There was unspoken tension between Cody and Cassius. Cassius knew that Cody was onto him. James couldn’t put it into words, but he was able to tell that something was amiss.
James said that he didn’t want his father to go because he’d been working on his batting swing and he wanted him to see it.
Crouching down to be closer to eye level to James, Cassius explained that he had to leave. Cody sensed that Cassius wasn’t going to pull a fast one, so he took half a step back so that Cassius could say goodbye to James.
“Do you have to go because of police officer stuff?” James asked.
It would have been easy for Cassius to simply say yes so that James could think of his missing “father” as a man who needed to go away and play hero. But Cassius felt that James was old enough to know the truth, or at least some of it. “I made a mistake. I made a big one. And it’s not one I think I can fix,” Cassius confessed.
James refused to believe his dad would ever do anything wrong, certainly not on purpose.
“I wish that were true, bud. This time, I did. I made a big mistake. And I’ve gotta leave because of it. But you know, I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” Cassius stated, his voice starting to break.
James has been thrown one larger than life/grownup situation after another in his short life. The beauty of Fuller’s performance on GH is that you never once think he’s a 10-year-old boy who’s going on 40. Believe us, we’ve seen “child” actors who must be on their third or fourth reincarnation, and they can’t help but show how adult they are. A kid trying to be a grownup almost always takes away from the actor’s performance.
Fuller, however, never lets you forget that James is a kid. And in this case, he’s a kid who is trying to wrap his head around the fact that the father he was told was dead, and who had miraculously come back into is life, was now going away again.
“You can’t. You just got here. Tell me where you’re going, I’ll come visit,” Fuller’s James pleaded.
“I can’t do that either. I know it’s confusing. I know it hurts. It hurts me, too. I’m sorry about that. I wish that things were different,” Cassius said, trying (but failing) to soften the blow.
Cassius asked James to listen to him. He told him that he’d hear some things about him later and that some of them would be not very nice and a lot of them would be true. “But if anybody ever tells you that I don’t love you, that’s a lie. OK? That’s the biggest lie,” Cassius stated. “Because I do love you, more than I ever thought I could, and I always will.”
James embraced his dad, not knowing that this wasn’t his father, and not knowing exactly what his father was trying to communicate, but he understood and believed the part about Cassius loving him.
“I’m so glad that we got to spend all this time together, and I’m going to take all those times and all those memories and keep them right here for the rest of my life because you’re the best kid ever,” Cassius told his nephew.
“I’m so happy that you have so many people in your life that know it like your Mom [Maxie] and Spinelli and Mac and Felicia and Cody,” Cassius shared.
The love James’ uncle feels for his nephew was evident as he encouraged him to lean on Cody. “He’s ‘just’ your uncle, but he’s also a really good friend,” Cassius said. “And you don’t get many of those in life. So, you keep him close and you let him take care of you just like he’s been doing…he loves you.”
“Cody’s great, but you’re my dad. You can’t go, not again,” a confused and hurt James said.
“Always remember that I love you,” Cassius said as he walked out of James’ life.
Fuller walked the perfect line of James not fully understanding what was happening, but playing that James knew enough — that his father was leaving and that he’d always love him.
Kudos must also go to Josh Kelly’s Cody, who kept a respectful but protective distance from James as he let Cassius say his goodbyes. He communicated to Cassius that he wouldn’t be taking the boy without telegraphing to James that there was potential danger afoot.
Next, Cassius hopped into his getaway car and checked out his new fake passport (he’s now Oliver Brown!) and his old wallet. Before chucking the billfold, which represented the life he was leaving behind, he removed the cash, and also a strip of four photos of himself and James that was taken in a photo booth. In some of the shots, James and Cassius made goofy faces, and in others they were smiling but serious.
Cassius placed the money and the photo strip in his left shirt pocket. We already knew from Paevey’s performance that Cassius’ love for James was genuine. Just as he kept the photo booth photos close to his heart, he was also keeping James there, too.
Later in the week, it turned out that there may have been more similarities between Cassius and Nathan than met the eye. Cassius could have made a getaway, but he returned to Spoon Island to help Josslyn (Eden McCoy), hopelessly outnumbered, in a shootout.
Before Joss took out Cullum (Andrew Hawkes), the villain shot Cassius — apparently, fatally. We learned on Friday’s episode that he did not survive. (Then again, characters who die off-camera find a way of returning down the line. Hmm…)
Either way, Paevey’s limited run has come to a close. He’ll be missed. The actor did far more than move the show’s latest caper story along by playing Nathan’s twin. He created a compelling character in Cassius, a man we grew to care about, deeply.
Perhaps, we were supposed to hate Cassius for not being Nathan, but Paevey’s performances as the torn anti-hero simply made that impossible.
Kudos to both Paevey and Fuller for their heartfelt performances in one of GH’s most compelling weeks ever!
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC