GH: Laura And Carly Race To Stop Nikolas
■ Expect a battle royale when Carly and Laura catch up to Nikolas at the safe house as he’s on the verge of liberating Florence and returning her to Cyrus in exchange for Cyrus prot ecting Alexis at Pentonville.
Sets up Nikolas’s portrayer, Marcus Coloma, “He knows there are risks, but he is set on doing everything possible to protect his aunt. He’s convinced that it’s the right decision.” Enter Carly and Laura, who are terrified of the consequences of losing Florence as leverage over Cyrus — and thus are hell-bent on changing Nikolas’s mind. “Florence is a key piece in the cold war between Cyrus and Jason — and all of Port Charles, really,” points out Coloma. “Nikolas’s mom and Carly both think he’s being an idiot, and there’s probably some truth to that! Cyrus has not once proven to be honest, and the whole thing about making a deal with the devil is that there’s always a catch; it’s never an honest, square deal. Nikolas is aware of that and understands that Cyrus is a very dangerous man, but Nikolas is confident that he is powerful enough to weather that storm.”
So Laura and Carly face an uphill battle as they try to dissuade Nikolas. “Laura really kind of attacks his character; she says, ‘I thought you were better than this. You’re so dark, I don’t even recognize you anymore,’ ” Coloma reports. “There’s that baggage of the personal weight between a mother and a son there that makes it hard for Nikolas to listen to his parent, even though she might be right; it makes him want to rebel against her. Obviously, he loves her so much and would do anything to keep her safe, as well, and he feels like, ‘How can you not understand that I’m doing what I need to do to keep my family member safe? How far would you go to keep me safe?’ There’s definitely a failure of communication between Nikolas and Laura. It’s heated. Both of them are very stirred up by what’s going on.”
Carly also pleads her case to Nikolas. “Nikolas is aware that Sonny is gone and she’s a grieving widow,” Coloma notes. “He doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. But Nikolas is like, ‘My aunt could die tomorrow!’ He knows Cyrus is going to double-cross him; he expects it! Her passionate plea, which is very heartfelt, hits him and affects him, but no matter what Carly is saying or how passionately she’s saying it, ultimately, he’s not going to sway from his path, because in his mind, whether or not his aunt will still be breathing a week from now is dependent on his actions in this situation.”
Whatever decision Nik makes, he is prepared to handle the fallout, Coloma says. “Nikolas is very smart. He has more than a few cards up his sleeve.”