The Friday, July 17 episode of General Hospital brought with it a cliffhanger that many viewers were forecasting was on its way to happening. Yup, Brennan (Chris McKenna) and Nina (Cynthia Watros) have a thing for each other and their relationship took a turn when Jack kissed Nina while at the Brown Dog bar while they were having drinks and she certainly did not pull away.

How did we get here? After being unable to find his black box at Wyndemere, Jack raised concerns that his WSB higher-ups would consider transferring him out of Port Charles because Cullum’ machinations happened in the town where he was the bureau chief.

Then, Jack asks Nina what motivates her to go to such extremes to help her daughter Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) with her nefarious crimes. Nina begins to explain to Jack that her children were taken from her and she was unable to protect Nelle or Willow and that Willow has suffered unspeakable trauma in her life that she had never totally dealt with. As a mother, she will do anything to protect her daughter and to stay in her life.

Courtesy/ABC

JACK MAKES HIS MOVE

After downing more drinks, Jack apologized for having blackmailed Nina to get intel from Charlotte (Bluesy Burke) in exchange for the traffic cam footage of Willow. He wished instead of that maneuver he would have asked the editor in chief of Crimson out on a date. He feel like then he would have gotten to know Nina before she had to save his life.

When Nina shared that is sounds like Jack is holding it against her, his comeback response is that he doesn’t do gratitude well. So in an effort to show Nina how gratefully he truly is to her, Jack gets up from his barstool and plants a major kiss on her! We fade to black.

You can check out the scenes between Jack and Nina from today’s GH below in the video entitled, “Before You Saved My Life” below.

Now weigh-in: are you all for Jack and Nina as a couple? Do you find it interesting that for the most part, Nina ends up with men that used to be involved with her nemesis Carly (Laura Wright)? Share your thoughts on this new romantic pairing via the comment section.

When the nominations were announced for the 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards earlier this week, General Hospital fans were thrilled to see Amanda Setton’s name as one of this year’s Outstanding Supporting Actress nominees.

It marks the first time in her career that she has ever been nominated. Setton has played Brook Lynn Quartermaine since 2019. Soap viewers first saw her in the role of Kimberly Andrews on One Life to Live during her run from 2009-2011.

Amanda received her Daytime Emmy nomination for her emotional turn as Brook Lynn learned she had been lied to by her mother, Lois Cerullo (Rena Sofer) for years, after giving up her baby for adoption as a teen. Little did she know she had a secret son living with her this whole time at the Quartermaine mansion in Gio Palmieri (Giovanni Mazza).

Photo: ABC

During an exclusive conversation live on Tuesday night, July 14, during the Michael Fairman Channel’s annual Daytime Emmy Nominations Special, she discussed her reaction to the news, her nominated reel and her GH co-stars.

GOING FOR EMMY GOLD

Setton explained how she found out she was a Emmy nominee! “Frank Valentini called me, our boss. It was such a beautiful moving moment. I’ve known Frank for 20 years and to share this with him, I’m indebted to him on a lot of levels. I was in the car with my husband. We were going for a hike. We got away for just a couple days, just the two of us. It was early in the morning and to share that moment with Frank, to share that moment with my husband, it was the best. We cried and I’m just so grateful.”

The Supporting Actress nominee shared what scenes she submitted: “My reel was obviously about the Gio storyline. It started with the scenes with Lulu (Alexa Havins) and shout out to Alexa! She’s the best. It’s when I first find out that she knows and that I had boy. Then, begging her not to tell Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) and just to leave it alone, then into the scenes with Rena Sofer, shout out to her! She is the best. I love her. I spoke to her today. She deserved to also be nominated. They are the scenes right after I find out at the Nurses’ Ball, and right after Brooklyn finds out that Gio is her son, not her cousin. Then my reel ended with the scene with Gio in the kitchen when Brook Lynn’s first sees him after the Nurses’ Ball and she says, ‘We can work this out,’ and he’s like, ‘No, we can’t,” and he walks away. It was an amazing story and kudos to the writers.”

Photo: ABC

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SCENES

It is always important in the Emmy game to put together a submission, so that someone who doesn’t watch the show day to day, can grasp the story of what’s happening to your character. Setton explained how she went about assembling the choices for her scenes. “Between Michelle Henry (producer, GH) and Frank, they said, ‘You need to tell the story. Find the scenes that tell the story.” Once I did it was clear to all of us, the story has been told,” shared Amanda.

“Anyone who’s watching this reel can get a feel for the intensity of the story. I think after even the first scene where you’re just like, ‘Wait a minute! This girl had a baby? She didn’t know if it was a boy or girl?’ Now this nemesis of her wants to … ‘What’s happening? What’s going on? And then the mom knew the story? ‘ So by the end, your heart’s just broken for this girl.”

Initially, Amanda like the viewers were trying to figure out how GH would make sense of the story, where suddenly years later we find out Brook Lynn got pregnant at summer camp by Dante! Setton said, “Once they (the writers) started building it out and you saw all the different relationships playing out between her and her mother, her and Dante, her and Lulu, her and Gio, her and her husband Chase (Josh Swickard), even Tracy (Jane Elliot), and then the fallout of all of it, it just touched so many characters on the canvas. I think it was like a huge juicy burger for the fans to just take a big bite.”

Photo: ABC

AMANDA SETTON TALKS ON HER TV SON GIOVANNI MAZZA

In addition to Amanda, both Giovanni Mazza and Braedyn Bruner (Emma) landed their first ever nominations in the Emerging Talent category. Setton shared how she and Mazza have developed such a close bond.

“Gio and I are super close. Right from the start, we just hit it off.  He is such a delight. He’s so hardworking. He’s such an eager learner. He’s always looking to be better. He always wants to grow. That’s a huge testament to his work ethic,” explains Amanda. “He’s an amazing person, and over the last couple of years, we’ve had many deep conversations about work, about life, perspective, gratitude, values, a lot of different deep things. I could not be more thrilled for Gio and this moment for him. It is well deserved. He has worked so hard for it.  I really hope he wins. Although, I also love Braedyn!”

One of the most unforgettable moments of 2025 in the soaps is when Gio takes to the Nurses’ Ball stage after overhearing Lulu and Lois talk that he is the biological son of Brook Lynn and Dante. Ready to begin to play his violin, he smashes it pieces and storms off. Setton was in the scene and recalls, “That was wild. He did such a great job with that. That is not an easy moment to hit, pun intended. He nailed it.”

Photo: ABC

THE CONNECTION WITH JANE ELLIOT

On General Hospital, Brook Lynn is close with her ‘Granny,” the one and only Tracy Quartermaine, and in real life Amanda is very close with Jane Elliot, with whom she was able to share the news of her nomination. “First of all, this woman has become one of my closest friends.”

Amanda adds, I’m not exaggerating. I am confident to say she would say the same. We’ve become really close friends outside of work. We speak, almost every day.  We just went out to lunch last week. She’s become such a close person in my life over these last few years.  She’s such a leader. Jane’s a really special person in my life after my family. I wanted to share the news of this nomination with her and she was over the moon.”

HARD WORK PAID OFF

Getting a pat on the back from her peers is one of the more touching moments in Amanda’s career, as she explains: “I have to say we’re in the daytime world, so for us it feels so wonderful and so rich. But in the landscape of the entertainment industry, in daytime, we’re in the trenches. We work really hard. We have a ton of pages. We have a ton of really high stakes, dramatic work to try to do in a grounded, authentic way, continuously every day on television. Not that it’s thankless, because thank God we are employed actors on a network TV show, and we are also grateful. But, I’m not going to lie, and say it doesn’t feel good to just get a little ‘thank you’ or like a little, ‘I see your work.’ It feels fulfilling.”

You can check out the full live interview with Amanda Setton at the 2:24:26 mark during the Daytime Emmy Nominations Special Live below, which featured 13 newly-nominated actors sharing their reactions and what they submitted for their reels the landed them a nomination at the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

So, are you happy for Amanda that she finally secured her first ever Daytime Emmy nomination? Do you think she is one of the frontrunners for the gold for Outstanding Supporting Actress based on the emotional tale of Brook Lynn’s journey to learning she had a son and it was Gio Palmieri? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section.

There’s another new face in Port Charles, when on today’s Wednesday, July 15 on General Hospital, Grady Eldridge made his debut as Simon, a new music executive, who is scouting talent for his record label.

According to Soap Opera Digest, Eldridge is on recurring status with the ABC soap opera, and in story, Simon is the A&R rep responsible for signing music acts and he enters the scene as Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) sets up a musical showcase for Trina (Tabyana Ali) and Gio (Giovanni Mazza) who accompanies her on guitar. As the showcase kicks off, Simon arrives.

While his GH role marks his first on daytime, Grady can currently be seen in the final season of HBO’s comedy hit, Hacks. He has numerous credits in primetime including: Doctor Odyssey, The Sex Lives of College Girls and appeared as Max in the recently released in Jennifer Lopez’s movie office romance.

Eldridge joins several other newcomers have joined the ABC soap including: Dean Geyer as Dr. Tristan Roberts (who first showed up on Monday’s July 13 episode), and Troy Lennon Appel as mysterious businessman, Hudson who shows up later this month.

In addition, GH fans will get the chance to see Kayden Brenna Tokarski who takes over the role of Scout Cain, and Kelly Kruger (ex-Mackenzie Browning, The Young and the Restless) who is the recast Serena Baldwin, who debuts on July 30.

So, do you hope Simon sticks around Port Charles? Do you think Trina and Gio will become a major recording act, or will trouble be brewing with this new music executive, and Brook Lynn will spell t-r-o-u-b-l-e? Let us know your thoughts and impressions after checking out Grady on today’s GH via the comment section.