If you caught Friday’s emotional episode of General Hospital, it was the airing of the highly-anticipated tribute episode to the late John Reilly with an homage to his beloved character, Sean Donely.

What made this such a well-conceived hour of television was it truly harkened back to the 80’s hey day of GH, had a built-in story that brought Reilly’s real-life daughter, Caitlin Reilly, into the fold, found ways to integrate classic clips of Sean and his spy friends and colleagues, and viewers even got to hear the voice of the one and only Sharon Wyatt as Tiffany Hill Donely.

Photo: ABC

The episode starts in Ireland where Sean’s gravesite service has concluded and things are icy between Anna (Finola Hughes) and Felicia (Kristina Wagner).  As Anna tries to reach out to Felicia she is not having it, but Mac (John J. York) hopes the two longtime best friends will find a way to work this out.

Meanwhile, Annie (Caitlin Reilly) points Sean’s friends (who have traveled all the way from Port Charles to Ireland to be there for the funeral) to the Inn where they will be staying.  Robert talks to Annie about applying to the bureau. She says she went through the training program, took the oath, but was never called for the final test. She just assumed she didn’t make the cut.  Robert also explains they need access to some of Sean’s old files on another matter of dire consequences, but Annie won’t give up the code.

Photo: ABC

As Laura (Genie Francis) goes outside to call Tiffany, we hear the voice of Sharon Wyatt talk to her dear friend, the Mayor of Port Charles, and Laura tells Tiffany how much she misses her old friend, as Tiffany recall her life with Sean and viewers see a montage of Sean and Tiffany scenes through the years.  Next, Laura is grabbed and a clue is left behind in her room – a Mexican flag and a toy gun as a remembrance of when Sean ran illegal arms and was on the wrong side of the law.  Next, Monica (Leslie Charleson) is seemingly grabbed, and a clue is left behind, a trinket from Mount Rushmore.

Courtesy/ABC

Later, Felicia rips into Anna for allowing Peter into their lives and not protecting Maxie. Anna promises Felicia she’s trying to put Peter behind bars for good and to find justice for Maxie.  As Felicia and Anna flashback through moments in their lives with Sean, Felicia tells Anna that he would not have wanted them to be at odds and so she forgives Anna, and the two women hug as Mac looks on.

Photo: ABC

Mac is the next friend of Sean’s to apparently get kidnapped. That is followed by Robert (Tristan Rogers) getting conked over the head.  Annie finds Robert’s phone, and she finds a magnet in Anna’s purse which wiped out the computer earlier that Anna and Robin (Kimberly McCullough) were trying to access to check the security footage at the Inn.

Annie now believes Anna and Robert are in on what’s happening. Anna again says she wants access to Sean’s file, but Annie refuses to grant access to her. She says she’s loyal to the WSB. It is then Anna tells Annie that this was her final test for the WSB and she passed it!  As all of Sean’s friends who ‘disappeared’ return to watch, Robert gives Annie her dad’s WSB badge number and they congratulate her in a very hankie-inducing moment.

Later, everyone gathers to toast Sean, as they raise their glass it is Tristan Rogers, who broke our hearts when he says there will never be another one like Sean.  In real life, Tristan was close to John Reilly and publicly had admitted how devastated he was by his former castmates passing.

Photo: ABC

In Port Charles, it was nice to see Bobbie (Jackie Zeman) and Maxie (Kirsten Storms) part of the tribute episode to, and in a touching scene BJ’s heart that beats inside Maxie was brought up reminding everyone of that emotional story as well.

Photo:A BC

The episode was filled with several hankie moments and how wonderful was Caitlin Reilly as Annie!  Her dad would be so proud.  And as for Finola Hughes, Kristina Wagner, Tristan Rogers, Kimberly McCullough, Leslie Charleson, Genie Francis, Sharon Wyatt by audio, how touching it was for longtime viewers to see all of these GH veterans together to remind us all of what brought us into GH in the first place.

Kudos to head writers, Chris Van Etten and Dan O’Connor and their team for a clever way to honor Sean Donely with the passage of his daughter into the WSB.

Photo: ABC

So, what did you think of the John Reilly tribute episode, the performances, and the story? Comment below. But first, watch some moments from the beginning of the episode where Laura calls Tiffany.

WATCH: Sean’s family and friends are about to get much more than they bargained for when they left Port Charles. #GH pic.twitter.com/JA2zCSogx6

— General Hospital (@GeneralHospital) May 22, 2021