In the last few episodes of General Hospital, viewers have witnessed the return of Ned (Ashton) Quartermaine (Wally Kurth), after Ned suffered from a form of amnesia and took on the persona of his former rock star self, Eddie Maine.

The moment that precipitated Ned’s return had “Eddie” jumping into the water, believing if he did, it would help him finish the song and find the ‘siren’ within it.  However, things went awry when “Eddie’s” leg got tangled in the netting. Leave it to Olivia (Lisa LoCicero) to be Johnny-on-the-spot and dive into the water and save her husband.

Once the two were back on land, Ned returned and he and Olivia had a memorable reunion. Next, they headed to the bedroom and then Ned was headed to the boardroom freshly-shaved and in a suit  – a far cry from “Eddie.” In addition, Ned recalled that right before he fell in the pool at the Metro Court, he overheard that Nina (Cynthia Watros) was the person who pointed the finger at Carly (Laura Wright) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) with the SEC, while everyone was believing Ned was the culprit. Olivia has convinced Ned to table coming forward and rocking Sonny’s (Maurice Be new marriage to Nina. But, in the end will Ned set the record straight?

Photo: ABC

On Monday, Wally Kurth and Lisa LoCicero participated in a livestream chat on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, where they talked about the water rescue scenes, their enduring on-screen relationship, teased what’s to come now that Ned is back and more.  Here are some of the key excerpts from the discussion.

Wally revealed if there was pressure for him to get the big moment right when “Eddie” becomes Ned.  He shared: “My biggest fear was landing this amnesia storyline. And after watching it back, and being in the water and all of that, I feel like we landed it. You know, it was really sweet and magical. I think we succeeded. So, I’m happy about how it turned out. You know on the soaps it’s onward and upward. You just keep moving, and so now I’m back in the suit and tie and back to being Ned. I’ll always miss Eddie. Eddie’s probably the most like Wally than anybody.”

Courtesy/ABC

Lisa gave her thoughts on playing the story where Olivia was trying to deal with this “Eddie version” of her husband: “I keep saying it was so much fun to watch Wally and how he was enjoying this and to play a different dynamic with a different person. Sometimes there is a little bit of hand-wringing that goes a long way sometimes. And you have to add different levels of worry as the story progresses, If you don’t have any drama on a soap opera, you don’t have a story. So you gotta be, like a shark. Not to keep up the sea analogy. You gotta keep swimming forward. I love just having drama to play and watching Wally playing a different character was really delightful. I enjoyed all of it.”

Making sure the dialog was on point, while filming the underwater scenes, was something Kurth wanted to make sure he delivered properly for the sake of the storyline, sharing, ” I don’t normally like to demand a second or a third take, but I was like, I got to get this right. I kept screwing up the words and I knew that the way it was written with using the song. It was very clear and very specific. With all the emotion that I was feeling, I had a hard time just uploading that dialogue. I wanted to make sure we got it right. I feel like we did when I watched it back. I felt like it made emotional sense, which is what was most important … but, I also needed to say those words.”

Photo: ABC

In categorizing what actually happened to Ned to turn into “Eddie” in the first place, Wally weighed-in: “I would say it was PTSD and in sort of a hypnotic state. He definitely flipped. He just chose to go into a place that’s a happy place instead of the place that he was at.  I think with all the stuff that was happening at ELQ, and I think he just kind of went off and went, ‘Well, this is a lot better place. I like it. I like it better here than my real life.’ That’s how I kind of looked at it, you know? Almost like a midlife crisis.”

Knowing she may get some flack from fans for Olivia telling Ned not to rock the boat for Sonny and Nina, when Ned was blamed for turning Drew and Carly into the SEC, when it was Nina who did the deed, LoCicero clarified, “Carly’s happy, she’s getting along with Nina, and she doesn’t want Sonny to get his heart broken. Let’s make that very clear.”

As to what Ned might do with the intel against Nina, “He might use that information for his own good over at the corporate headquarters. I mean, he did just come back from thinking he was Eddie Maine, the rock star for the last six or seven months. So when it comes to defending his reputation it isn’t high on his list right now.” Wally added, “Ned is Tracy’s son and he is Lord Ashton’s son who was a grifter. I’m glad they’re finally giving me some stuff where Ned is capable of not thinking twice to blackmail somebody or to do something duplicitous. I like it when I’m doing something that’s a little more mischievous. I think that’s who Ned is.”

Photo: ABC

The storyline gave Lisa and Rena Sofer (Lois) a chance to work together again. However, does Lisa see Olivia being worried when it comes to Lois, and her ex-Ned? LoCicero expressed, “Tracy keeps trying to tell her to be, but Olivia of her own volition, she’s not. She’s genuinely happy to have her friend back and they love each other. It is true. It’s a weird thing that we have, as hypothetically, best friends, having never discussed it. Like, ‘Oh, right, my best friend, you married my ex-husband’ is a weird thing. So, we are gonna get to a place where that gets dealt with, which it would.  It’s both dramatic and realistic. It’s always nice when something is both dramatic and realistic. They have dramatized it beautifully in some of the scenes that we have not yet shot. It’s so much fun to work with Rena.”

Would there be anything coming down the pike that would break-up Ned and Olivia? Lisa weighed-in, “The only thing that would really drive her away from him would be some sort of emotional betrayal, I would think.”

Watch below Wally and Lisa’s livestream conversation. Then let us know, are you glad Ned is back? Will you miss Eddie Maine? Are you upset with Olivia for convincing Ned, for now, to not turn in Nina? Do you think Ned will pull some machinations to get control of ELQ from Michael and Drew? Share your thoughts in the comment section.