Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

Oh what a tangled web we have weaved …. Britt (Kelly Thiebaud)!  On today’s General Hospital, events go down that seemingly bring Britt and Patrick closer.  What’s a good man and good father like Dr. Drake supposed to do when faced with the prospect that he is a “father” once again?  That is the subject of part of our chat with the popular Emmy-nominated actor, Jason Thompson (Patrick Drake) who has had quite the plethora of young ladies to work with during his recent times on General Hospital!

Following the departure of fan favorite, Kimberly McCullough (Robin) Patrick hooked up with Britt, and then ended up falling for Nurse Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo).  After an emotional and heart-tugging 2012, when Thompson was carrying the story of Patrick’s grief over “losing” Robin, now GH had to open up Patrick’s life somewhat to allow the character to move on without Robin.  In the process, we have Sabrina, and bestie Felix (Marc Anthony Samuel) digging up proof that Britt is lying about the paternity of her baby, and evil Dr Obrecht (Britt’s mom) lurking around Port Charles, too … and who has been integral to Robin’s captivity and inability to return to Patrick and their daughter, Emma!

So how does Jason feel about Dr. Drake’s latest plight?  How does he make the scenes believable where the audience knows what’s going on, but his character, Patrick, is in the dark?  Read on for some insight from Mr. Thompson!

Does Patrick still truly believe that Britt is carrying his child?  Do you at all think he is being a complete doofus? (Laughs)

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

JASON:  The only way I can justify it is … Patrick doesn’t see all the other stuff.  So, he sees her being pretty cordial with him, and he sees her being compassionate with him.  And, I think Britt really felt bad when that whole baby barbecue thing happened.  I think the way that I have to connect with it is that I am more worried about the baby than anything.  If I take the test that says it is my baby, then that’s enough information for me to make sure that everything calms down.  Personally, I feel very frustrated with Felix and Sabrina running around trying to do all this stuff to prove he is not the father, and at the end of the day, it’s none of their business.  I bite my tongue every time these scenes happen.  Inside I feel like, “Leave it alone.  It’s none of your business.”   It personally makes me want to believe it, and prove them wrong.  (Laughs)   I know that might not make sense for some people, but I can only go off of what my gut feels.  I try not to bring myself into it, but in my world, if I can kind of connect to the material and what Patrick is going through, then I would tell them to butt out … and in less words than that!  (Laughs)

Patrick seems to warm up to Britt at moments, much to the chagrin of many fans!  (Laughs)

JASON:  Well, Patrick is not aware of all the shenanigans going on behind the scenes.  I still believe Patrick and Britt had a couple of nice moments.  But he is not sure she is the beast that everyone says she is.  We will see!  I am sure I will be proven wrong.  I always am! (Laughs)

Recently, Patrick operated on Franco’s (Roger Howarth) brain tumor, and we got to see Dr. Drake spring into action!  Do you like playing the doctor material when it gets to happen? You are quite convincing as a neurosurgeon, I have to say.

Courtesy/ABC

JASON:  I love the doctor stuff, and I love that kind of character.  I can have all the other things running underneath, but I still have to be professional and a doctor, and it is the same in real life. You can have all these crazy things going on in your life, good or bad, but you still have to do your job, and be professional about it.  I love it, because I could have one scene where Felix might be in the room. I might not have one line, and I might not say anything to Felix, but I will look at him knowing that he is doing something behind Patrick’s back.  So they can write whatever they want, but I don’t have to feel what is being written.  I try to bring that sometimes to the character, because it’s fun for me to play something else. For me, I can get frustrated when I play exactly what is on the page, and I know it.  I can get caught up in that.  So, I have to say to myself, “I have to find something else to play,” or I can get frustrated as an actor.

You had such massive story in 2012, up till the spring of 2013 with the Nurses Ball.  Is it hard going from Robin’s death, and the fallout with his drug problems, and falling for Sabrina, to not having as many emotional stakes to play currently?

JASON:  I just feel there was so much depth for a year, like we talked about previously.  I absolutely trust that we will get to those moments, and there are always those middle areas where you ask yourself, “What is going on?”  And it takes awhile to build, and so it’s hard.  I was so there, and in-tune with what I was doing at work.  So to go home and have so much work to do and to learn, and then to go back and perform it, you kind of let it all purge. When there was all that heavy material, it still feels wonderful, as an actor, to go there, and to those places.  It is a really great release.  For me, of course, you always want to do that caliber of work.  I always have to try and find something interesting to do when it might not be quite as heavy, or I am not doing my job.

Courtesy/ABC

Do you think Sabrina and Patrick are working as a couple?  I know you have faced a lot of pushback, as has Teresa Castillo (Teresa) because many GH fans long for Patrick and Robin, and knowing all the while, that for all intent and purposes, Robin is alive somewhere out there!

JASON: I have not watched air shows of GH in a while.  I just don’t want to watch, because then I see the other stuff that is going on in the storylines and then it colors something different for me, and then I will look at a character differently.  Realistically, Patrick wouldn’t know that.  Most of the time as actors, we want all the information we can get about the story, and when it pertains to us.  Like if our executive producer, Frank Valentini says, “This is happening, and this happening…”  I want to know that because I like to gauge where I would like to be in a scene.  So, if I have to fall head over heels over somebody, and then have to marry them in a week, I have to be able to make that decisive choice of where it happens.  It might be the smallest choice; whether it’s Sabrina walking through the pub, or helping an old lady walk into the elevator, if that’s a moment that I can find that I can fall in love with her right there … then I need that information so I can make my character fall in love, so in a week from now that changes the characters’ life.

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

You just know Robin will come back into this.   Patrick, by then, might be a polygamist with the way things are going with Sabrina and Britt! (Laughs)

JASON: (Laughs) He will be married to one, and one is living in the basement.  But the door is open.  She can come up whenever she wants, but no creepy shit!

So what do you think of Patrick’s reaction to Britt’s pregnancy?  Do you want him to wake up and smell the roses and get a clue? If you watched today’s episode of General Hospital you will see some news about the sex of Britt’s unborn child.  Do you think Sabrina and Felix have meddled to far into the baby business trying to catch Britt? Do you want all the lies to come out?  Do you think Britt is carrying Dante and Lulu’s child?  Share your thoughts on our interview with Jason below!