General Hospital’s Willow Tait is currently in a powerful political position. However, she is under the thumb of mobster Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota), and in a precarious situation. While she is exonerated from the Drew-shooting case, more than one person knows about her crime.
Meanwhile, she is keeping Drew (Cameron Mathison) drugged after marrying him to get the custody of Wiley and Amelia. While she continues on the dark path to find her voice, fans may wonder whether Willow’s journey might have been different if she had refrained from shooting Drew.
5 ways Willow would have profited from not shooting Drew on General Hospital
1) No legal issues hanging on her
After being freed from Drew’s shooting charges, Willow falls under the double jeopardy advantage. However, she still needs to win the custody case of her children. If she had not shot Drew, she would not have needed to go through the court case. Moreover, she followed up her first crime with another one by drugging Drew, in a classic example of “crime follows crime.”
Currently, Willow is in a precarious position, as her previous charges could come up during the custody hearing and potentially influence the judge.
2) Clearer conscience before Wiley and Amelia
Willow continues to declare that she is doing everything she can to have her children, Wiley (Viron Weaver) and Amelia (Sequoia and Serenity Mork Macko), in her life. As such, she needed to have a clear conscience to raise healthy, upright kids. If she had not given in to the temptation of shooting Drew in anger, she would not have needed to keep parts of her persona hidden.
However, she is a shooter and has other dirty secrets that she would not want her children to know. Willow will likely continue to weave webs of lies to maintain her image as a loving and compassionate person in her children’s eyes. She would continue to look over her shoulders, fearing exposure before Wiley and Amelia.
3) No risk of losing her nursing license
As General Hospital fans know, Willow has made a temporary career shift by taking up the position of interim congresswoman, in place of Drew. However, she is likely to get back to nursing later.
Expectedly, if the truth about her various crimes is exposed, she faces the fear of losing her nursing license and her job at the hospital. The town of Port Charles may not want a shooter congresswoman either. If she had not taken the shot at Drew, she would not need to worry about her profession and reputation.
4) Keeping a healthy mental health
There is no doubt that Willow’s mental health is spiraling. While losing her children to Michael and learning about her mother and her groom’s betrayals upset her, her reaction of shooting Drew has managed to change her persona. Currently, her personality seems closer to that of her dead sister, Nelle (Chloe Lanier).
If Willow had refrained from shooting Drew, she might have looked at other, healthier options to handle the betrayal. Instead of looking for revenge, if she had gone for counseling, she might have avoided any mental breakdown, eliminating any need for further crimes.
5) Breaking free from Drew’s manipulation
As fans know, Drew had been playing the hero and savior to Willow for months. While he promised to get her children back to her and tried to stop her from meeting Michael, he ultimately isolated her. Moreover, after the shooting, Drew presented himself as the victim, further detaching her from her loved ones, including her mother and her children.
If Willow had not shot Drew, the latter would have had no leverage card to play in his dirty games of blackmail and threats. In such a situation with no hanging tragedy, Drew’s manipulation might have been easy to spot for Willow. She may have been able to negotiate or fight his interference.
5 reasons Willow would have spiraled on General Hospital anyway
1) Handling the liability of Drew’s political career
As General Hospital viewers have seen, Congressman Drew Cain seemed drunk with power. He made deals with the wrong kind of people in town and resorted to threats and blackmail. Added to that was the revelation of his affair with Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros), which they kept hidden from Willow.
Also, Drew transformed into a dark, power-hungry person from the hero he had been before. At some point, Drew’s reputation and political career were going to take a hit due to his political arrogance. That would have adversely affected Willow, even without her shooting him. Moreover, she was trying to get her children back, and Drew’s sleazy reputation might have hurt Wiley and Amelia.
2) Disappointment over losing custody would need some outlet
From very early on, the storyline depicted Michael and Willow as devoted parents. Willow even exploited Michael’s burn accident to keep her children with her. Moreover, she had Drew sign in as the kids’ guardian in Willow’s absence.
As such, Michael’s (Rory Gibson) return from Germany and taking over the kids’ custody upset Willow. Moreover, Judge Heran legally granted parental rights to Michael, citing Willow as an unstable parent. This loss to her reputation and her primary objective rattled Willow and affected her mental state. That would have needed an outlet, pushing Willow towards some criminal action.
3) Already a fallout with Nina over the wedding day betrayal
As longtime viewers know, Willow was reunited with her biological mother very late in her life. As such, she has been skeptical about trusting Nina. However, after Nina revealed her affair with Drew, Willow considered the lies and secrets as backstabbing.
With this, the fragile bond between mother and daughter faced implosion. Willow’s trust in her mother crumbled. As such, she would have reacted in a violent way even if she did not shoot Drew.
4) Michael’s transformation into a dark persona
As fans saw, Michael was hurt by Willow’s affair with his uncle. Despite his own one-night stand with Sasha resulting in baby Daisy, Michael would have continued to avenge his betrayal, believing Drew to be the main culprit. Drew did not help the situation, thanks to his overbearing actions, threats, blackmail, and manipulation of Willow into certain decisions.
As Michael turned dark after his return from Germany, he would not have left any stone unturned to take revenge on Drew. It is likely that Willow would have been caught in the crossfire, unable to choose between her beau and her children. Without actively participating in any crime, Willow’s life would have become chaotic.
5) Facing a ruined image from the leaked tape at the Quartermaine mansion
Fans may remember that Michael knew about Willow’s affair with Drew, including their intimacy in the Quartermaine mansion’s nursery. However, he had kept a lid on that. Unfortunately, the tape was leaked by mistake in front of the entire Quartermaine family and some friends, destroying Willow’s reputation.
The exposure ruined Willow’s “good girl” image in society and at the hospital. It went on to sever her relationship with the Q family, as Tracy’s acidic tongue would not let anyone forget Willow’s sins. This chaotic turn of events in her life was likely to have some drastic repercussions, and Willow’s desperate change into a criminal sealed it.
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Edited by Bryce Cameron