General Hospital: Dante’s Hatred of Gio – Major Recurring Plot – The 5th Time GH Has Revisited It!

General Hospital sees Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) developing an increasing animosity toward Gio Palmieri (Giovanni Mazza) seemingly out of nowhere. The twist? Gio is actually his secret son. This feels like a familiar plotline that GH often revisits—where two characters harbor a dislike for each other just before discovering they’re secretly related.

How many times has GH used this storyline? Quite a few. Let’s dive into it. This is Belynda from Soap Dirt, and we’re taking a quick look back at how GH tends to build tension between characters, only to reveal a secret paternity or maternity connection. This appears to be at least the fifth time they’ve done this, and now it’s playing out once again with Dante and Gio.

Dante’s Unexpected Hostility Toward Gio: Another Classic GH Secret Parent Plot?

Currently, the only people aware that Dante is Gio’s father are Lois Cerullo (Rena Sofer), her mother Gloria Cerullo (Ellen Travolta), and Martin Gray (Michael E. Knight), the lawyer. It seems Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins Bruening) is getting closer to figuring it out and could soon expose the secret.

Dante’s sudden dislike for Gio feels forced and out of place. It’s not organic, and it feels awkward. For me, it seems contrived and not true to Dante’s character. Yes, Dante was understandably upset about what happened with Rocco Falconeri (Finn Frances Carr) at the college party, but Gio wasn’t at fault in that situation.

General Hospital: A Repeated Plot?

What’s funny is, while watching Monday’s episode, my husband walked through my office and said, “GH is going to make Dante hate Gio just like they did with Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Dante.” I laughed and thought, “Oh, they wouldn’t do that again.” Then, a few minutes later, I realized, “Ah, hubby was right. They’re doing it again.”

Everyone thought Gio was a great guy until the alcohol poisoning incident. We hadn’t heard anything bad about him, and then suddenly, Dante is blaming Gio—who didn’t take Rocco to the party, didn’t know he was there, and wasn’t responsible for any of it. He even threatened criminal charges.

It’s clear they’re making Dante dislike Gio as a way to replay history. As I said, this is the fifth time I can recall GH using this formula. Maybe more, but five is the number I remember. Do you recall the four other times when two characters hated each other before a big parent-child revelation? Let’s talk about it.

General Hospital’s First Secret Son Story: Sonny and Dante’s Shocking Reveal

Speaking of Dante, let’s revisit his story with Sonny. If you’ve been watching General Hospital for a while, you’ll remember that when Dante first arrived in Port Charles, neither he nor Sonny knew they were father and son. Sonny was unaware, and Dante’s mother, Olivia Falconeri (Lisa LoCicero), got pregnant as a teen but never told Sonny, raising him as a single mom.

Years later, Dante arrived in Port Charles as an undercover cop, using a fake name, aiming to take Sonny down as a mob boss. He built a case against him, but as they grew closer, Dante started feeling guilty. When the arrest warrant came through, Dante went to arrest Sonny, but Sonny, along with Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), figured out that Dante was a cop. Sonny set a trap and shot Dante point-blank, nearly killing him. That’s when Olivia revealed that Sonny had just shot his own son.

Dante survived and didn’t betray Sonny, and while they’ve grown closer over the years, their relationship has had its ups and downs due to their opposing paths—one in law enforcement, the other in the mob. Now, GH is revisiting a similar secret son storyline with Dante and Gio. Though the details are different, the general vibe and setup feel quite similar.

Sam and Alexis’ Secret Mother-Daughter Drama: A GH History of Conflict and Connection

Let’s not forget about Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco) and Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn). Their relationship had a rough start when Sam got pregnant by Sonny at the same time that his daughter Kristina Corinthos-Davis (Kate Mansi) was critically ill. Alexis wanted Sam to induce labor early so they could use the stem cells from her baby’s umbilical cord to save Kristina, as they were half-sisters. Sam hesitated because it was risky, but eventually agreed, though tragically, baby Lila died.

This tragedy fueled a lot of resentment from Sam toward Alexis. Things worsened when her son, Danny Morgan, was dying of encephalitis. Alexis received the life-saving serum, but Danny did not, and he died. Sam later named her son Danny after her brother, who passed away.

General Hospital: Family Fallout from Secret Children

Right before Danny’s death, he told Sam that she was adopted, and this revelation came at the same time that Sam’s resentment toward Alexis was growing. Later, when Sam found out that Alexis was her biological mother, she wasn’t exactly thrilled. Things became even more complicated between them when Sam slept with Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) while he was still married to Alexis.

The situation escalated when Alexis caught Sam and Ric in the act on the living room rug, witnessing the entire scene through the window. I remember that moment vividly. Eventually, Sam and Alexis managed to build a beautiful mother-daughter bond, only for Sam to be tragically murdered by Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober) last year. This is another example of GH’s formula where a secret parent and child despise each other before the big reveal.

Nina and Willow’s Difficult Path: Uncovering a Secret Mother-Daughter Relationship on GH

Next up, we have Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) and Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen), whose animosity began right from the start. This was during the time when Michelle Stafford was still playing Nina. At the time, Willow was Charlotte Cassadine’s (Scarlett Fernandez) teacher, and Nina was Charlotte’s devoted stepmother while she was with Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart).

Nina often targeted Willow, accusing her of being unfair and unkind to Charlotte, but as it turned out, Willow was in the right since Charlotte was the school bully. Nina even tried to get Willow fired, though a petition signed by other parents saved Willow’s job. Meanwhile, Nina was searching for her long-lost daughter, whom she had given birth to during her 20-year coma. It was eventually revealed that Nina’s daughter was Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier).

General Hospital: The Twin Twist

But the drama didn’t stop there. Harmony Miller (Inga Cadranel) turned out not to be Willow’s biological mother after all—Nina was. Further investigation revealed that Nina had twin girls while in the coma, and her mother, Madeline Reeves (Donna Mills), had tried to erase them from Nina’s life because of her hatred for the twins’ father, Silas Clay (Michael Easton).

After Nelle’s death, Nina believed she would never be a mother, but the twin twist changed everything. Immediately, Nina wanted to move past their troubled history to be a mother to Willow, but Willow rejected her. This led to more back-and-forth between them, although they’ve now made progress. However, the relationship is fraught, especially since Nina has been plotting against Drew Cain Quartermaine (Cameron Mathison). Willow and Nina’s bond might be short-lived.

The Original GH Secret Parent Hate Story: Bobbie and Carly’s Volatile Beginnings

Lastly, we need to look back at the first of these secret parent-child hate stories on GH: Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman) and Carly Corinthos Spencer (Laura Wright). Their relationship was especially volatile because Carly came to Port Charles with the intent of destroying her biological mother, Bobbie.

This story was a bit different from the others because Carly knew Bobbie was her mother when she arrived in town, unlike the other cases where both the parent and child were unaware. This was the beginning of the pattern GH continues to repeat every decade or so. Carly had a difficult childhood and resented Bobbie, believing that Bobbie had a perfect life in Port Charles and had abandoned her.

What Carly didn’t know was Bobbie’s troubled past, growing up in a brothel and working as a prostitute. All Carly saw was Bobbie’s comfortable life, which Bobbie had worked hard for, and Carly wanted to ruin it. To do so, Carly seduced Bobbie’s husband, Tony Jones (Brad Maule), ultimately tearing apart their marriage.

Despite this huge obstacle, Carly and Bobbie managed to build a loving relationship, which remained intact until Bobbie’s heartbreaking death in May 2023. This pattern of secret parent-child animosity before the eventual reveal is something GH is known for, and it looks like they are following that same formula with Dante and Gio. Let’s hope they don’t stretch it out too long before revealing that they are father and son, and ideally, that bombshell drops sooner rather than later. We’ll have to wait and see.