Kelly Monaco makes surprise appearance on ABC General Hospital set, Sam will return from the dead

The Lazarus Act: Why Sam McCall’s ‘Death’ Is the Most Insulting Ploy in Port Charles History

The sudden, utterly predictable news of Kelly Monaco making a “surprise appearance” on the General Hospital set—a thinly veiled confirmation that her character, Sam McCall, is returning from the dead—is not a cause for celebration, but a moment to critically assess the show’s exhausting reliance on transparent, low-stakes manipulation. Port Charles has never met a plot device it couldn’t abuse, and the “death and immediate resurrection” cycle has long ceased to be a dramatic event, settling instead into the realm of insulting audience familiarity.

The suggestion that “Sam will return from the dead” confirms that the showrunners view death as nothing more than an inconvenient time-out, a brief narrative pause before the inevitable return to the status quo. What was the purpose of this feigned tragedy? To generate cheap social media buzz? To force contrived emotional stakes for a few weeks before slapping a predictable expiration date on the drama?

The negative impact of this recurring gimmick is profound. It systematically drains every moment of real gravity and consequence from the show. Every tear shed, every funeral lament, every vow of revenge made in Sam’s supposed absence now looks laughably hollow. Her “death” was an act of narrative cowardice, a refusal to commit to a meaningful consequence for any significant character. Instead of using her absence to propel other storylines, develop secondary characters, or explore the true, lingering pain of loss, it was clearly designed as a temporary detour, a glorified vacation for the actress disguised as high drama.

Sam McCall’s return from the grave is not a twist; it is the ultimate affirmation of Port Charles’s hypocrisy: no one truly important is ever allowed to suffer a permanent fate. They are simply put on temporary life support until the ratings demand their revival. This is not storytelling; it is a nauseatingly predictable cycle that undermines the intelligence of the viewer and renders every emotional moment utterly meaningless. We are left to watch the emotional whiplash of the characters who supposedly grieved her, knowing they were all fooled by a plot that was never serious, confirming that in Port Charles, the biggest drama is often just a cynical PR stunt.