Willow has never been the strongest-willed person on General Hospital. She’s a teacher! She’s a nurse! She loves Chase! She loves Michael! She loves Drew! She wants to work! She wants to stay home with the kids! She hates Nina! She’s… OK with Nina. The point is, Willow is all over the place. Michael, in a moment of insight, once even observed that she accommodates herself to whatever man she’s with. We put her on the Soap Hub couch to figure out why:
Childhood’s End
Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) grew up in a cult, raised by a woman who didn’t tell Willow she was adopted (or, actually, just kind of taken from a woman wandering through the woods, handing out babies), and all but pimped her out to the commune’s leader.
Willow was raised to listen and obey a powerful, charismatic, vaguely sociopathic man. Which is what she’s been doing ever since.
Mother Love
Willow spent over a year believing Wiley was the child she’d given up for adoption. She loved him from afar. So when the truth came out that Willow’s child died in infancy, and Wiley wasn’t her son but her nephew, it wasn’t like she could just turn her feelings off. She continued to love Wiley. So much that she married his dad, Michael (Chad Duell).
Oh, yeah, Willow told herself she loved him. But it was obviously Wiley she ached to be near. And, as soon as Willow married Michael, she began turning herself into his perfect wife. She gave up her career. Heck, she practically gave up her life in order to give Michael another child. What Michael wanted, Michael got. Just like back during Willow’s cult days.
Up a Notch
Michael was obnoxious and entitled. He told Willow what he wanted from her, and it never crossed his mind that she might object.
Drew (Cameron Mathison), on the other hand, understands Willow might not want everything he wants. So Drew makes demands. He told her to sign over her kids to him. She did. He tells her to fight Michael’s custody suit. So she does. Drew gives orders, and Willow promptly obeys.
But, when Drew speaks, does Willow hear him — or is she having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder flashbacks to Shiloh? Drew thinks he is just so charming and convincing. But he’s barely in play here. Willow is caught in an abusive spiral that Drew may not have started — but he is certainly taking advantage of.
