Why General Hospital’s Decision to Cut Jax Loose Is No Big Deal… PT. 1
After 25 years on General Hospital, Jasper “Jax” Jacks should be a foundational piece of the show- but he isn’t. Not even close. Now that the actor who has played him is on the way out, we can look back on why Jax has always been useless.
The concept of Jax was kind of the bastard child of everything in an attempt to make the character ”unique.”The result was a hodgepodge of mid-90’s youth-obsessed, sex-soaked, MTV-influenced gobbledygook. Precisely the kind of character the networks were sure younger viewers wanted to watch. How else can you explain Australian-born, Alaskan-bred, sky-diving, outdoor-enthusiast, corporate-raiding, billionaire-playboy with a heart-of-gold? A man whose past-times include the hostile takeover of vulnerable-conglomerates, flying across the continent and back in a day for oysters and pursuing married women AFTER they have rejected him? Oh, and the man looks like Hitler’s wet dream. Ingo Rademacher and Jax didn’t stand a chance- and yet here we are over two decades later, wondering how much longer we have to endure Jax.
Brenda Had Low Self-Esteem- And Jax Was Available So… Marriage?
The key to his success has been simply one of being in the right place at the right time. Jax showed up to play spoiler to Sonny and Brenda, which was a unique place to be at the time. Typically, a couple as hot as those two make it impossible for the third wheel to gain traction. But both characters had made it hard to want them back in each other’s arms. Sonny had caught Brenda wearing a wire which was either a colossal betrayal or a sign of how ignorant and naive she was. In both cases, it was clear Brenda wasn’t fit for living in Sonny’s world.
For his part, Sonny was horrible to Brenda in the aftermath, becoming verbally abusive and almost violent towards her. Sonny immediately cemented his place in the mob world with marriage to Lily Rivera, the woman who had tipped him off after overhearing Brenda discuss wearing the wire. When Brenda moved on to Lily’s ex, Miguel Morez (played by Ricky Martin), Sonny was just as vile towards her. Anybody would have been better than the little shithead Sonny had become. All Jax had to do was be there.
This Man Acts Like a Ken Doll Playing Santa Claus- No Wonder He Gets Dumped
Jax’s off-putting accent and backstory from Mad-libs should have been enough for Brenda to dump him straight away. But, his Ken Doll-meets-Santa Claus approach to romance must have seemed like the best alternative to being called a lying whore. So Prince Charming of the Aryan Nation was waiting around and swept Brenda off her feet.
Of course, this is a soap opera, and things don’t work out like, ever- which is what makes them fun. The exact moment that Brenda and Jax clinked glasses to toast their engagement on a yacht, was the exact moment Lily and her unborn child died. Yep, Lily met her end in a car bomb right before Sonny’s eyes. No need for any effort on Jax’s part, he just had to be present for attendance. Seriously, Brenda could have shared a toast with the yacht’s captain and the episode would still be one of the dopest episodes in 60 years of being on the air!
But this whole getting credit just for showing up-thing has been Jax’s only defining characteristic. I mean, other than a bunch of bizarre superlatives that reads like a laundry list of mid-90’s trends and the venture capitalist jargon that Eric Trump probably uses on his Tinder profile. None of which, by the way, do anything to add to his character. You would think Jax be more exciting than a house plant. Seriously, the most exciting thing Jax has done this decade was when he bought a black-market, kidney from Florida. And it didn’t even happen onscreen. That’s as lame as organ trafficking can get!
But the Brenda stuff with Jax- it’s pathetic. And this is from a Brenda stan over here. Here’s a rundown of just how Jax is second place to anything and everything in all his storylines:
- Brenda was left at the altar by Sonny; Jax was there to pick up the pieces for Brenda, like a sad sack of shit.
- When Brenda struggled to get her life back on track, Jax let her stay at his place. Jax even let her stay when she went cuckoo bananas and ruined that photoshoot.
- Jax invites Brenda’s sister, Julia, over from London as a surprise gift to cheer her up. Brenda shits all over his gesture and insults their guest.
- When her mom returned to Port Charles and Brenda thought she would inherit her congenital mental illness. Jax was ready and willing to burn her medical results in the fire. Because that’s productive.
- When Brenda’s crazy bitch mom killed her, Jax mourned so hard, he even wept with Sonny.
But wait, it wasn’t just for Brenda…
- Chloe is menaced by Helena via psychic visions. Jax is there to comfort her and keep her safe. That is until he sees a Brenda look-alike and leaves town with a kind of quickness reserved for fast-forwarding through Michael and Willow scenes.
- Jax saves Skye, who cleverly schemed to get Jax to sleep with her by throwing herself into a frozen lake, knowing he’d save her with his body heat. In that scenario, Jax was the equivalent of a life raft, a space heater, and a pulse.
- Jax helps Carly open a club- not his club but her club. Zander smashes some of the stuff he paid for.
- Jax is in a search for the Dead Man’s Hand, some magical good luck charm. Why? Well, to reclaim his dad’s fortune- I’m sorry, I mean the luck behind his dad’s fortune. Wait, what? Nevermind Jax played second fiddle to the newly introduced Sam McCall in that one.
- Bonus points for Sam sleeping with both Jax and Sonny, and pretty much saying she likes Sonny better. Double bonus for getting pregnant with Sonny’s baby.
- Jax knocks up Courtney! Ew. Or so he thinks its a mini-Jax. But its actually Nikolas’ baby. Jax trusts Carly to help him, cuz she’s a pro at hiding the paternity of a child. Jax and Carly get punked by Robin Scorpio, who spills the beans!
That was just the first 10 years of Jax doing nothing meaningful for anybody- not even himself. It’s exhausting. But before the end of Part 1.- Here’s a little more of Jax being useless in the name of Brenda:
- Jax saves Brenda at the cottage. Just kidding, he gets shot by Alcazar.
- Brenda marries Jason instead of him. Jax up and leaves Skye.
- Brenda would rather be with Sonny and Jax catches her kissing him. It looks like Jax is about to just let this one go. But then…Jax acts independently for once and breaks up with her!
Just here to drop some soap. #GeneralHospital #GH60 #SoapOperas #SoapToons #LoveinTheAftertoon