GH’s Jack Brennan Let Ross Cullum Monologue an Entire Villain Playbook While He Played Possum

JACK BRENNAN IS RUNNING THE WHOLE GAME FROM A HOSPITAL BED

TL;DR: Tuesday’s General Hospital pulled a soapy double-feature at Turning Woods. Ross Cullum walked in threatening Jack Brennan for the black box safe combination, with no idea Jack is fully conscious now that Nina stopped the drugs. Then Carly and Valentin snuck into the same facility disguised as orderlies after Jack sent them a coded “ex machina” SOS through Nina. The man everyone wrote off as locked-in has been running an active intelligence operation from his pillow. Cullum is walking into a trap. Carly and Valentin are now a soap opera power couple. And Jack Brennan is the chess master nobody saw coming.

The Most Dangerous Patient at Turning Woods

Jack Brennan had two separate visitors at Turning Woods on Tuesday’s General Hospital and neither one knew the other was coming. Ross Cullum walked in armed with threats. Carly and Valentin walked in disguised as orderlies after Jack sent them a coded SOS. The man everyone thinks is locked-in has been quietly running a chess game from a hospital bed.

Bestie, Jack Brennan is the most dangerous patient at Turning Woods, and the only people who know it are sleeping with each other.

Got a theory on how Jack takes Cullum and Sidwell down from a hospital bed? Email [email protected] and your wild theory could land on the site!

Ross Cullum Threatened a Man Who Heard Every Word

Cullum walked into Jack’s room demanding the combination to the black box safe in the office. He was convinced Jack had helped Britt escape. He stood over the bed and bullied him.

Jack played the role. He blinked “no.” He let Cullum monologue. Cullum even debated pinching Jack’s IV line right there, then decided to come back later. He left thinking he had intimidated a vegetable.

The man in the bed heard every single word.

Nina had stopped dosing him. The drugs are wearing off. Jack can speak, he can hear, and his cognitive faculties are sharp enough to be running an active intelligence operation from his pillow. Ross Cullum told a fully conscious Jack Brennan exactly what he wanted, where the leverage was kept, and that he was willing to kill to get it. Cullum gave him the entire playbook and walked out thinking he had given him nothing.

That is not a threat. That is a confession delivered to the one person in Port Charles who can weaponize it.

Carly and Valentin Got the Ex Machina Signal

Earlier in the same episode, Nina arrived at Carly’s house demanding to see Valentin. She dropped jabs about the new living arrangement, then delivered Jack’s message. He had been transferred to Turning Woods. He was awake. He wanted to see Valentin. And he had used the code phrase “ex machina.”

Valentin recognized it immediately. He told Carly they were in bigger trouble than he had thought. This is a piece of coded vocabulary only certain WSB-adjacent operators understand, and Valentin’s face told Carly the stakes had multiplied.

Carly offered to go alone so Valentin would not get caught. He refused. They went together, with Carly disguising Valentin as an orderly so they could walk into the facility without setting off alarms. Two of the smartest, most dangerous people on the canvas snuck into a medical facility because a man in a hospital bed asked them to.

That is the soap opera version of a war room being assembled.

The Turning Woods Convergence Is a Powder Keg

Now for the speculation. Cullum is coming back for the safe combination. Carly and Valentin are now physically inside the facility. Jack is awake, mobile-adjacent, and ready to coordinate.

What happens when the storylines converge? Cullum walks back into Jack’s room expecting compliance. Carly and Valentin are already in the building. The man who has been threatening a “locked-in” patient is about to find himself outnumbered, outsmarted, and outmaneuvered in a room he thinks is his to control.

Even better, Cullum still does not know Pascal was questioned by the PCPD about Marco. He does not know the same enforcer who killed Sidwell’s son is now exposed inside the operation. Cullum is walking around Port Charles thinking he is still in control. He is not.

Carly and Valentin Are the Power Couple Nobody Asked For

Tuesday quietly upgraded Carly and Valentin from situationship to soap opera power couple. They are sleeping together. They survived Nina arriving at the door together. And now they are running a covert WSB-adjacent operation because the man they are protecting sent them a coded distress signal.

That is not casual. That is the beginning of a partnership that is going to terrify everyone who underestimated them. Nina warned Valentin it was going to be his funeral if he did not meet with Jack. Nina was right about the funeral but wrong about whose it is.

The Locked-In Man Is Running the Whole Game

Here is the soapiest layer. Jack Brennan has been written off by every villain in this storyline. Willow has been drugging him on Sidwell’s orders. Cullum thinks he is a vegetable. Nina believed he was permanently incapacitated until the drugs wore off. The man in the bed has been listening, learning, plotting, and coordinating an entire counter-operation through a single nurse who agreed to stop the injections.

Jack used Nina to summon Valentin. Valentin used Carly to get inside. And now the man Cullum thought he was bullying is the man Cullum should have been afraid of from day one. Bring popcorn. The patient in the bed is the one taking Sidwell down on General Hospital.

Does Jack take Cullum down with the safe info, or does the Turning Woods trap snap shut on everyone at once? Drop your verdict in the comments on our Facebook page!

WATCH THIS: Who will finally take down Cullum?

@soapoperamag It's TIME for #RossCullum to DIE on GH… So WHO Pulls the Trigger?! We love a baddie. We HATE this one. Hit play because this is the death we have been manifesting for months! #GH #GeneralHospital ♬ original sound – Soap Opera Magazine