History Series / GeneralHospital

* SecretTestOfCharacter: In 1980, Edward Quartermaine informed his daughter Tracy that he was cutting her out of his will, then suddenly had a heart attack, begging Tracy to give him his heart medication to save his life, but Tracy refused, saying he'd need to agree to put her back in the will before she'd give him the meds. Then Edward revealed he was faking all along, and the whole meeting was a ruse to give her one final chance to prove her loyalty and scruples to him (of course, the whole thing also revealed quite a bit about Edward's own lack of scruples). Since she failed the Secret Test so miserably, Edward basically banished Tracy from the family for the next few years.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: The celebrated 1980 sequence where Edward Quartermaine faked having a heart attack in front of his daughter Tracy to give her a chance to prove her loyalty and compassion, but she refused to give him his heart medication even after he begged for it. Edward then admitted he was faking, and told Tracy he was leaving her out of his will as punishment.

* RichBitch: Tracy Quartermaine. She's also a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness - Spinelli

** Despite her amnesia, Esme Prince [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude named her baby son Ace]], which is the name she used when she would talk to her gestating child in the womb while being held captive by Nik Cassadine at Wyndermere (since she saw the baby as her "ace in the hole" for dealing with the Cassadines). She even commented how that name just suddenly occurred to her and seemed right. Of course, given her history of faking illnesses, it might be a sign that she's faking the amnesia as well.

** Cyrus Renault is unfailingly polite to everyone he encounters, offering kind words and handshakes. Not one person is fooled into thinking he is anything but a murderous drug dealing thug. The flip side of this is that the rare instances when Cyrus ''does'' get mad are a chilling example of OOCIsSeriousBusiness.

** Sonny Corinthos is very obviously [[Franchise/TheGodfather Vito Corleone]] (powerful mob boss) meets [[Franchise/TheGodfather Michael Corleone]] (personal turmoil stemming from being deeply conflicted about his organized crime life) meets [[Series/TheSopranos Tony Soprano]] (juggling mob activities with being trying to be an attentive father to his children). He's even acknowledged many of these similarities on the show.

** Anytime Monica reminds anyone that the Quartermaine mansion is "HER house" someone else(originally Alan and/or Tracy but now someone else) would remind her that Alan gave it to her.

* InMemoriam: The November 27, 2023 episode ended with a card acknowledging the passing of Tyler Christopher, who died about a month earlier on October 31, the originator of the role of Nikolas Cassadine (Christopher last appeared on the show in 2016).

** The 2023 investigation of the murder of Austin Gatlin-Holt saw the PCPD work with a detective from the Pautuck Police [[Series/LawAndOrder named Briscoe]].

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Port Charles is officially somewhere in UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, in a location that's about a six-hour drive from UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, but beyond that the location hasn't been too explicitly defined. Several location scenes were shot in and around UsefulNotes/{{Rochester}} in the 1990s, leading to speculation that it's a FictionalCounterpart to the city[[note]]And, wouldn't you know it, Rochester really ''does'' have a sizable medical center named General Hospital[[/note]], but Rochester itself exists in the show's universe. Some fans still view Port Charles as having the same relation to Rochester that [[Franchise/TheDCU Metropolis and Gotham City]] have to New York City; another popular theory has Port Charles situated on Lake Ontario, about midway between Rochester and nearby Buffalo.

** Any man who gets romantically involved with Maxie Jones does so at the peril of their life. ''Three'' of her former fiancés have kicked the bucket (Peter Harrell, Nathan West, Peter August; Spinelli managed to escape, though), and at least a half-dozen other former beaus have died as well (most recently Austin Gatlin-Holt).

* SoapOperaOrganScore: In the early years it often used piano or violin based music cues that were in the same as vein as this, but, as heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T95kyY_nSLs toward the end of the scene where Dr. Steve Hardy proposed to Nurse Audrey March in 1964]], it used the classic organ score as well.

** Despite her amnesia, Esme [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude named her baby son Ace]], which is the name she used when she would talk to her gestating child in the womb while being held captive by Nik at Wyndermere (since she saw the baby as her "ace in the hole" for dealing with the Cassadines). She even commented how that name just suddenly occurred to her and seemed right. Of course, given her history of faking illnesses, it might be a sign that she's faking the amnesia as well.

** The first crack in Ned's amnesia where he thinks he's his old alter ego Eddie Maine comes when his ex Lois mentions how his adopted son Leo knows the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, which causes Ned to {{Flashback}} to the famous 1995 sequence when he and Lois rushed to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge to celebrate after their wedding.

* AmnesiacResonance: Despite her amnesia, Esme [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude named her baby son Ace]], which is the name she used when she would talk to her gestating child in the womb while being held captive by Nik at Wyndermere (since she saw the baby as her "ace in the hole" for dealing with the Cassadines). She even commented how that name just suddenly occurred to her and seemed right. Of course, given her history of faking illnesses, it might be a sign that she's faking the amnesia as well.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The show has interestingly gone both ways on the issue of doctors treating members of their own family, which isn't illegal, but is considered a thorny gray area in medical ethics because of some obvious conflict-of-interest problems, and usually discouraged. In 2019, Finn directed his ex-fiancée Hayden to another doctor when she brought their daughter Violet in with a fever, saying it was against hospital policy for him to treat her. In 2023, Valentin Cassadine brought his troubled daughter Charlotte in for a consultation with Kevin Collins, which Kevin readily agreed to conduct even though he's married to her grandmother Laura (and thus is Charlotte's step-grandfather).

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The show has interestingly gone both ways on the issue of doctors treating members of their own family, which isn't illegal, but it considered a thorny gray area in medical ethics because of some obvious conflict-of-interest problems, and usually discouraged. In 2019, Finn directed his ex-fiancée Hayden to another doctor when she brought their daughter Violet in with a fever, saying it was against hospital policy for him to treat her. In 2023, Valentin Cassadine brought his troubled daughter Charlotte in for a consultation with Kevin Collins, which Kevin readily agreed to conduct even though he's married to her grandmother Laura (and thus is Charlotte's step-grandfather).

** In TheNineties there was Jagger being torn between Karen (Betty) and Brenda (Veronica), while he also played the Veronica role, alongside Jason as Betty, for Karen

* SerialKiller: Port Charles has more than its fair of these, most famously Ryan Chamberlain, but also several mysterious figures like the Text Message Killer (revealed to be Diego Alcazar), and, most recently The Hook (aka the Port Charles Hooker, with Heather Webber confessing to the murders). There are also the cases of villains who manage to rack up body counts alongside their other misdeeds, like Franco Baldwin and Helena Cassadine.

** Nina delivered an emotional one to Carly after the latter reluctantly admitted that she had DNA test results proving that Nina was Willow's mother, but withheld them from her largely out of spite to punish Nina for similarly withholding the news that Sonny was in Nixon Falls back when he had his amnesia problems (and more generally Nina stealing Sonny from her). It climaxed with Nina telling Carly (in the hospital chapel, mind you) "Go to Hell, you selfish bitch!"

** Similarly when Sam [=McCall=] and John [=McBain=] meet. Both actors played vampire lovers on the short-lived supernatural spin-off of General Hospital, ''Series/PortCharles''.
*** A recent storyline took it a step further, having the man playing [=McBain=] reprise the role he portrayed on ''Port Charles''.
** Another example came in a scene involving Franco and Kiki. Kristen Alderson, who originated the role, announced her departure; her final scene was with Roger Howarth, who had worked with Alderson on ''Series/OneLifeToLive'' as Todd Manning and his daughter Starr respectively. As they had worked together since she was 6 years old, they were coworkers for the better part of two decades. As such, the dialogue of their last scene, written on the surface as Franco rambling after a dose of LSD, could also be intrepreted as Todd saying goodbye to Starr and in turn, Howarth saying goodbye to Alderson.

** Maurice Benard's portrayal of Sonny Corinthos qualifies, since he's generally calm, but is very fond of the DramaticPause, along with a blatant VerbalTic of adding "uhh" before lines.