Daytime Performer of the Week: Jane Elliot’s Tracy Quartermaine Blasts Ex-Daughter-in-Law on ‘GH’

The Doctor Is In

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The open disdain that upscale Tracy Quartermaine, played by Jane Elliot, had for her Brooklyn-born daughter-in-law Lois Cerullo (Rena Sofer), in the early days of Lois and Ned’s (Wally Kurth) romance on General Hospital was legendary. If Tracy had had her way, Lois never would have stepped foot in the Quartermaine mansion.   

Over time, the two women buried the hatchet – or so it appeared. Last week, we saw Tracy tap into that not-so forgotten animosity, and with good reason, too. 

Tracy discovered that Lois aided her daughter Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton), Tracy’s granddaughter (her son Ned is Brook Lynn’s dad), through a traumatic teen pregnancy without informing Ned’s side of the family what was happening.  

Forget about Lois calling Tracy “Mother Quartermaine” or not knowing which piece of silverware to use first at a five-course meal, Tracy was livid that she and the other Quartermaine family members had been kept in the dark. She stated that her late parents, Edward (John Ingle) and Lila (Anna Lee), deserved better.  

“Where’s my great-grandson?” Tracy simply asked Lois. 

Off Lois saying that they should finally clear the air, Tracy laughed, “This is not a rumble. I just want to have a conversation.”  

The encounter between the two women may not have gotten physical, but it was a rumble, of sorts. Tracy’s treatment of Lois back in the day was a bit unfair, but now, all these years later, Tracy felt justified in her opinion of Lois.  

“Brook Lynn had a child – as a teenager,” began Tracy, as if to explain her stance. “And was the decision to give up that baby really hers? Or were you calling the shots?”  

Tracy excels in business but she would make an excellent lawyer. She asked questions of Lois as if she were on the witness stand. And why not? Tracy views Lois’s actions as not just unforgivable but downright criminal.  

Lois said that Brook Lynn made this call. Tracy pushed back, calling into question Lois’s influence over her daughter.  

Lois said what this was truly about was Tracy never being able to see the good in her. “Lois, that might have been true once,” Tracy conceded. “But then, Brook Lynn came along. And she is a woman that my parents would be proud to call a Quartermaine. And I would have held you responsible for that – before. Whatever strides you have made over the decades, ah, now that I know that you have been deceiving us, and worse that you convinced Brook Lynn to keep a huge secret…”  

Lois interjected that this was about keeping her daughter’s confidence and protecting her daughter’s future.  

“We have the resources to do that and yet you completely avoided us,” an exasperated Tracy responded.   

Lois proclaimed that there’s no handbook on what to do when your teenage daughter reveals that she’s pregnant, and she did the best she could. That didn’t hold any water with Tracy.  

“Nothing says ‘loving relationship’ like forcing your offspring to give up theirs!” Tracy said. 

Lois attempted to leave, but Tracy wasn’t letting her off the hook for what had transpired in the past – especially as the issue is unresolved. “Brook Lynn doesn’t know where her son is. You do,” Tracy said.  

Lois continued to stick by her story, but Tracy countered with a tone of faux sweetness, “If the Cerullos were privy to the information, why weren’t the Quartermaines? Is it because the adoption wouldn’t have happened if we knew?”  

The big difference between the Quartermaine and Cerullo clans is money. The Quartermaine dynasty has it and the Cerullo clan does not. That shouldn’t matter, but Tracy felt that financial resources not only could have, but should have. played a key factor in decisions that were made about Brook Lynn’s pregnancy.   

Leaning into the emotional trauma Brook Lynn was going through at the time, Lois said money doesn’t make everything easier.  

“It makes some things easier,” firmly replied Tracy, armed with the truth.   

The Quartermaine heiress countered that it wasn’t just the financial resources that her family could have provided in this situation if Brook Lynn wasn’t quite ready to be a mother. “That baby should have been here with this family until she was ready,” Tracy said. “That baby should have been here – not handed off like some afterthought.”  

Lois said her grandson deserved better growing up with the Quartermaines. Tracy felt that Lois had revealed her true motivation for supporting Brook Lynn’s decision to give up her child. “There it is. There it is. That’s why you gave up that baby for adoption,” Tracy announced as she pointed her finger towards Lois.  

Lois claimed that keeping her grandson from Tracy’s family wasn’t a factor – just an added bonus.  

The Quartermaine mansion may still be Monica’s (Leslie Charleson) house, but Tracy informed Lois that since she found dealing with her family so insufferable she should feel free to move. Tracy offered to help her pack.  

Lois said Tracy would love to see her go. “More than you’ll ever know,” stated Tracy as she continued to stare down her ex-daughter-in-law.  

Off Lois saying she’d be sticking around to help Brook Lynn, Tracy mused, “Of course, you will. You have to keep that dirty little secret buried. You’re a piece of work, Lois. And I, for one, cannot wait for the day that I rid this house of you.”  

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Before exiting the room, Tracy concluded with a tone that was both sinister and justified, “I have a feeling that day is fast-approaching.”  

There’s no feud on a soap opera like an old feud. Kudos to Elliot for tapping so freely into Tracy’s true feelings for Lois. As much as she wishes Brook Lynn hadn’t gone through a difficult time as a teen, there’s a certain satisfaction that Tracy is feeling now about the woman she never thought was good enough for her son.   

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