Daytime TV Performer of the Week: ‘GH’s’ Kelly Thiebaud Shows the ‘Britch’ Is Back as Britt Tells off Jason

The Doctor Is In

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Soap opera characters like Dr. Britt Westbourne, played Kelly Thiebaud, have to deal with larger-than-life situations — like cheating death, seeing lovers come back from the dead, and reuniting with them at five-star spas in Europe.

When General Hospital calls for Thiebaud to play moments like this, the actress brings a grounded, relatable realism to the heightened situations. (Being dumped is being dumped, even if your lover leaves you to help stave off a mob war.)

For her performance as a woman who came face to face with her ex-lover and told him off in no uncertain terms, TV Insider is handing Performer of the Week honors to the Daytime Emmy-winning Thiebaud!

There was a lot of backstory to touch upon when Jason (Steve Burton) and Britt had their reunion, but there were even more emotions to cover. Thiebaud’s Britt had mellowed over the years. She became likable to her co-workers at General Hospital, but the brunette beauty never lost the unmistakable edge that earned her the nickname “the Britch.” It’s right there underneath the surface, ready to be tapped into, and that’s just what Thiebaud did in these scenes with Burton.

Jason may have had a good reason to call off his romance with the good doctor as his marriage to Carly (Laura Wright) was related to stopping mob wars from erupting, but that didn’t make Britt feel any better.

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“That’s funny,” Britt replied when Jason announced he was there for her. “I don’t recall asking you to show up in my room in the middle of the night.”

On the printed page, a line like that could be delivered in a bitchy (Britchy?) tone, but Thiebaud injected a great deal of vulnerability to her performance in these scenes, as evidenced by her eyes filling up slightly with tears. She loved Jason. He hurt her. And there was no forgetting that.

Jason explained that he didn’t know if Britt being presumed dead was her choice or not. “And if it wasn’t, what? You were going to find me and rescue me?” asked Britt in a tone that included a bit of sarcasm and a dream she wished could come true. There’s a part of Britt that’s still open to letting Jason back into her life as her hero, but it’s buried pretty deep right now.

Thiebaud turns on a dime from vulnerable heroine to caustic woman better than anyone. “Well, congratulations, you found me, so you can go,” she semi-snarked, still managing to sound like someone who could use Jason’s assistance.

Jason pushed for details as to why Britt couldn’t risk being recognized. He asked if she was in danger. Britt emotionally recalled all the times she confided in Jason in the past — about her Huntington’s disease — and he was there for her.

“I was terrified, and you, you made me feel like I didn’t have to go through it alone and then, you just turned around and left me to deal with it all by myself so you could marry Carly,” Britt recalled. The feelings of betrayal were still very fresh in her mind.

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“You can’t imagine the grief, the guilt that I felt — except you were fine,” Britt shared after recounting how Jason went on a “fatal” mission to help save her mother, Leisl (Kathleen Gati). “And here you stand very much alive.”

Jason wanted to know how Britt survived Heather’s (Alley Mills) attack. (Yes, we’d like to know the answer to that, too!)

“You go first,” Britt countered. Her request wasn’t just a stalling tactic. Britt truly did want to learn how the man she loved had cheated death.

Told by Jason that he had survived the cave collapsing and how he was picked up by the FBI and became an informant, Britt quickly figured out why he’d consent to such a thing that was anathema to his nature. “They may twist and turn but, in the end, all roads lead back to Carly, don’t they?” Britt quipped.

Britt didn’t hold her tongue when it came to her feelings on Jason and Carly, but she was less willing to open up about how she beat the Grim Reaper. “You don’t deserve to know,” she shouted. “You don’t deserve a damn thing from me. I grieved you, Jason. I stood at your grave and forgave you. Well, I take it all back. You are a selfish son of a bitch! I don’t forgive you for anything.”

Britt firmly informed Jason that she was not going to let him disrupt the new life she had built for herself. Her greatest fear isn’t the Huntington’s or whatever danger she may be in — it’s letting Jason back into her life only to be hurt again.

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“Unfortunately, you lost the right to ask me questions,” Britt stated when Jason probed as to how her illness could be in remission. “But as you can see, I’m fine. You can go now. It’s what you’re good at.” (Ouch!)

Thiebaud made Britt’s feelings clear to Jason in true Britch-fashion. “Put away our cape, okay?” she shouted. “I don’t need saving, not by you, not anymore. If I do need saving, I can do it by my own damn self, okay?”

When we first met Britt, she had walls up all around her. We watched them fall and the Britch we loved to hate became the heroine we loved to love. Now, Britt has new walls up around her. Watching them fall again as Jason tries to make his way back into her life has us hooked on General Hospital all over again.

Kudos to GH for bringing Thiebaud back as Britt, and not a look-a-like, long-lost twin, or doppelganger (do those ever work?). And brava to Thiebaud for signing up to play her compelling, vulnerable, and complex character once again. Welcome home.

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