GENERAL HOSPITAL - Episode "14930” - "General Hospital" airs Monday - Friday, on ABC (check local listings). (ABC/Christopher Willard)JON LINDSTROM, AVERY KRISTEN POHL
Credit: ABC

If we’re being honest — and shouldn’t we always be? — we all knew that no way, no how had General Hospital really written off Avery Kristen Pohl when it sent Esme plummeting from Wyndemere’s parapet in August. Not only do parapet falls have a notoriously iffy kill rate, but Ryan’s vicious daughter is too delicious a villainess to be so casually tossed away, especially when there’s so much potential left for exceedingly juicy story.

Now, two months after Esme’s “demise,” it would appear that the soap is ready to sink its teeth into that story. When the vixen comes bobbing to the surface the week of October 3, she doesn’t simply reveal herself. No, “before she goes right back into the thick of things, she’s scoping thing out,” Pohl tells Soap Opera Digest. “She’s using her time wisely and waiting for the right time to strike.”

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And make no mistake — she is going to strike. Revenge is foremost on her mind. But she has to be careful about it. In her mind, Ava tried to murder her. Something like that might make one tread a little lighter than usual. However, Esme believes that she is in possession of a weapon that could bring the Cassadine family to its knees. Perhaps it could also get her off the hook for the hell through which she put Josslyn, Cameron and especially poor Trina?

All that said, the Esme who returns to Port Charles isn’t the same one who was swept away by the tide. She’s changed in her time away, says Pohl. “She’s spent a few months by herself and has come to terms with the reality of [nearly dying].” If that doesn’t change a person’s perspective, what would?

Ryan doesn't know who Esme's mother is GH

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On top of that, Esme has had her eyes opened where her father is concerned. Where was Ryan when she needed him? Chilling at Ferncliff while she fended for herself. But the thing is, she did fend for herself. So maybe, just maybe she doesn’t need him as much as he’d like her to think that she does.

Review the list of all the actors joining and/or returning to General Hospital in our newly updated photo gallery.