I’m ready for General Hospital’s Sonny vs Sidwell battle

For the last few months on General Hospital, Sonny (Maurice Benard) has largely been focusing on his health and his family. His heart condition and the attack on the penthouse that injured Michael (Rory Gibson) made it necessary for Sonny to step back and rearrange his priorities.

But his enemies didn’t take time off, and now Sonny is about to go to war, old-school style, with Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota). Sonny’s position in Port Charles is in danger on all fronts, and he’s going to need to make a big show of force to keep the empire he’s spent his life building.

Sidwell is a worthy opponent

Sidwell may be a match for Port Charles’ resident organized crime boss. He has deep pockets and an international reach. He lives on an island like a cartoon villain, and he really wants the piers where Sonny currently does business.

What makes Sidwell particularly dangerous for Sonny is his connections. In a criminal vs. criminal fight, I think Sonny could take Sidwell. But Sidwell has been busy building financial and personal relationships with the heavy hitters in Port Charles by doing things like underwriting the Nurses Ball. He’s smart enough to wage campaigns on two fronts: public and private. Privately, he’s laying the groundwork to take control of Sonny’s turf by doing things like bombing Charlie’s Pub and bribing the judge in Michael’s custody case.

Publicly, he’s waging a charm offensive, trying to get the richest and most powerful people in Port Charles on his side. He’s also supplying Deception with zincite and doing his best to be indispensable in the city.

However, no one trusts him. Many movers and shakers in Port Charles know and trust Sonny, and their loyalty isn’t going to shift just because Sidwell starts throwing money around. Even with his charming son Marco (Adrian Anchondo) now at his side, Sidwell is going to need to work harder to overcome his reputation in Port Charles. No one has forgotten what he did to Lucky (Jonathan Jackson), Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) or Jason (Steve Burton) in Africa.

This time it’s personal

Sonny would like to think he’s pretty good at keeping business and family separate, but this time, Sidwell has gone after his family multiple times, and that makes it personal. There’s never been any evidence that Sidwell was behind the bombing at the penthouse that almost killed Michael, but Sonny and Jason both suspect Sidwell was behind it.

If Sidwell was responsible for the penthouse bombing, did he force the judge to give Michael full custody of his kids as a way of making up for the pain he caused? Sidwell seems to have a twisted moral sense that might have made him feel like he owed Michael for hurting him so badly.

Sidwell crossed Sonny’s last line now. Ordering the fire at Charlie’s Pub while Kristina (Kate Mansi) was inside was a personal attack that Sonny’s not going to let go of. He knows that Selina Wu (Lydia Look) is scared of him and would never attack him like that. Sonny knows it was Sidwell and may gun for Marco as payback, if he doesn’t let Carly’s (Laura Wright) words ring in his ears.

When Marco first came to town, he wanted little to do with his father. But now, he thinks that Sonny is responsible for the death of his mom Natalia (Eve LaRue), and he’s joined his father’s vendetta against Sonny. This is going to get messy, and I live for mess.

Always bet on Sonny

Sonny hasn’t been at his strongest the past few months. His heart condition knocked him down for a while, and he’s been dealing with a lot personally. I really thought at one point he would sell the piers and go into retirement.

But now that Sidwell has twice gone after his family directly, Sonny is gearing up for some old-school violence, and I’m here for it. There is no one like Sonny Corinthos when he’s on a mission to settle a score, and he’s got a big score to settle with Sidwell.

Sonny’s not stupid. He knows that whether or not the vote goes his way, he needs to make Sidwell understand that he’s the dominant power in Port Charles and he’s going to remain in power. Sidwell thinks that if the city votes to take the piers, he can knock Sonny out of position as the big power in Port Charles, but that’s not going to happen.

Sidwell is naïve not to realize that Sonny has held power in Port Charles all these years by making sure that everyone who tried to topple his reign was destroyed. Even though Sidwell may know how to cultivate power in other places, he’s never tried to take power in Port Charles. He’s underestimating Sonny’s wit and determination, and that’s going to backfire on him.

I think it will be a tough fight, but ultimately Sonny will come out on top. It may cost him the piers, his investment at Deception and possibly some of the connections with his family, but I think he will win. Sidwell will be lucky to make it out with his son.

New episodes of Beyond the Gates air weekdays on CBS and become available to stream the day after on Paramount Plus.