Daytime Performer of the Week: Jeff Kober’s Deadly Good Turn on ‘General Hospital’

The Doctor Is In

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Finding religion just wasn’t a ruse for Cyrus Renault, played by Jeff Kober, in order to get out of Pentonville on General Hospital. The ex-drug lord and former kidnapper truly believed he was doing God’s work, but how he interpreted that mission proved deadly for more than one Port Charles resident.

In his final days on GH, Kober was tasked with showing a deeply disturbed side of Cyrus, one that made his drug lord persona pale in comparison and one that drove terror into the heart of Elizabeth Webber Baldwin (Rebecca Herbst).

Just as he’d done over the last five years, Kober had us glued to our seats as we watched the Machiavellian Cyrus do whatever he wanted.

Already suspicious of Cyrus being the reason Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco), Dex Heller (Evan Hofer), and other patients at General Hospital died from digitalis (may we never hear that word again!) poisoning, Liz, naturally, was hesitant to let Cyrus in her home. However, the charismatic killer forced his way in and opened up about what led him to act the way he did.

Kudos to Herbst for showing Liz as being fearful for her life, but also for maintaining as much composure as possible as she tried to reason with her unwanted guest.

We held out hope that Cyrus, who had gone to Pentonville for various crimes – kidnapping, selling drugs – had truly found redemption. He showed great vulnerability when it came to his mother, Florence Grey (Annie Abbott), and Cyrus helped save his nephew Spencer’s (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) life when he was residing at Pentonville.

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But that wasn’t meant to be. By his own twisted logic, Cyrus wasn’t hurting anyone when he tried to kill Lulu (Alexa Havins) and when he did kill Sam and Dex, and others. He was hoping to end their suffering.

Knowing she was cornered by a killer who physically outmatched her, Liz tried to find common ground with Cyrus, hoping he’d buy her position that they both try to help people – her, by working as a nurse; him, by ending patients’ pain by injecting them with a lethal drug that caused them to slip painlessly into the next realm.

Liz, like the viewers, couldn’t seem to understand why Cyrus killed Samantha; after all, she’d donated part of her liver to save Cyrus’s dying niece Lulu, and she was on her way to a full recovery. Wasn’t that a good thing? Shouldn’t that have endeared Sam to Cyrus?

“She got in my way of carrying out the lord’s work,” exclaimed Cyrus, frustrated that he is so misunderstood. “Sam’s donation would have halted Lulu’s decline but it wouldn’t have freed her from the prison she was in.”

At this point, Liz knew for certain that she was dealing with a killer who was trying to justify his delusions. “Why did Dex have to die?” asked Liz, half in an effort to stall Cyrus from killing her and half wanting to know. With every syllable Liz uttered, she realized she likely was doomed to become Cyrus’s next victim.

She gently – but perhaps foolishly – pushed Cyrus over the edge by telling him that his killing folks was not God’s work at all. “That sounds less like the will of God and more like something the ‘old Cyrus’ would do,” she said.

“I need you to believe there was no malice in my heart to Officer Heller,” Cyrus maintained.

Unlike some killers who don’t care that they’re bumping off people, Kober brought genuine conflicted feelings to Cyrus’s actions. He doesn’t really want to hurt people but he has to. In a way, that makes him even more scary.

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At his worst, Kober’s Cyrus made Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers) seem like Agnes Whitaker (Beth Peters)!

“Thank you, Nurse Baldwin,” a menacing Cyrus informed Liz, “for understanding the importance of my mission.”

Soaps have had plenty of villains who know what they’re doing is illegal and wrong. But Kober dug deep into Cyrus’s psyche and made us believe that Cyrus truly thought he was doing the right thing.

Fortunately, temporary Lucky (Guy Wilson) came to the rescue, taking the needle in the thigh that Cyrus intended for Liz. Cyrus managed to escape and made his way home where he encountered Josslyn (Eden McCoy), who was searching for evidence of his crimes.

An ax-wielding Cyrus made his way toward Joss, but the young woman had come prepared with a gun. She shot Cyrus twice, killing him. He lived long enough to inform Joss, “Now, you’re the murderer.” With his twisted last breaths, Cyrus seemed incapable of distinguishing between acting as an executioner (what he did) and self-defense (what Joss did).

For five years, Kober, a veteran of China Beach, Sons of Anarchy, and Shameless, graced the daytime drama genre, winning the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2022.

Both Cyrus’s impact on his victims’ loved ones and Kober’s mark on GH won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Port Charles residents may sleep a little more soundly now, but viewers will miss Kober’s complex performances, commitment to his character, and his compelling presence.

General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC