The Spencer Family Truth (2024)

The Spencer Family Truth was a special event for the ABC soap opera General Hospital, celebrating 52 years. According to Michael Logan at TV Insider, the recreated scenes from the first episode in 1963. This episode shared the cause of Luke Spencer's (Anthony Geary) split personality. The special aired on April 1, 2015.

See the following related links for: Eckert family, Evil Luke, History of General Hospital, Special Episodes, Spencer family, Spencer House (1960s)

Storyline[]

In 2015, Luke Spencer had a mental breakdown. He wreaked havoc on his hometown of Port Charles and even took his daughter, Lulu Spencer, then fiancée, Tracy Quartermaine, and sisters hostage at gunpoint. After reasoning with him, Luke came out of his manic state and rushed to his old home on Elm Street where the abuse occurred. At the home, Luke remembered for the first time everything that occurred on the night Lena died. Meanwhile, Patricia explained to her family, which she had not seen in decades, what truly happened that night.

On April 1, 1963, a 15 year old Luke had just came home from a baseball game and older sister Pat was downstairs wearing pants, which was not socially accepted at the time. Luke's younger sister Bobbie hid behind the curtains as an April Fool's joke. Lena was frustrated that they needed to get dinner ready for their father, Tim, who hadn't come home from working on the docks yet. The atmosphere changed immediately when Tim finally came home. Pat had changed into a dress before he got there and Luke and Bobbie set the table with Pat.

At dinner, Tim verbally abused his family as usual. Tim asked Luke how his baseball game was and Tim was angry that Luke lost and made Luke practice swinging the bat in the living room. After berating Luke's sissy batting, Pat immediately confronted her father, verbally standing up to him and was slapped hard in the face by her drunkard father. Lena immediately went to Pat's defense by trying to reason with Tim and saying that she didn't mean it. This erupted into an argument about her taking the kid's side over Tim's and that Lena needed to stand up to her husband.

Luke and Pat made Tim back off when he threatened to give Lena what he gave Pat in the face. Bobbie was at this point in her room for her protection, while Luke accidentally hit his mother in the head with the bat while trying to protect her. Pat defied her father and took his car to GH. Lena was reluctant and wanted to go home, but Dr. Steve Hardy (who was well-acquainted with Lena Eckert and her abusive husband, treating her injuries before) and Dr. Phil Brewer treated her when she passed out in the waiting area.

While Pat was at the hospital with her mother being checked out by Drs. Brewer and Hardy, Tim had received a call from the hospital that Lena was dead. At the house, Luke and Tim got in a fight where Tim called Luke out on him being a monster, he said to Luke that he and his son are exactly the same. He was about to leave and let the State handle his three children. Tim blasted angrily at Luke who was holding the baseball bat that hit Lena by mistake, provoked Luke and was bludgeoned to death.

Pat had been taken to the house later by their cousin Bill Eckert, Luke's look-a-like (whose father, Fred was notified by Dr. Hardy about Lena's death) only to find a shattered Luke and a dead Tim. Tim's body was buried behind the basem*nt wall of the house by Bill and Pat, and the latter had signed the house over to Bill. Pat then sold Tim's car and used the money to go to Philadelphia, while Luke and Bobbie were sent to live with their paternal aunt Ruby Anderson in Jacksonville, Florida.

Bobbie's son, Lucas Jones called Patricia while she was talking to them and revealed that Luke had broken into their old house. Patricia, Bobbie, and Tracy raced to the house where they found Luke. Patricia filled in the blanks to Luke and he realized that he killed both of his parents and had mentally blocked it out. Luke finally understood what his cousin, Bill, meant by his dying words of "forgive yourself for what you did to your mother."

On July 23, Lena appears in a hallucination to Luke when he was about to shoot himself along with Patricia and Tim and she and Pat persuade him not end his life and live happily in peace. Luke asks her to forgive him and Lena tells her son that there is nothing to forgive and they embrace.

This episode stars actors and characters in recreated roles:

• Timothy "Tim" Spencer - Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer)
• Elena "Lena" (Eckert) Spencer - Laura Wright (Carly Spencer)
• Teenage Patricia "Pat" Spencer - Chloe Lanier (Nelle Benson)
• Teenage William "Bill" Eckert - Joey Luthman
• Teenage Lucas "Luke" Spencer - Joey Luthman
• Young Barbara "Bobbie" Spencer - Katie Mewes
• Older Pat Spencer - Dee Wallace
• Dr. Steven "Steve" Hardy - Jason Thompson (Dr. Patrick Drake)
• Nurse Jessie (Murray) Brewer - Rebecca Herbst (Nurse Elizabeth Webber)
• Dr. Philip "Phil" Brewer - Ryan Carnes (Dr. Lucas Jones)

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