Soap Hub Performer of the Week for GH: Sofia Mattsson

 

Sofia Mattsson earned Soap Hub Performer of the Week for GH honors last year when she played out the loss of baby Liam. Now, we’re bestowing POW blessings on her again as her character, Sasha Gilmore Corbin, continues to deal with the grief of losing a child.

Sofia Mattsson – Performer of the Week

The GH writers set the stage to give Sofia Mattsson the platform to let loose with a tour de force by having Sasha appear on Home & Heart’s A Little Bit of Haven. During her appearance, Sasha was asked to not only talk about but also model newborn baby products.

Flanked by two very familiar faces to daytime fans — Morgan Fairchild (ex-Sydney Chase, The City; ex-Anjelica Deveraux, Days of our Lives) and Susan Batten (ex-Luna Moody, One Life to Live) — Mattsson went through a myriad of emotions as Sasha’s nightmare scenario played out.

Batten’s Flora Gardens and Fairchild’s Haven de Havilland (love those handles!) were unaware that Sasha had lost a child less than a year ago. (If only Flora had Luna’s psychic powers!) So, the duo kept urging the Deception model to try on a baby carrier and unknowingly asked a series of insensitive questions that they would not have had they known Sasha’s backstory.

Well-intentioned Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring) feared that interrupting the live TV presentation would only be more harmful to Sasha (Sofia Mattsson), who did her best to maintain her composure. However, as the segment continued it was clear that Sasha couldn’t help but relive the pain and loss of losing little Liam. It only got worse when a doll was placed in the carrier to make the demonstration more believable. That led to Sasha further falling into fantasy land as she envisioned a real-live baby in the carrier — and not just any baby. Elated, Sasha mistakenly thought she was reunited with her baby boy.

“I knew it couldn’t be true,” an overwrought Sasha declared in which she fantasized her and husband Brando Corbin’s (Johnny Wactor) son Liam alive and well in the carrier. (One of Mattsson’s social media followers speculated that the actress’s real-life son was playing ‘Liam’ — it sure looked like him!)

“Oh, Liam! You’re here!” Sasha said as she continued to fall into her own world. “Oh, my sweet Liam. I almost forgot how beautiful you are.” Shocked back into reality by Brando, Sasha was forced to relive little Liam’s loss all over again.

Later, at GH, Kevin opened Sasha’s purse and discovered some pills in a plastic bag. This prompted Sasha to break down even further as it’s clear that her dependency on drugs is still an issue in her life. Mattsson’s performance and Sasha’s grief are a reminder that the pain of loss never goes away. It may be compartmentalized, buried or temporarily numbed as human beings attempt to move forward with their lives. Brava to Sofia Mattsson who might want to keep these scenes in mind if she decides to throw her hat into the Daytime Emmy ring next year. We certainly won’t forget this powerful performance anytime soon.

Honorable Mention: It’s always great to see Morgan Fairchild back on our screens. Kudos to GH for landing the powerhouse for this story beat. The actress has been part of the soap world since her debut as Jennifer Pace on Search for Tomorrow in the 1970s. She’s entertained us over the years in both daytime and nighttime serial roles including Paper Dolls as Racine and as the original Jenna Wade on Dallas. Haven interrupted an apologetic Flora, who lamented Sasha’s (Sofia Mattsson) pain, as she made it clear to Lucy that the model’s reps should have given the Heart & Home folks a warning about Sasha’s delicate state. It’d be pure heaven to see Haven pop up on GH anytime!