You’ve really gone and done it this time, General Hospital. You’ve gone and painted three of your most popular characters into corners from which it would appear there is no way out.

In Sonny’s case, the soap has served up a reminder that the guy is a career criminal. “Good” mobster or not, he’s the kind of toughie who hangs those who displease him from meat hooks. His gains are ill-gotten. His list of offenses is so long and varied, it could be published in volumes.

As for Valentin, we were told long before we met him that he was the scariest Cassadine of all. But then it turned out that he was just be a big ol’ hopeless romantic who hatched a scheme here and there. Who in Port Charles doesn’t, right? Now, though, he’s been turned not only a baddie again but the Big Bad. WTH?

Finally, there’s poor Ava, who admittedly has done a lot of [bleeping] terrible stuff over the years. But she and the show had moved past them — until the writer switch. Since then, Ava’s past sins have started being brought up on the regular, and she’s started making boneheaded moves as if we didn’t all know she was the shrewdest character on the canvas.

So what can we expect? If General Hospital plays the obvious follow-through and sends the threesome to prison, it will lose a trio of its most valuable players. It will also call into question why, if they are made for their crimes, does Cyrus get to walk around free? After the feds are done blackmailing Jason, why wouldn’t he be sent up the river? And so on and so forth. How could the show justify punishing some criminals while giving others a Get Out of Jail Free card? Simply put, it couldn’t.

Also, fans would freak if Sonny, Valentin and Ava suddenly went missing from the frontburner. And for what? To leave us with homophobic harpy Natalia? Pass.

On the flip side, if the show allows Sonny, Valentin and Ava to elude the long arm of the law once again, what message is it sending to the audience? “Eh, you don’t have to worry about General Hospital characters. We like to make it look like they’re going down, but we can always give them a murder tumor or have them save the governor’s daughter or something.” The powers that be can’t want that, right? Hence, the situation is no-win — and it’s one that the show put itself in!