James Franco Makes His 'General Hospital' Debut, And Here's Your Recap

Today's the day! James Franco made his soap debut on "General Hospital" as Franco.

Franco appears to be, on the one hand, an elusive but promising photographer who will show his work at a Crimson magazine gallery event. On the other hand, he makes his first appearance on the show dressed like a homeless person, lurking in the shadows as mobster Sonny Corinthos and his right-hand man Jason Morgan walk into a mob trap that turns violent on Front Street in Port Charles.

Franco witnesses the entire shootout, which leaves Sonny victorious and his rivals down for the count. As Sonny and Jason drive away from the scene of the crime, Franco, with a hoodie hiding his face, waves at the limo, taunting Jason.

I realize some back story might help here. See, earlier this month, this whole thing went down where Sonny's wife Claudia went bonkers, because it finally came out (in a very public way) that she had ordered the hit on Sonny that put his son Michael into a year-long coma. Claudia took Sonny's pregnant ex-wife Carly hostage, and Carly went straight into labor. Into a storm they went, driving down some Port Charles back roads until they finally crashed.

Finding refuge in a cabin deep in the woods, Carly gave birth with Claudia's help. But Claudia didn't need two hostages, so she tried to steal the baby girl. Michael, Carly's oldest son, somehow found them in the nick of time, introducing a bat to Claudia's head, killing her. Everyone has been covering it up since. However, a photo of dead Claudia appeared without explanation at Jason's house, putting everyone's cover-up in jeopardy.

Anyway... Jason saw the homeless guy waving as they drove off, and he's paranoid about the witness.

Franco puts a nearly dead Joey Limbo -- the mobster working for Anthony Zacharra (Claudia's father, by the way), who tried to off Sonny -- out of his misery. Then, he rearranges the body in a perculiar way, flicks a coin on the ground and utters his first line: "keep the change."

Port Charles' finest is called to the scene of the crime, including Lucky Spencer (son of the infamous Luke of Luke and Laura) and commissioner Robert Scorpio. They figure out that Joey didn't die of gunshot wounds, but rather of a foot to the windpipe.

Franco gets home (which is the location of all the scenes that included Adam Lambert's "Mad World" from the past several weeks), talks to a mannequin and calls a mysterious sexy woman telling her he needs her. She comes over and helps shave his beard clean -- tada! -- we finally get a good look at Franco.

Of course, to make a public appearance after the shootout that is now all over the media, Sonny, Jason and crew all decide to go to the Crimson gallery opening.

And a newly clean-shaven Franco leaves the mysterious woman at his house, telling her, "They're expecting me."

This is going to be the best gallery opening EVER!