General Hospital spoilers reveal Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco) has been a major player in Port Charles for most of the 21 years she’s been there.

So it came as quite a shock this week to many fans when they heard Monaco was being let go from the hit sudser. Recently describing the GH set as her second home, there is little doubt that it blindsided Monaco, too.

As she privately makes her peace with the decision GH writers have come to, the fans are furious — with some insisting they’ll stop watching the show altogether if GH doesn’t change their storyline. But not everyone is so committed to saving Sam/Monaco, and here’s why.

General Hospital Spoilers — She’s a Supporting Actress

As badly as many of us have loved the character of Sam — and loved Monaco even back in her vampiress days on Port Charles, a GH spinoff — she hasn’t really been a leading lady since then.

Sure, she had some good, strong storylines over the years when she and Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) were running things hot and heavy. Everyone wanted that romance to work out.

Could it have ended up happily ever after — forever? Probably not in soap land, but the point is that Sam was never really a Carly Spencer (Laura Wright). She doesn’t command attention.

She’s most often bouncing off of the man in her life, not running her own ship. The focus isn’t on Sam’s career as a PI or her trials with her kids so much as it is her being someone’s someone.

GH Spoilers – Hint She And Dante Falconeri Aren’t All That Hot

Speaking of being someone’s someone…the relationship between Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) and Sam started off flirtatious and fun.

We were ready to see both of them move on after they’d both had their fair share of heartache. But their flirty ways quickly fizzled into a normal, nuclear-family life.

While most of us wouldn’t protest against that, it’s hardly fodder for a soap like GH. We want drama. We want angst. We want struggles.

We want couples who continue to work through their difficulties, not a woman who can never make up her mind what she wants as she continues to concede to everything she says she doesn’t.

General Hospital Spoilers — The Waffling Got Old

That brings me to my final point. Sam used to be ballsy. She could hold her own. She was a major con artist for goodness sake.

Now, she seems to have lost all of her edge. She’s afraid of the world around her. She’s afraid of the men she gets involved with and the lifestyles they lead.

She was in love with Jason for over a decade, and attracted to his dangerous side. Then, suddenly, it was too dangerous and left her crippled with anxiety and fear for her family. She was in love with Dante, the good boy operating on the right side of the law — until he got shot.

Then she wasn’t comfortable with his line of work either. None of this jives with the risk-taker Sam has always been — and still seems to be in her profession.

So, for many of us, while we agree it’ll be very different without Sam around, we can’t help but feel the Sam we knew and loved was written off a long time ago.

It’s not a huge loss to part ways with the pale version of her that has existed in her place since. Stay tuned for more GH news and spoilers just ahead.