Introduction Lucky is introduced to the canvas within the much anticipated return of his parents, famed
General Hospital adventurers and popular
supercouple of the 1970–80s,
Luke and Laura Spencer. The original introduction story for Lucky was planned to have the child in need of a
bone marrow transplant, a story later used on Lucky's younger sister Lulu. Instead, the story included high-budget action sequences reminiscent of the couple's previous adventures, including explosions, car chases and parachutes. The character is shown to be a product of his parents, exhibiting qualities of both. Jackson later explained to
Entertainment Weekly in 2009: {{quote box
Rebellion {{quote box In 1998, the series chose to revisit the Luke and Laura rape storyline of the 1970s by having the incident revealed to Lucky. The controversial story of Luke raping Laura had quickly been renounced to a seduction at the time, after facing pressure from fans of the newly popular couple. In 1998,
Pat Fili-Krushel, then President of Daytime Programming for ABC Daytime, explained to
The New York Times: "What we felt we should investigate is how, as the famous saying goes, the sins of the father are visited on the children." Head writer at the time
Robert Guza, Jr. commented to the
Associated Press: "We are going to say, certainly, that the son is dealing with rape in a much better way, a much more appropriate way, and a much healthier way, than the father did." Lucky's relationship with each of his parents suffers; he thinks his mother is in denial about her attack, and is even more angry with his father for keeping the secret while Lucky was coping with Elizabeth's assault. Lucky moves out and his independence grows further as he crashes at various places around Port Charles while holding odd jobs and continuing his schoolwork. As a result of the ordeal, honesty becomes important to Lucky; Jackson explained to
Soap Opera Digest in December 1998: "He doesn't want to do what his parents did as far as keeping secrets from each other and lying. He's pretty set on doing things differently when it comes to the decisions he makes in his life." {{quote box
Relationship with Elizabeth Webber In 1998, Lucky enters into a relationship with Elizabeth Webber (Herbst) that affects his character throughout the years. Jackson explained to
Soap Opera Digest that prior to being paired with Elizabeth, the series had been hesitant to do a romantic storyline with his young character. He stated: "It's a real tricky thing, especially with me growing up on the show. I mean, I was 11 when I started, so there's a lot of people watching who almost feel like parents. They're sensitive about who I get interested in. I think it's really cool to see everyone respond so positively toward [Herbst] and toward the characters being together." Lucky and Elizabeth first bond when Lucky finds Elizabeth after she has been raped. He protectively cares for her, and as their on-screen relationship gradually progresses to friendship and innocent romance, the characters' off-screen popularity made them known as a supercouple. Dealing with Elizabeth's rape becomes more complicated for Lucky when he learns of the rape between his parents; he fears that he could have inherited violent sexual behaviors from his father, and could hurt Elizabeth. Elizabeth helps him deal with his fears, as well as his fallout with his parents. {{quote box
Edge After Jackson left the series in April 1999, the character was kept off-screen for almost a year before Young took over the role upon Lucky’s return in February 2000. Young commented on his new character: "I like Lucky's mystique. He's just very cool, relaxed. He never oversteps his boundaries. I’m planning to give my own perspective to this." The series explained the character's absence and staged death as a kidnapping by Cesar Faison (Hove) and Helena Cassadine (Towers). It is soon apparent upon his return that Lucky has been brainwashed; Guza explained the change in character that would be seen in Lucky's reunion with his parents: "The kid doesn't at all react the way we expected. This time he's been away he's obviously changed a great deal, into a different person emotionally. His whole relationship to his parents is confusing. It's a different Lucky, in many ways." The mind control continues after Lucky is released; Helena makes him act erratically and violently, hurting his father and forgetting his memories of love for Elizabeth. The ordeal leaves an impression on Lucky after it is over; the writers used the opportunity to develop an edge to the character. Young explained the change in character to entertainment journalist Candace Havens in 2000: Lucky maintains his edgier nature as his relationship with Elizabeth falls apart as a result of Helena's damage, and later on as he deals with his mother's mental breakdown and
catatonia.
TVSource Magazine reflected in 2009 on Lucky's character during Young's tenure: "The brainwashing eventually wore off, but the character never really gelled with the brave, strong, compassionate and loyal son of Luke Spencer that Jackson had created."
Adulthood Vaughan assumed the role in 2003. He was a visually older actor than Young and Jackson, and Lucky's storylines grew to become more adult as well. In 2009, Vaughan reflected that fans “embraced me more as Lucky being the man, instead of the child.” Accompanying the fallout of Lucky and Elizabeth's marriage, Jason's jealous ex-girlfriend Sam McCall (Monaco) manipulates Lucky into a relationship with her as revenge on Elizabeth, although her feelings eventually turn genuine. Monaco described the pairing to
Soap Opera Digest in 2008: "Sam and Lucky's romance was nice. It was sweet. It was friendly. It was innocent. I mean, gosh, Sam did do a lot of manipulating and crap (to land Lucky), but he was teaching her a lot." He described his portrayal as working through the contradictory traits Lucky inherited from his parents, the purity of Laura versus the
con artist side of Luke. {{quote box
Tragedy {{quote box In a separate interview, Jackson stated that while on the surface Lucky may not want the child to be his, deep down he thinks a part of the character does. Aiden is kidnapped by Franco, forcing Lucky to work together with Nikolas, which starts to repair their relationship. Still feeling lost, Lucky accepts an undercover assignment to pose as an Irish hitman named Ronan O'Reilly, They eventually plan a
green card marriage so that she can stay in the country with him. During their first ceremony, Lucky learns his son Jake has been in a hit-and-run accident, that eventually renders him
braindead. Jake's death sets another string of tragic events in motion. Lucky finds out his father was the driver, and accuses Luke of driving drunk. Lucky is adamant that his father is an alcoholic, but Luke refutes that Lucky wants to blame the alcohol so that he does not have to blame him. Lucky eventually stages an intervention, which only angers Luke. Lucky tracks Luke down to the
brothel where Luke grew up, but when Luke tells Lucky that it liberated him to kill Jake, Lucky leaves. Distraught, he burns down his childhood home, accidentally injuring Siobhan. Elizabeth finds Lucky and tells him that he is Aiden's father, stopping Lucky from drinking. In May 2011, Jackson spoke of the unending turmoil in Lucky's life: Lucky's life did not subside; he volunteers for an undercover drug case, and is injected with drugs under the orders of Anthony Zacchara (Weitz). He spends a night
hallucinating, and although Elizabeth finds him and eventually gets him medication, she meanwhile gets in a car accident that puts Lucky's wife Siobhan in the hospital. Anthony murders Siobhan, and her death is the last straw for Lucky, who willingly takes pills. Lucky struggles but stops his drug use. He denies Elizabeth's attempts to reconcile and leaves town in December 2011. Jackson stated leaving his children during
Christmas was one piece of unfinished business Lucky had, as well as not having gone on any adventures with his family. Geary added that father and son were left in a bitter place when Lucky abruptly left town, lacking any resolution after Jake's death and the intervention. ==Reception==