From 2004:

Well, was he a dead ringer or wasn’t he?

Tyler Christopher was given a twin opportunity when poor Nikolas Cassadine had amnesia and was picked up by a crazy woman, Mary Bishop, who believed Nikolas to be her husband, Connor. 

Something happened during this storyline -- a plot hole -- that indicated that Nikolas wasn’t really a lookalike. Alas, I can’t remember what it was. Perhaps a viewer can enlighten me.

I pointed it out in a recap, which is now off of the website. I think it had something to do with people who knew Nikolas being in Mary’s house and not recognizing him in photos of “Connor and Mary.”

Crazy Mary and "Connor"

Anyway, Mary was a whack job. A recent widow, her husband was killed while serving in Iraq. After a car accident, Nikolas showed up at her cottage and collapsed.

 Mary cared for him, and when he regained consciousness, she told him that he was her husband, that he had escaped from Iraq and was hiding from military police.

Nikolas wanted to turn himself in, but Mary convinced him that this was a dangerous move.

Nikolas, meanwhile, was believed dead by his family and friends in Port Charles. His jacket had been found by the river bank, placed there by Mary.

Once the amnesiac regained his memory, Mary went even crazier and started killing people, including Sage Alcazar and Trent Parker.

Nikolas wound up shooting her, and Mary was rushed to General Hospital. She in turn was murdered by Lorenzo Alcazar after he switched her medication.

The saga, however, wasn’t finished. Connor wasn’t dead, and when he resurfaced, he wanted, revenge for his wife's death.  Connor believed Nikolas to be responsible for Mary's psychotic break.

He had seen his lookalike push Helena Cassadine over a cliff after she tried to kill Emily, so he turned to blackmail. Nikolas' response was to head for the police station and confess

A Scheme that Backfires

Luke Spencer came up with an idea to save the day, he thought. He suggested that Connor pretend to be Nikolas so that Helena, in hiding with Skye, reveal herself.

Connor had an Okefenoke swamp accent, so Emily coached him in the ways of her husband. He was attracted to Emily, but she kept him at arm's length.

When they were together in an isolated cabin hiding from Helena, Connor made his move. Turns out he was as nuts as his wife. He raped Emily after hitting her several times.

Emily thought that she killed him with a screwdriver, but after searching in vain for a phone, she tried to exit and he was standing there with a gun. They fought over the gun, and she shot him.

The horror was far from over for Emily. She and Nikolas encountered difficulties due to the fact that her rapist had her husband's face.   

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