It’s been months since General Hospital raised Jason Morgan from the grave for a second time — third if you count the occasion on which he was resurrected as Drew — and at this juncture, we are left with one question: Why? Because as nice as it may be to have stoic Stone Cold back playing confidant to kingpin Sonny Corinthos and bestie to Carly Spencer, is that really what viewers want from the character

General Hospital is a soap opera, for Pete’s sake, so where is the love? The lust? The passion? Where is the yearning, even? Steve Burton has struck up chemistry with one leading lady (Kelly Thiebaud) after another (Kelly Monaco) after another (Alicia Leigh Willis) over the decades — and the list goes on! — yet now the hitman’s dance card is emptier than the Floating Rib after that explosion.

We thought that the show was positioning Jason for a “Liason” reunion with a suddenly-single Elizabeth… but then the powers that be wrote off the former lovers’ biggest tie: son Jake. We also thought that the show might pick up where it left off with Carly and Jason having rediscovered their attraction to one another… but then Laura Wright shot down that theory.

So what, then? Maybe the new new headwriting team is just biding its time until recasting the role of Lulu to break up Sam and Dante. Then, perhaps, Danny’s mom will gravitate back toward his father. Seems unlikely, though, since Sam’s reasons for leaving Jason remain as valid today as they ever were: He’d much prefer to work for the underworld than with the feds, and she doesn’t want her kids to become collateral damage of his life of crime.

What conclusion does that leave us to draw? Jason may be as likely to wind up in a new romance as he is to ditch his trademark black T-shirts. We don’t get it, either. General Hospital has in Burton an asset. It must know that, or why would the show have brought him back? So why not utilize that asset as more than a talk-to for other characters?