What does General Hospital’s Drew really want from Kai?

General Hospital’s Kai Taylor (Jens Austin Astrup) may be too nice of a guy to suspect that Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) is using him, but there’s no question that Drew wants something from Kai. It’s been suspicious from the start that Drew was the one who approached Kai and told him about the surgery, then offered to pay for the surgery and all recovery expenses.

Senator Slimy doesn’t do anything to help others unless there’s something in it for him. But what could Drew stand to gain by helping Kai? A clue might be the documentary film that Drew mentioned to Kai.

When Kai visited Drew’s house to tell Drew that he would accept the offer to have Drew pay for the surgery, Drew asked Kai for a favor. Drew told Kai that he met a brilliant documentary filmmaker when he was campaigning for his political office. He told Kai that he wants to have that filmmaker make a documentary about the surgery and Kai’s comeback. Kai didn’t like the idea, but he agreed since Drew was funding everything.

Bad idea Kai

Oh Kai. You sweet summer child. Trina (Tabyana Ali) was very clear when she warned you about accepting anything from Drew. Curtis (Donnell Turner) and Portia (Brook Kerr) also warned you about the surgery and being in a position to owe Drew anything. But Kai is such a good guy that he can’t imagine Drew would manipulate him or use him. Unfortunately, he’s going to find out the hard way that Drew doesn’t do anything unless it benefits him somehow.

But it’s hard to see what Drew could want from Kai having the surgery and returning to football. Sure, it would make Drew a hero to the PCU football fans, but that’s not really a demographic that Drew is very concerned with. It would also be good press for the politician, but he doesn’t seem too concerned about that either. So what could Drew possibly get from Kai that would make him want to pay all of Kai’s medical expenses?

Helping kids, helping himself

Drew met Kai when he enlisted Kai’s help for his children’s charity that benefits General Hospital. It’s possible that he wants the filmmaker to document Kai’s journey so that he can use Kai’s story to fundraise for his charity and raise awareness of his attempts to help kids. He could also use that footage for his reelection campaign.

Helping with a great comeback story like Kai’s would definitely help Drew’s tarnished public image. He could use that goodwill to help his political career and fix the damage done by his public feud with Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot).

But that doesn’t seem like a compelling enough reason for Drew to volunteer to pay for Kai’s medical and recovery expenses. Drew has never really been that concerned with charitable work or with raising his public profile. What other reasons could Drew have for helping Kai?

A pre-emptive strike

What if Drew is helping Kai so that he and Willow (Katelynn MacMullen) have a better case to get custody of the kids from Michael (Chad Duell)? That might seem like a long shot, but think about it. Drew already knows the custody case is going to be extremely messy and complicated. The public perception and private actions of everyone involved are going to matter when Willow and Michael face off in court.

When Willow moved in with Drew, she made Drew’s personality relevant to the custody case because the kids live in a home with him. Drew has done plenty of things that could make him look bad to the court. What if Drew is trying to stack the deck with things that make him look like a good person so that a judge will be more likely to give him and Willow custody?

If that’s Drew’s goal, then helping a young man like Kai make a full recovery and have the chance to live his dream certainly helps his case. So does funding a charity to help kids at the hospital embrace the healing power of sports.

It may sound extreme, but consider that Drew has already had legal papers drawn up to ensure that if something were to happen to Willow that Drew would become the legal guardian of the kids. He wants Willow and those kids as a package deal. He could be helping Kai to make sure that he gets them.

Sealing the deal of the esplanade

Another reason that Drew might be so invested in helping Kai is to help him win the esplanade referendum. Drew needs the public to be on his side if he wants to win the referendum and force the city to take the piers from Sonny. And right now, the public doesn’t like him very much. His public feud with his aunt cost him alliances, and it cost him voters.

If Drew can take credit for popular football star Kai returning to play football for PCU, that would win Drew a lot of goodwill and public support. And that could be what gets him a win on the esplanade vote.

What do you think Drew’s motive is for helping Kai? Let us know in the comments what you think the soap villain is up to this time.

New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu.