User:Nk3play2/Dante Falconeri and Lulu Spencer

Dante Angelo Falconeri and Lesley Lu "Lulu" Spencer Falconeri are fictional characters and a supercouple from the ABC Daytime soap opera, General Hospital. Dante Falconeri is the son of legendary mob boss, Sonny Corinthos played by Maurice Benard. Lulu Spencer is the daughter of the iconic supercouple, Luke and Laura, portrayed by Anthony Geary and Genie Francis. Julie Marie Berman stepped into the role of Lulu in 2005, while Dominic Zamprogna first appeared as Dante in 2009. Berman departed from the series in 2013, and was replaced by Emme Rylan.

The couple rose to popularity in the summer 2009. They engage in a slow, innocent courtship that comes with several obstacles, including Dante's investigation and shooting at the hands of his own father, Dante's attempt to get Sonny convicted for the murder of Claudia Zacchara (Sarah Brown) which ends with the confession and conviction of his brother, and Lulu's cousin Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell). Their next obstacle comes in the form of Michael's mother, Carly Jacks (Laura Wright) who hires Brook Lynn Ashton to seduce Dante, her near reunite her family following the death of her nephew, and Dante's constantly keeping secrets like his past with Brenda, her brother, Lucky (Jonathan Jackson)'s drug addiction. Prior to their spontaneous wedding in December 2011, Dante is shot again causing Lulu to second guess their future marriage. They eventually reconcile and marry on December 23, 2011. Dante and Lulu's next obstacle comes in the form of his childhood mentour, Ronnie Dimestico (Ronnie Marmo) who Lulu discovers has been attacking strippers, and kidnaps her. When Lulu partners with her ex-boyfriend Johnny Zacchara (Brandon Barash), he is a bit jealous. Meanwhile, Lulu and Dante struggle to conceive and learn she can't get pregnant. They are currently depending on a surrogate and Lulu's best friend, Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) to give them the child they so desperately want.

Casting
The character of Lulu Spencer has been on canvas since her on-screen birth in 1994 to famed supercouple Luke and Laura Spencer. She was portrayed by various child actresses until the character was SORAS-aged to a teenager in 2005 and cast with Julie Marie Berman. Berman was still with the series in 2008 when a long casting call process started for the character of Sonny Corinthos's son, Dante Falconeri. Dominic Zamprogna was hired in June 2009 to play Dominic Pirelli, later revealed to be the undercover alias of Dante. In February 2013, it was announced that Berman was leaving the series and had given her notice months prior. Emme Rylan was cast as her replacement, debuting on April 11, 2013.

2009–11
In July 2009, Lulu meets a man at "Jake's" who introduces himself as Dominic Pirelli. Though she comes off annoyed by his cockiness and cheesy pickup lines, she feels bad for him when her brothers Lucky (then Greg Vaughan) and Ethan (Nathan Parsons) beat him up for mouthing off, and takes him to the hospital. They continue running into one another, and Lulu pretends to date Dr. Matt Hunter (Jason Cook) to keep Dominic at bay. When Lulu stops Dominic from being fleeced by Ethan, they share their first kiss at her father's casino, The Haunted Star. Eventually Lulu learns that Dominic is an undercover cop infiltrating Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard)'s organization, but keeps his secret. Sonny finds out that Dominic is investigating him, and shoots him point-blank in the chest. Olivia Falconeri (Lisa LoCicero) rushes in and tells Sonny that Dominic is her son Dante, and that Sonny is his father. Dante survives the shooting and when he wakes up is told that Sonny is his father, initially causing tension between him and Olivia over the secret. Lulu supports Dante through his physical and emotional recovery and they become closer. Zamprogna explained: "With Lulu, the first thing he is going to do when he wakes up is ask for her. She now is the only person that Dante trusts. She has proven it and will continue to prove it."

Development
Then headwriter Robert Guza, Jr. had fans glued to their televisions with the start of this pairing. The history between the two families (Corinthos and Spencer families) alone would make for a great story. According to a statement made by Guza for Soaps on Demand, "Dante & Lulu always felt that it was them against everyone else and now it literally comes to that. With the exception of Olivia and Luke, to some extent, the couple would face the wrath of family and friends over Dante turning Michael in to the cops. One of the positive things that happens in this whole (Michael story) arc is this strongly reinforces Lulu and Dante's connection in a big way."The couple's official theme song is "You Came Around" written by musician Bob Hartry and Jayson Belt, and performed by Annie Bethancourt. The song is first featured on General Hospital on January 26, 2010 when Dante gets his orders to arrest Sonny, and he sends Lulu away for her own protection.

Reception
When Zamprogna first came on-screen as Dominic/Dante in 2009, he brought his own fan following. However, once paired with Berman, the couple's popularity skyrocketed. The couple garnered a fan following, including a Twitter fan page and the portmanteau nickname "Lante." Zamprogna attributed the popularity partly to the history between the two character's parents, but also the chemistry between him and Berman. In a separate interview, Berman also commented on her chemistry with Zamprogna, stating: "I think honestly that the biggest thing is our relationship off screen. We're friends and we have a similar sense of humor. That comfort makes everything else fun and easy. We play a lot more in our scenes. It's just fun."

The couple's first love scene in May 2010 was highly anticipated by fans and promoted by the network. In Nelson Branco's "Top 3 Duos to Watch" for the week of May 17, 2010, the couple tied for the No. 1 spot with Days of our Lives, EJ and Sami, and their rivalry with Carly Jacks ranked No. 1 in the "Top 3 Rivals" category. Entertainment Tonight did a special behind the scenes exclusive on the couple's upcoming love scene. Also that month, in honor of the couple's first love scene and their upcoming summer storyline, The Vanilla Bake Shop created the "Lante" cupcake inspired by the couple. The bakery, owned by Berman's brother and sister-in-law, described the cupcake as "a delicious mix of dark chocolate and a whipped mascarpone cream center topped with mocha hazelnut butter cream and Valrhona chocolate crunchies to represent the sinfully good duo." Berman explained: "We talked with the people who made the cupcake about our characters so while we don't know a lot about making a cupcake great, with the flavors and stuff I think they were able to really make the elements of the cupcake relate to the elements of our characters and how that would actually taste good."

The couple's "break up" in January 2011, ranked at #2 in the "Top 3 Storylines to Watch" and the couple itself was voted as the #1 duo to watch for the week of January 17 by TV Guide's Nelson Branco. In February 2011, the duo received the most votes as the couple who deserved a Happy Valentine's Day on Michael Fairman Soaps.

Mallory Harlen told Soap Opera Digest that she was rarely every interested in Lulu's romances, but said "[Lulu] and Dante are fantastic together."