Fate, It Was Meant To Be! Or Was It?
By P.A.F.

It seemed like a good idea in writing. A soap opera takes on twelve-week story arcs where some characters would take center stage and "all will be resolved" in this length of time. This is what the new writers of the floundering serial Port Charles proposed to do, and we, its fans, waited with anticipation to see what they would come up with. What we got was something that, in my opinion, could only be described as disappointing and an extreme let down. Suddenly, characters we had grown to care about were acting like their bodies had been taken over by aliens from another planet-- they weren't acting like themselves. 

For example, Kevin Collins, over the years had been established as an individual who, despite personal turmoil which drove him temporarily over the edge, always tried to do the right thing and remain true to those he cared about. Yet, just days after his then-beloved wife Eve had supposedly perished in a car explosion, Kevin is making love to Lucy on the floor of the lighthouse. Now, I'm all too aware that there are fans out there who have wanted a Kevin and Lucy reunion for quite some time now, but did it require an assassination of both these characters and their integrity to do it?! Not only did Kevin act like he mourned Eve one minute and then moved on the next, but then Lucy went so far as to change the DNA test that was proof that Eve was still alive, so that Kevin would go on believing that she died. Lucy Coe has been guilty of a lot of things over the years, but this was carrying her manipulations too far. I think the thing that really got me was when Kevin forgave her so quickly when he found out about this. What? Is this the same man who left her at the altar a few years ago because he found out about the part she played in Serena's accident? Now he's all forgiving and telling her never to change. If she doesn't change, how will he ever be able to trust her? 

If the fact that our old favorites weren't acting like themselves wasn't enough to have us wondering why we would bother to watch, we then have new characters who come out of nowhere taking over the program. Case in point, Arianna. From the moment she hit town (or should I say, she hit Eve head on with her car), Arianna has taken center stage on Port Charles. Why is this, when beloved characters like Chris, Karen, Alison and Jamal hardly have any story to speak of? The writers might try to justify this by saying that Arianna's story was one that needed to be told in daytime. A young woman from a foreign country who had been raped and dishonored in her family's eyes, now on the run to stay alive. Well, I, for one, could have done without the story, and this character, for that matter. It's obvious that the main reason for her being on the soap is to act as an obstacle between Eve and Ian.  But these two already had obstacles, such as the fact that Eve is still married to another man. And then there are lots of things that could still be explored regarding Ian's past. 

The new format might have seemed like a good idea, but now its starting to become apparent that maybe it wasn't. There's something to be said for time and character development. Perhaps if the writers had slowly brought Kevin and Lucy back together, it would have worked more effectively. Maybe if Arianna had been slowly worked into the canvas, I might actually care about her. True, no one wants to watch a soap opera that drags a story out, but at the same time, we want a soap that still makes some sense and is true to its own history.

Page updated 6/3/10

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