As Naked Eyes completes its second chapter this week, things are becoming much clearer to us…or are they?  Do we dare express our smug “I knew it was HIM”, when Stephen Clay exposed his fangs and his true identity to the viewers?  Or is this all part of the illusion that this arc has teased us with in all the promos?  But maybe the title of the book should have been “Double Vision” (without the Foreigner song for its theme, thank you).  The idea that Kevin presented to Livvie during her selfish hospitality visit to her father in the sanitarium is much more intriguing to me.  The premise that we all have an “Other”, the direct opposite of whom we chose to be.  Our Other could be darkness hidden inside of us, repressed and feared, as is Kevin’s “Ryanesque” Other, or our Other could be personified in another person, one who carries the other half of our pure soul for safe keeping, as in Tess.  And of course, in more realistic situations, Others exist everyday in twins, as in Marrisa/Casey and Kevin/Ryan.  Port Charles surely presented us with a provocative premise this time around, and has accomplished the impossible by actually making it fun to watch and unpredictable (ok, except for the return of Caleb…still - the arc ain’t over until the stake is through his heart, right?). 

And as much as I am enjoying the mind games thrown at us this time around, I have to wonder – was this really an interesting and clever theme conceived by TPTB, or just a convenient plot device used by the writers to explain away frustrating inconsistencies with some characters?  And why stop at the most obvious Others?   We are already getting the idea that Livvie’s evil behavior from the last two arcs was not her responsibility – my goodness, all those times she whined that IT WASN’T MY FAULT – she was right!   To the relief of Livvie/Kelly Monaco fans everywhere, she can say it was Caleb’s fault and this time we can’t tell her to shut up.   Of course, there are some us who likes our Livvie just the way she is and hopes there is no ultimate reunion with Tess soon, but this certainly and cleverly resolves the redemption of Livvie issue that has been the center of debate for the last six months.

For all Kevin fans though, the “Other” theory is a lame attempt to work around an actor's other outside commitments and perhaps accommodate a new on screen coupling.  Sure Kevin is way more interesting since he reunited with his Other, but at the expense of a beloved couple, not to mention the loyalty of Kevin/Lucy fans who waited years (and we Rail fans think we suffer!) for their marriage only to watch in horror as Lucy is this close to going universal with Ian.

Which leads me to an interesting observation.  With all the fun and mystery we have enjoyed this arc, it has also given us a lot of head shaking, eye raising reactions to our favorite characters and their out of character behavior.   Forgetting her inappropriate attire, because it just wouldn’t be Lucy if she wasn’t wearing some reject from The Barbie House of Fashion, her near abandonment and willingness to write off her beloved Kevin is befuddling and sad.  And unbelievable when we remember fondly the beautiful Christmas Eve Wedding.  Could it be, could this really be Lucy’s “Other” stammering and stuttering, giving Ian soulful, wanting stares into those Irish eyes? 

But the person whom I want most to be replaced by her “Other” because I just don’t recognize my spunky, warm, loyal, totally committed to your soul mate heroine, is Alison.  Please, wherever the original Barrington spitfire went, please come back, your “Other” is giving me frostbite of the eyes.  During those dreaded arcs SuperTorn, Rafe could do not wrong, even when he married, bedded and stood by his deceptive wife and so-called child.  But now, he can do no right, with her constant brow beating and whining, not to mention her unreasonable requests to deny his calling, Ali has become unbearable to watch.   Sure we are still reminded of their great love and faithfulness to one another, in lovely chapel scenes and romantic moments.  But Ali let up on the guy.  There are no “Other” Rafe’s, and I have a feeling he’s already used up his last pass.

I could go on and on.  Was that Frank’s “Other” who went mental on Karen during Superstition and was easily overtaken by the Avatar in Torn?  Speaking of Dr. Wexler, that surely must have been her “Other” who couldn’t keep her pants on (and wore that horrid dress) around Ricky.  Was if Jack’s ‘Other” who turned into Ali’s personal pit bull during Torn and fell in an out of “like” with her in a week’s time?”   And that definitely was Jamal’s “Other” who showed up last week at Jack’s.  Why it didn’t even look like him. 

I have to say there are a few characters I do wish we were treated to a double helping.  Can you imagine Chris’ ”Other” hanging around General Hospital? We had a brief glimpse of him after Tess touched his heart.  Oh to have our sly, conniving, charming and witty Chris and also be treated to a sweet, brave, tenderhearted Chris - oh wait, that would be Ian!  On second thought, just one of Chris would make me happy at this point!

….my thanks to a very special guest writer for this week’s musing who filled in when I was on vacation. Or maybe it was my “other”.