The longer format allowed for some pretty spectacular special effects and production values that were off the scale. The overall impressive effect again being something the likes of daytime has never seen.   The pace was so break neck you had to hang on just to keep up.  Stellar performances were turned in by the talented cast with a particular nod to Erin Hershey Presley who seemed to have a limitless supply of tears and raw emotion, Brian Gaskill whose subtlety with the excellent material was dead on, Thorsten Kaye who managed to go from sentimental Irish poet to enraged victim who just couldn’t help himself in an instant, Jon Lindstrom who continues to play his new persona with an eerie, chilling turn and Lynn Herring who as always is too much fun to watch as Lucy touches upon everyone’s lives.

Trouble is the focal point of all this turmoil, angst and drama, the premise that the next 13 weeks appears to be based on is so completely bogus and baffling it is going to be very hard indeed to have any confidence whatsoever in the continuing saga. Sure, I’ll enjoy watching it unfold, I always do after all, but try as it may to play against the predictability inherent in the genre with its nerve jangling wild style and supernatural reality, we’re back to a familiar soap opera motif regardless, the star crossed lovers who might be brother and sister that pushes the melodrama further into a story centered on revenge. 

This being PORT CHARLES of course familiar soap motifs are defined by the evil forces that have been insinuated into their alternate reality, providing us with a fantastical diversion from our own.  It works best when it stays true to that alternate reality without losing sight of its own humanity.  The romance of Rafe and Alison always illustrated this so incredibly well.  The believability factor is high when the fantasy is handled with the degree of realism we’ve been treated to since that angel first appeared.  Vampires, why of course.  Slayers, absolutely.  Evil force after evil force invading the town, commonplace isn’t it.  Magic powers coming and going, telepathic communication, normal.  Rafe and Alison brother and sister, don’t insult the viewers’ intelligence please.  

After all that’s gone on in the past year how are we supposed to buy for a single second that this could be possible.  You want to break up Rafe and Alison over and over again, go ahead. There is nothing more familiar, the kiss of death for a soap super couple is marriage.  Just look at Lucy and Kevin, those two haven’t had a moment’s peace since their nuptials exactly one year ago in an effort to keep them from going more stale than they already are. 

An exciting couple needs conflict, tension and angst, complicated situations thrown in with the romance, otherwise you have boring, one dimensional “soulmates” always in some state of bliss that just fades into the background or becomes so overexposed that no one cares anymore anyways. While Rafe and Alison fans would like nothing more than having the couple make love in a barn all day long, neither Erin Hershey Presley or Brian Gaskill deserve that. 

You want to give Rafe a reason to finally acknowledge exactly who he is and go after his nemesis once and for all, excellent. Bring it on.   The showdown between Slayer and Vampire needs to explode and we know its coming. Rafe has been simmering and bubbling since Stephen Clay showed up. Finally revealed as Caleb, neither one can contain themselves much longer.  Revenge is too sweet and seductive an emotion to ignore for either one of them. 

But to get to this point by inferring that Rafe and Alison “may” be siblings is too ridiculous to process, even for PORT CHARLES.  There is the little matter of Ed, which for some reason the writers don’t feel Alison should know about just yet. Even the devil’s disciple himself, James, knew Rafe’s lineage. Oh excuse me, the reason of course being that there wouldn’t be a premise for all this in this first place if Rafe explained his real parentage.  Are we supposed to pretend that those heartfelt, gut wrenching scenes in heaven when Ed owned up to being daddy never really happened.  Are we supposed to ponder perhaps, that all those times Rafe came back to earth just to be with Alison, sacrificing, dying, being sent back as his deserving reward were just a tease, a little joke, hee, hee, playing the lovesick angel turned human as a fool.   Please.  But perhaps the most annoying of all is that after everything Alison was put through, after seeing with her own eyes the miracles that can be wrought for love, we are asked to believe, at least at this point, that she chooses not to have faith or trust in the very man who proved that love can conquer anything.  It’s asinine, its silly and every viewer is screaming DNA test. Pronto.  Not that it will help matters, if the explanation is that it’s simply another one of Caleb’s manipulations that DNA test wouldn’t be truthful either.  Nope, we’re just going to have to ride this one out, pray that some semblance of logic, make that soap logic surfaces and the characters don’t run around looking like idiots for the next 13 weeks as they find their way back to each other.

As for the rest, so much is going on I could write an opus that none of you would be even remotely interested in reading.  Suffice it to say for today that SURRENDER should make for a busy 13 weeks indeed, packed with character and plot twists galore (rehashed though some may be), forbidden love of all kinds, mysteries unfolding, resolutions hopefully to the tales begun in the last arc, and if the title means anything all, the characters all finally surrendering to the truth and to love...all the stuff that makes this show so spectacular.

With the Livvie persona now suppressed can a trial for her murder with Tess the main suspect be far behind.  Will Caleb’s obsessive need for Olivia resurrect Livvie exonerating Tess. Will Tess completely disappear or will Livvie emerge whole again, good and bad sides resolved in her personality.  And Jack, again in a face off with Caleb over Livvie, only this time as Tess.

Vampire/Doctor Ian, what a clever twist, well on its way to explaining Caleb and his band of cohorts continuing existence - the scientist vampire who will use all his resources, including fellow doc Chris perhaps, to cure vampirism or die trying that is.  The good news on this front is that this story may finally showcase Thorsten Kaye who has the acting chops and presence to give it a run for his money, and ratchet up Nolan North’s on screen appearances.  I can’t wait for the Lucy/Ian explosion either, we’ve been teased long enough.

Caleb and Elizabeth, the couple that actually did tie the knot in a macabre scene straight from the dark side, I’m not quite sure who is needier or more vulnerable here - Caleb who’s let his obsession with Olivia drive his every action or Elizabeth, whose desperation for love coupled with her uncontrollable vampire emotions pushes her to betray Caleb.  I do know one thing, its time to move the vampire story forward.  What was at once shocking, exciting, erotic and powerful is now just about reaching its limit for me, and my guess is for a lot of viewers as well. 

So in those immortal words of Bette Davis (at least I think it was Bette Davis, someone please correct me if I’m wrong)...

Fasten your seatbelts boys and girls, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.