Let’s review shall we.  PC’s premier vamp, the one who got the ball rolling, is a reluctant mortal thanks to an ex-angel (dead) returned to earth as same.  His sneaky side-kick has stolen the head dead position and is turning as many unsuspecting (Jamal how could you not know you were bitten) live souls into dead ones as he possibly can.  Or maybe that should read undead ones.  One real live, ahh make that dead angel still walks the town, for what purpose we’re continually trying to figure out. Rafe the Good has, gasp, lied and betrayed Caleb the Evil, who has become Good holding up his end of the bargain in keeping Alison alive.  Rafe the  Good, has, gasp, lied yet again concocting Alison’s fake death and causing much pain and suffering to her friends and family.  Will a newly vamped Jamal keep his Good heart or turn into the evil bad boy he once was. Livvie, no ambiguity there, she’s dead and she’s evil.  Lucy and Ian, both Good, one dead, one alive, but we’re not sure for how much longer.  Anyone following any of this?   Moving on to smart, er make that stupid.  Alison, who’s playing dead to fool the genius head vamp who believed it from a single Polaroid snapshot, decided Rafe was missing for 2 seconds longer than he should have and ran right over to the one place she shouldn’t have.  Brilliant ex-vamp, wanna be a vamp again Caleb, ran right after her into the lion’s den, er blood suckers den?  But he had no choice really, his newfound Goodness made him do it.  Phew escaped that mess alive, but not having learned any lessons, Alison and Livvie figured wandering around in the park with nothing but a hat for a disguise was another bright idea that deserved a shot.  Livvie seems to have forgotten how to use her vampire powers, what with the green eyed monster taking control of her once sharp mind.  Guess her morphing mechanism is being repaired.  Slayer with that capital G is doing everything except slaying.  You’d think every one of those slayer senses would have him out there making some attempt at evening the score between those who bite and those who don’t.  Must be that he’s waiting for the big prize, destroy the King and wipe out the minions in one fell swoop.  Good vamp Ian and good ex-slayer Lucy win the award for stupid character trick – telling Liz that Alison is just playing dead guarantees the convoluted charade cooked up by the uneasy foursome will unravel the instant her very clever mother opens her mouth.  And open it we know she will, given her track record in the matter of confidences. 

Ok.  Pulling the tongue out of my cheek now, the week did have its moments, though DESIRE’s high points do leave, uh, a lot to be desired.  Relative term here. 

Elizabeth tries on men like most women try on shoes but Kevin just may not be the worst fit, at least in the short term.  Lord knows Kevin needs release in a woman.  No one is talking long term commitment here, but Alison’s mother and Livvie’s father getting their groove on has such a wickedly funny sense of irony to it.  Alison and Livvie as stepsisters?  Nuff said. 

How one stupid kiss taken out of context could create so much angst and jealousy is something that could only be likened to high school dramatics.  However, the aftermath, which of course was the reason and the point, furthered the simmering animosity and unease of the coalition and allowed the characters some honest emotion for a change.   Livvie’s paranoia is nothing new, but it is consistent.  Finally a nod to history, reminding the group of her and Rafe’s “marriage” and physical hankering for each other, which appeared to be news to Caleb.  It’s debatable who it chafed the most, Alison, Rafe or Caleb.  Kelly Monaco played Livvie’s foolish lust and envy of Alison perfectly.  Her subsequent jealous tantrum and weary admittance of her irrational behavior was true to the character and proved again why she was nominated for an Emmy.   

Alison’s relationship with her new best friend isn’t sitting well with her slayer and for once her wide eyed innocent look didn’t fly with Rafe.  His rage came less from jealousy than from fear, again true to the character’s history.  Finally knocking Alison off that stone pedestal he’s held her on for much too long, reminding her of exactly who she’s really dealing with and, lest she forget Caleb was the cause of her lover’s death in the first place, Rafe’s dread, frustration, exhaustion – at both the situation and at having to hold up two lies, was believable and heartfelt and again played with great subtlety and emotion by Brian Gaskill. 

Both Rafe and Caleb’s utter frustration, aggravation, irritation, exasperation and any other “ation” you can think of at the predicament they’ve both found themselves in absolutely came to a head this week.  Michael Easton just gets better and better.  He’s taken the dark, evil sexiness of the vampire persona and rounded it out with intensely mortal reactions - his loss of power both literally and figuratively resting heavy on his ego and his soul.  I’ll say it again; the onscreen chemistry between Brian Gaskill and Michael Easton is as strong as ever and promises to be even more explosive than ever as their alliance unravels.

And finally, Jamal.  Kiko Ellsworth is a talented actor who has been wasted for far too long.  More or less wandering around the last couple of months with little or no story involvement, Jamal has joined the party.  With wonderful references, again to the history of the character(s), Jamal grieved for his first love and best friend as we would have expected the character to.  For once those pesky flashbacks that usually just serve to fill time, had meaning and resonance and were appropriate to the action.  I suppose it shouldn’t really be surprising that Jamal is Port Charles newest fanged recruit, no one is immune to the writers bloody quill, what is surprising is just how much fun I think Kiko Ellsworth is going to have with it all, and how refreshing it is going to be for the viewers to have him back on the front burner.  

Without a doubt Jamal had the line of the week, with Kevin’s a close second (see title):

“Come to Port Charles, stay for an eternity”.  

Pretty much sums up the whole darn bag of blood doesn’t it. 

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I was as disappointed as the rest of you and as surprised as the odd makers that PORT CHARLES didn’t take home the Emmy award for Outstanding Drama.  No show can please all of the viewers all of the time, we may not all be thrilled with every aspect of Port Charles, especially now, but the talented cast, the unique story telling and creative way it is all put across still makes this drama the one to beat, day in and day out, Emmy or no Emmy. My congratulations to the cast and crew for taking what they’re given and elevating the fantasy into a journey we just can’t turn away from.

Max

...until we muse again Port Charles Fans









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