I have to confess, GH has torn me
completely in two over the recent custody battle in
Port Charles. Generally speaking, I don't care for
custody stories on soaps. They are dragged out way too
long with well-defined good guys/bad guys and a
predictable ending. What makes this new story
different, is that I find myself constantly switching
sides. Who is the villain? Who is right? Who am I
voting for?
I am, of course, speaking of the fight over baby
Michael that has pitted the rivaling Q. brothers, A.J.
and Jason, against each other once again. Most
soapfans saw this fight as inevitable on the night
pregnant Carly showed up on Jason's doorstep.
So, with the truth about Michael's parentage ever
present in our minds, we watched Jason and Michael bond
as father and son. This was always a little unsettling
to me because, like it or not, Jason was knowingly
keeping Michael from a father who had wanted him.
For all his talk of respecting Michael as an individual,
Jason made this life altering decision for a child who
wasn't even his own. TPTB, (The Powers That Be), wanted us to think of Jason
and Michael as father and son, though, and one thing
they had on their side was the incredible connection
between Steve Burton and those adorable twins who play
Michael. Their scenes are so natural and spontaneous.
I love to see how Steve reacts to the unscripted antics
of those little guys, even more so as they've gotten
older. As a viewer, I hope to see more of these scenes,
and that can't help but factor into how I want the story
to turn out.
So, thanks to TPTB's careful manipulation and, to
some extent, reshaping of the characters, I am
completely torn. My head knows A.J. has a right
to Michael, but my heart wants him with Jason.
Of course, I haven't really touched on the most
pivotal role in this fight - Michael's narcissistic
and delusional mother, Carly. Someone please tell me
why I like this character so much! She is the
orchestrater of more grief to the people in her life
than their worst enemies ever could be. However, she
is insufferably forgivable. Will Michael some day have
to forgive her for keeping him from his biological
father, A.J.? Or will he have to forgive her for causing
him to be separated so long from the only father he knows,
Jason? Like I said, unlike other custody battles on
soaps, this one leaves no easy choice or predictable
answer.
Before the custody trial begins, then, let's take
a look at both sides
A.J: Michael's biological father
A.J: Wanted a son and was willing to take full responsibility of raising him on his own
A.J: Wants to keep Michael away from Jason in spite of what Michael may want
A.J: Is willing to let Michael live in the insane asylum that is the Q. mansion
A.J: Doesn't seem to have Carly figured out and keeps falling into her schemes
It's not so cut and dried, is it? And the trial
hasn't even begun. I'm sure both parties, not to
mention Carly, have some surprises in store for us
before it's over and it may be a long time before
there are any answers. In the meantime, who do you
think baby Michael should be with? Send an email to
soapfanmag@aol.
com with your vote and we'll see how well GH has
divided its soapfans.
~Boo
Article by Boo
The
Tony/Carly relationship was used up and we had already
seen the lie planted that Jason was the father of
Carly's unborn baby. How difficult was it to conclude
that the biological father would turn out to be the
only other man Carly had been with - a man who just
happened to have unbreakable ties to Jason - his
brother A.J? If the inevitable outcome was
predictable, though, the path was not. I was never
sure of when the truth of Michael's birth would be
revealed. After all, I am still waiting to see if GH
will ever decide to give Jason
his memory back. Sometimes GH will sit on a story like
this for years, and this patience is part of what makes
the show great.
On the other hand, I don't see how you can get away
from the fact that lying to A.J. and keeping him from
his son - a son he really wanted to love - was wrong.
TPTB at GH have been doing such a heavy job of
villainizing A.J. in the last few months, that it's
hard to remember what he was like when Michael was
conceived and born. He really wasn't a villain at all.
When A.J. was living across the hall from Carly and
Tony he was a true friend to Carly. It's understandable
that he would be a little upset at the way she drugged
him and nearly sent him into the alcoholic gutter again.
Don't forget, it was that fact that inspired A.J. to
threaten to keep Carly away from any child of his which,
in turn, inspired her to flee to Jason for help. At
that point, though, I was still thinking of A.J. as a
pretty decent guy. He really wanted to be a father and
it was the loss of this dream that sent him into the
Edward Quartermaine school of blind ambition and greed.
Now, it's hard to tell if he really wants to be a
father or if he just wants the prestige of having the
Quartermaine heir.
JASON: The only father Michael knows
JASON:Never asked for a son but did take full responsibility of raising him on his own
JASON: Wants to keep Michael away from A.J. in spite of what Michael may want
JASON: Is willing to let Michael live under guard and in possible danger
JASON: Does have Carly figured out and still falls into her schemes
Pictures by
CurlyQgrl
