Wednesday's General Hospital was like a breath of fresh air to me. Kristina's conversation with Sonny served as a reminder that she is the one true victim in this storyline. It also allowed viewers to see that her attempts to forget what happened to her is clouding her judgement. And it was nice to see that she is still making an effort at keeping Ethan out of trouble because it makes her seem less villainous . As long as GH keeps showing more moments like these I might eventually be able to buy into the fact that she blamed Ethan thinking she could protect him, while appeasing Kiefer in order to protect herself.
Perhaps the portion of this episode that pleased me the most was Carly figuring out that Kiefer is to blame for Kristina's attack. Obviously she will have to prove that now, which will give GH an opportunity to throw her into scenes with Bradley Cole, (hello Guiding Light fans) but it was such a relief to hear someone finally suspect Kiefer. I was beginning to think that no one remembered anything they had seen or heard about him. I think Carly should go to Sonny with her suspicions because she might actually be the only person who can get through to him. One would think he would have learned something from his experiences with Claudia and Dante, but how quickly he forgets.
I was surprised that Lulu brought up Luke's past to Ethan. I had actually forgotten that he didn't know all about the saga that is Luke and Laura, but if Luke is going to factor into a storyline about violence against women, the rape needs to be addressed. And I liked that Lulu recognized it for the violent act that it was.
The Kristina abuse storyline on General Hospital continues to get worse with each passing day. As if the show's portrayal of her as the villain in this whole scenario weren't enough, one of the main characters essentially justified the attack to the accused on Tuesday's episode. Obviously I am referring to Luke, who apparently is so open-minded and non-judgemental that he has even found a way to understand the beating of a 17 year old girl. Granted Luke was talking to Ethan, who obviously did not commit the crime he is accused of, but for Luke to say that he "can see where a guy would snap and...do something that he didn't intend to do" after what Ethan experienced, is reprehensible. I guess I should not be surprised given Luke's history, but what Ethan experienced is known as a bad day. If Ethan can't handle being told off by the older sister of a girl who has a crush on him the same day said crush was expressed I'm amazed he made it through high school without being arrested.
Luke's comments
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For months I have watched this storyline unfold, convincing myself that it would help teenage girls who found themselves the victim of abuse, but the way it is being told is not helping anyone. In fact it may be doing more harm with all the mixed messages that are being sent. Viewers are already losing sympathy for the victim as the show continues to remind them that Kristina's lies are a part of some sort of pattern rather than the result of someone who is scared and confused. Furthermore, the show is sending the message that Kristina's lies are more about punishing Ethan, than protecting Kiefer. This was evidenced by the scene in which Kristina reminded Ethan that he was mean to her when he asked why she was lying about who attacked her. The ease with which Kristina is accusing Ethan also makes it seem like she is trying to punish him. At times her accusations come with such little hesitation it seems that she may have even convinced herself that Ethan is the one who attacked her.
Kristina's comments
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Kristina is not being presented as the victim she is. Instead she is being showcased as a liar and a manipulator who just happened to get attacked. Luke's comments in reference to her on Tuesday were nothing short of derogatory and were indicative of the way she continues to be villainized on this show. I suspect this will only get worse in the coming weeks because I do not foresee an end to this storyline any time soon.
General Hospital's compelling, informative story about the reality of relationship abuse among teens took a different direction this week. This storyline should have focused on one single victim of abuse, Kristina. That is the only way to present a story of this nature if the motive is to educate and raise awareness. Instead there are too many other victims involved in Kristina's situation for it to be much more than background for the other aspects of this storyline. First of all too much focus is being placed on how this situation affects Sonny and Sam, not to mention Ethan. Obviously there needs to be some mention of Sonny and Sam's past abuse otherwise that would be ignoring history, but their painful memories should not be the primary focus unless the overall goal is to garner sympathy for Sonny. I certainly hope this is not the case.
I am pleased that there have been references to the fact that it is normal for victims of abuse to protect their abuser because I am not sure how much longer viewers will sympathize with Kristina while she is protecting Kiefer. In fact at times I feel that the show may be effectively villainizing her through their attempts to make viewers feel sorry for Ethan, yet another reason he should have never been a major factor in this storyline.
Furthermore I think General Hospital may have made a mistake when they allowed Kristina to become so interested in Ethan that she was willing to break dates with Kiefer to see him. I'm assuming the show wanted to create a situation that would explain Kiefer's attack, but this particular situation sends the message that Kristina really wasn't that in love with Kiefer. As a result viewers may begin asking the question, "if Kristina doesn't care that much about Kiefer then why is she protecting him?"
The answer may lie in Ethan's rejection. Kristina may feel that because Ethan rejected her no one but Kiefer will ever want her. This is something the show really needs to address soon. Often times in abusive relationships the victim is made to feel that their abuser is the only one who will ever love them. This is all a part of the psychology of abuse. The abuser will gradually break down the victim's self-confidence over time until the victim feels worthless and becomes completely dependent on their abuser. This is why it is so easy for people to stay in abusive relationships once the physical abuse begins. I hope this is something the show plans to explore, particularly if Kristina's protection of Kiefer will be an ongoing factor in this storyline. Viewers should sympathize with Kristina, but they will be less inclined to do so unless the show acknowledges the reasoning behind her lies.
In previous posts I have given a lot of praise to General Hospital for their decision to tell a story about a teenager involved in an abusive relationship because I believe that teenagers and parents alike need to know that this happens and what can be done to prevent it. I also believe that when a show decides to take on this subject matter they need to be careful about the unintentional messages they are sending in their efforts to tell a story. For the most part General Hospital has been able to tell a story of an abused teenager both accurately and sensitively, showing both the mental and physical elements that make up abusive relationships. And I continue to applaud the show for ending every episode that features Kristina being abused by her boyfriend with helpful information for the viewers. However, this storyline took an irresponsible detour on Friday and I am not referring to Kiefer's escalated act of abuse. Although that was difficult to watch it was realistic, and a certain amount of realism is necessary in order to tell a story of this nature.
What was unnecessary were the bruises Ethan left on Kristina's arm. This was not essential to the story I believed GH was trying to tell. If anything Ethan leaving those bruises sends the message that it is okay if a guy leaves marks on you as long as he doesn't smack you around.This message, unintentional as it may have been, seems especially clear when one considers that Ethan, by all accounts, is a good guy and a potential future love interest for Kristina.
Obviously Ethan did not mean to hurt Kristina, but just the mere fact that he left bruises behind indicates he was being too rough. This never should have been a factor in this storyline. Obviously this was written in to make Ethan seem all the more guilty once Kristina accused him of beating her up. However he still could have been a suspect even without Kristina's bruised arm. Not only did he yell at her in a public place, but it is normal for someone like Kristina who is being abused to protect her abuser by placing the blame elsewhere. Furthermore in a case like this Kristina's loved ones will be inclined to believe anything she says about who hurts her with or without evidence. In my opinion Ethan should have only been involved in this abuse story to the extent that he helps Kristina get out of a bad situation. For months I have felt that Ethan exemplified for Kristina how men were supposed to treat women in the aftermath of Sonny's verbal attack on Claudia, and in the midst of Kiefer's abuse. Now that Ethan has subjected Kristina to a certain amount of verbal abuse himself and has left marks on her arm in anger, he no longer seems like someone who should be used as an example of how women should be treated. This will only confuse teenage viewers and help them justify and rationalize abusive acts in their own relationships.
As many of you know I recently had a bout with the flu, so forgive me if my latest assessment of General Hospital is less than accurate, or coherent. However, I have been getting this strange feeling of deja vu the past few weeks because when I watch this show now it seems like I may as well be watching episodes from a few years ago. Jax and Carly are involved in a power struggle within their marriage, which involves Sonny. Michael is the center of everyone's focus and concern. Spinelli and Maxie have been involved in yet another caper. Liz is struggling with the fact that she cheated on Lucky. Johnny is public enemy number one. And Tracy is once again obsessed with Lulu's love life. I know that soaps like to recycle their storylines, but I am not sure why this soap feels the need to go back over all their old storylines using the same cast of characters. Of course this might be tolerable if the dialogue was intriguing enough to break up the monotony, but I am not sure how many more times I can hear Sonny say "I wouldn't have shot him if I had known he was my son!" Obviously Sonny is never going to accept full blame for shooting Dante, which is disappointing because I had such high hopes for what the fallout over Dante's paternity would bring to the show. I imagined Sonny struggling with what his lifestyle had once again cost him. I imagined Carly finding out about everything Jax had done, namely his attempt to hide Jerry's involvement in Michael's shooting. I guess it was foolish to think all of his secrets would come out at once, just like it was foolish to think that we might actually see Kate once Sonny learned that she had been keeping the truth about Dante from him too. The one thing I didn't imagine was that Sonny would still be painting himself as a victim more than a month after learning that Dante was his son. This adds nothing interesting to the show, in fact it only undermines its substance and makes Sonny seem like a one-dimensional character. I just wonder how long it will be before Prosecutor Claire becomes his new love interest, but am I the only one who thinks that she and Dante look like they could be siblings? Perhaps Sonny should screen all his future girlfriends for a possible DNA match, just in case he has any more illegitimate children out there he doesn't know about yet.
