Paula's Soapbox

Once upon a time there was a young man of barely eighteen, who was imprisoned after slaying his stepmother to protect his mother and baby sister. This young man was called Michael and his newfound captivity held more danger than all the ports in Port Charles.   Shortly after his imprisonment began, Michael became the victim of a sinister plot in which he was forced to submit to the sexual advances of a fellow inmate. Michael's spirit was broken and it seemed like he might never recover from the harsh realities of prison even after he was freed. Then one day fair maiden Samantha offered Michael a helping hand. It seemed she had come across a lovely lady called Candy who routinely abandoned her clothes in the presence of men for monetary compensation. As luck would have it this lady was willing to offer herself to Michael as a way of helping him overcome his fears of intimacy; but alas young Michael was too inexperienced, too broken to appreciate Candy's kind ...

Ever since Kristina witnessed Sonny's verbal attack on Claudia at the Metro Court, I have wondered how, if at all, this incident would impact her thoughts on abuse. With Kristina now learning so much more about the complexities of abuse it seems only natural that she would find similarities in the way Sonny is with women and the way Kiefer was with her. Granted, Sonny is not likely to ever hit a woman. He is careful not to cross that line after seeing the way his mother was beaten while he was growing up. His upbringing obviously left him with the impression that abuse only exists in the physical form. Perhaps the physical pain he and his mother endured was so bad that any other forms of abuse went unnoticed. Kiefer didn't start hitting Kristina right away, and I doubt if Deke hit Sonny's mother right away either. Like most abusive situations, there was undoubtedly some mental and emotional abuse that occurred throughout, only Sonny was either too young or ill-equipped to r...

When General Hospital began telling a story about teenage domestic violence I was hopeful that it would have the capacity to educate and warn teenagers about the nature of abusive relationships. I had hoped this storyline would encourage them to respect themselves and empower them to seek help should they ever find themselves the victim of abuse. My hopes were high because I genuinely believed GH wanted to shine a light on a subject that is so rarely talked about. The PSA's that aired after every episode where Kristina was abused only seemed to confirm this belief. However a few weeks ago it became clear that this was not a story of education and empowerment, despite evidence to the contrary. In the beginning this storyline showed so much promise that is difficult to fathom how it could go so horribly wrong in such a short amount of time. I'm not quite sure what happened but once Ethan became a factor everything just sort of unraveled. And somewhere along the way I think the s...

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 thin...

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 ...

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...

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 cert...

Well, it was another successful karaoke night at Jake's on Wednesday's General Hospital. And it provided a much needed break from all the intensity that Franco has brought to the show the past few weeks. I am pleased to see that GH seems to be making this a regular event. I do not really mind the darker moments on this soap because quite frankly that is where most of the interesting storylines come from, but it is nice to have balance and the karaoke episodes do a good job of maintaining that balance without making the show boring. I especially like the way these episodes tend to highlight and accentuate some of the back-burner storylines and romances, like Max and Diane's reunion or Alexis's budding romance with Mac. And let's not forget about Spinelli's unforgettable rendition of "I Want to Know What Love Is" when he was attempting to woo his fair Maximista with courtly love. After all it was Spinelli's courtly love phase that seemed to kick-star...

It seems I was wrong about Kiefer. Apparently he does scare easily, so easily in fact that he took out his fear on Kristina by backhanding her across the face. Call me crazy but if Kiefer really wanted to avoid retaliation from the mob he would stop abusing the mob boss's daughter. Of course that would imply that Kiefer is actually capable of rational thought, which he clearly is not. Aside from the fact that he repeatedly threatens both Kristina and Michael, Kiefer never seemed to make the connection today that Michael, not Kristina, was responsible for the visit from Max and Milo. Obviously Kristina will forgive Kiefer for this "misunderstanding", and not just because of the dynamics involved in abusive relationships, but because Kiefer called her the same thing Sonny called Claudia the night she was killed. And while viewers will undoubtedly note distinct differences between Sonny and Kiefer, Kristina will likely come to the conclusion that if it was acceptable for Son...

I think that Spinelli may have given Jason the nickname Stone Cold a little too hastily because clearly that title belongs to Michael. I knew that killing Claudia would have a profound impact on Michael, I just never expected it to affect him in the way that it has. In a few short days he has gone from being a nice kid with a tendency to act impulsively, to a somewhat scarier version of Sonny. In fact Jason should follow his instincts and tell the police the truth if he wants Michael to have even the slightest chance at a normal life. And he should probably do that sooner rather than later, considering that Michael has already given Max and Milo their first assignment. Granted, someone needs to warn Kiefer to stay away from Kristina, but he doesn't seem like the type of guy who scares easily. If he was, he wouldn't be making a career out of tormenting the mob boss's kids. Aside from that, I was surprised at how quickly Max and Milo agreed to harass a teenager, particularly ...

Never let it be said that Sonny Corinthos doesn't know how to throw a party. Moments after Claudia's birthday party got underway, Sonny made the announcement that Claudia was the one responsible for Michael's shooting. And as shocking as this was to hear, it doesn't compare to how shocked I was by Sonny's sudden perceptiveness. For someone who has been so utterly clueless for so long, Sonny certainly gained a lot of clarity in just a few short moments. Perhaps he had a little of whatever Lulu had a few days ago when she figured out that Dante is a cop. Honestly I don't care what it was that caused Sonny to finally see things so clearly, I am just glad that he was able to expose Jax in the process, and that Carly was around to hear it. It was about time she found out that Jax knew about Jerry's involvement in Michael's shooting, I just never expected Sonny to be the one to finally give her this information. Then again I never expected that Sonny would fig...

On Tuesday's General Hospital Carly went into premature labor after eating a bag of fries from Jake's, so Coleman and Johnny had to drive her to the hospital. Meanwhile Jax was talking to Olivia about Dante's reassignment orders. Obviously Olivia was relieved at the prospect of Dante leaving town and getting away from Sonny, but Jax was more than a little disappointed. He even argued with Olivia about how important it was for Dante to continue his undercover work and gather evidence against Sonny, as if Olivia had any control over that. Once Jax realized that there was no point in arguing with Olivia he took matters into his own hands and contacted a senator in an apparent attempt to keep Dante on the job. This just makes me that much happier that Carly is finally having her baby. Now maybe she will start to see Jax for who he really is and kick him to the curb. Then that will leave Jax free to date the only other person in town who is more hypocritical and self-righteous t...

On Thursday's General Hospital Sam took Kristina to the clinic to get birth control pills. I won't even attempt to count how many things are wrong with that sentence. However, I do want to point out how disconcerting it was to hear Kristina drop hint after hint that Kiefer was pressuring her into having sex and Sam only telling her that she should wait until she is ready. Kristina already had the birth control in hand so obviously she is planning on doing this whether she is ready or not. Sam should have made a point to tell Kristina that if Kiefer was the right one for her he would not be pressuring her into doing something she was not ready to do. Moreover Sam should not be the one having this conversation with Kristina in the first place, Alexis should. Of course it is kind of difficult to be a mom to your own kids when you are busy trying to play mom to someone else's. While Sam and Kristina were at the clinic, Alexis found Michael on the waterfront and took the opportu...

When the Kiefer/Kristina storyline began on GH, I praised the show for shedding some light on the subject of teenagers caught in abusive relationships because as a society this is something that is rarely ever talked about. Unfortunately these types of relationships are much more common than anyone would want to admit and talking about them is the only way that teenagers are ever going to learn how to protect themselves. I still feel like it was a smart and gutsy move for GH to be willing to tell this story, but I am a little concerned at how this storyline now seems to be unfolding. I am worried that not enough attention is being paid to the emotional and mental side of abusive relationships because Kiefer's worst outbursts seem to occur when Kristina refuses to sleep with him. Then the issue becomes more about Kristina not being ready to have sex, but deciding to do it anyway because she is being pressured by her boyfriend. I have no doubt that an abusive boyfriend would try to p...

After overhearing a drunken Kate spill the beans about Dante yesterday, Claudia showed up at the Metro Court just in time to hear this same information again today. With this secret ready to explode Olivia needs to take Kate's timely advice and come up with a plan B because Claudia made it clear that she has no intention of keeping this secret. She even went so far as to tell Dante that she had important information that he would be interested to hear. However, knowing Claudia and the way she likes to play Zacchara mind games I cannot see her just blurting out this information. She will most likely try to use what she knows to her advantage somehow which will undoubtedly blow up in her face, probably just in time for Sarah Brown's exit from the show. Of course Claudia is going to have to work fast in order to exploit this secret before hers are exposed because Michael's memories have been returning rather quickly. And on today's General Hospital he remembered a visit he...

On Wednesday's General Hospital Michael experienced his first day back at school since he awoke from his coma, this time attending Kristina's stuffy private school. Speaking of Kristina's school, I know that kids can be cruel, but I really do not see Michael or any kid like Michael being made fun of for being in a coma by random people in a hallway. This just seems a little nonsensical to me, especially when the kid being made fun of is the son of a mob boss. On a slightly different note, I would hate to be a teenage girl like Kristina and have to pick between the batch of losers that seem to be attending this school because they all seem like different versions of Keifer. Michael's first day of school also brought forth more memories, but unlike his previous memories these seemed to be a bit altered. Michael remembered Sam visiting him at the institute even though she denied ever seeing him there when he confronted her about it. I think that perhaps Michael was remembe...

Friday's General Hospital showed a much quieter Port Charles than the one viewers have seen all week, providing a momentary break from the chaos. As for the citizens of Port Charles, they are oblivious to the fact that the carnival disaster was only the beginning of their problems, as was apparent throughout this episode. Fortunately for Edward, Robin informed Mac that he was not to blame for driving his car through the midway, injuring and killing dozens of people. What is so sad about all of this is that Edward is still left with the guilt even though he was as much of a victim as everyone else at the carnival. It is touching to see the way Rebecca is looking out for him now though. The only downside to this is the fact that I feel like we are seeing Emily again, not Rebecca. It is not that I was not a fan of Emily, but if the show wanted to bring back the Emily character they should have just brought her back instead of introducing viewers to Rebecca. That being said, it did pro...

After watching Thursday's General Hospital it is clear that the lives of those in Port Charles will never be the same. This show is taking so many twists and turns right now that literally anything can happen. And Thursday's episode provided the perfect example of this as one by one everyone's secrets were exposed. At the carnival, Claudia continued to look for Kristina, who had apparently lost consciousness when the ride fell apart. At one point she managed to regain consciousness in time to see someone in heels walking away from her, unaware that it was Claudia. Then Michael showed up to try to find her himself while Claudia went to the hospital to let everyone know that she still had not been found. Moments later Michael arrived with Kristina, whose only injury was a mild sprain. After she was examined she told Michael that she thought someone else had found her before he did, but they walked away. This piece of information may ultimately mean the difference between life...

Chaos ensued in the aftermath of Edward's heart attack and Anthony's failed takeover attempt, leaving a trail of destruction behind. On Tuesday's General Hospital, Edward suffered from what appeared to be a heart attack after consuming a martini laced with poison, sending his car careening down the carnival midway. And on Wednesday's episode viewers watched as Edward's car continued to plow through the attractions, causing countless deaths and injuries along the way. One of these deaths was Andrea Floyd, who was killed in a moment that can only be described as poetic justice, as Edward's car pinned her against the Ferris wheel, bringing it to a complete stop. Unfortunately Edward's car had plenty of time to do damage elsewhere before coming to this stop. Max was one of the first people hit while trying to save the ADA, undoubtedly being exposed to the impact of the car at full speed. Meanwhile Jake had wandered off to look at a booth of stuffed animals, the ...

The much anticipated carnival finally got underway on Friday's General Hospital and a good time was had by all, despite the proverbial dark cloud overhead. Spinelli continued to face his fears by showing up at the carnival dressed as a clown, hoping to bring happiness to those around him. And considering that he somehow managed to bring a smile to Sonny's face I would say his fear is all but conquered. Aside from clowns, the carnival also featured what they referred to as a dunk-a-hunk, more commonly known as a dunking booth. Some of the best scenes of Friday's episode took place inside the tent of the dunk-a-hunk, where Patrick, Dante, Johnny, and Ethan took turns inside the booth. As it turned out Molly was the only one able to dunk any of them after several failed attempts by Robin, Lulu, Matt, the ADA, and Max. Speaking of Max, I noticed a little spark between him and the ADA, who of course is Diane's presumably unfashionable arch nemesis. This leads me to wonder if...