| "The Gift": Analysis of "The Gift" Arc of ABC-TV's Port Charles
(c) Alison Armstrong |
| An analysis of the "The Gift" episodes of the show Port Charles, formerly of ABC-TV. This site will focus on the scenes featuring the vampire character Caleb Morley/Stephen Clay (portrayed by actor Michael Easton). The character of Caleb Morley/Stephen Clay and any other characters relating to Port Charles are the property of ABC and their creators. This is a fan-run site and is not an official site, nor is it affiliated in any way with ABC, Port Charles, or the actors portraying any of the Port Charles characters. No copyright infringement is intended. The writings on this site are copyrighted by the author, Alison Armstrong, and may not be reproduced without the author's express permission. |
| "The Gift" Analysis #24 By continuing their war, Caleb and Rafe keep destroying their own opportunities for happiness and fulfillment. The war is their obsession. It gnaws away at them, and, like a festering, infectious contagion, spreads to the ones they love, defiling love, trust, honor, and fidelity. Although Rafe, understandably, balks at using Alison as “bait” for the plan to manipulate Livvie into taking the ring, Livvie’s violent insecurities over Alison are crucial fodder for the plan’s success. Jack realizes this, but Rafe hypocritically fails to acknowledge it even after Alison, finding out about the plan, volunteers to take part in it. Arguing that Caleb and Livvie have already hurt everyone she loves, she urges Rafe to consider letting her play a key role in the battle against them. All she has to do, she suggests, is to visit Caleb, “flash a smiley smile and Livvie’s twisted mind will do the rest.” Reluctantly, Rafe agrees to let her take an active role in the scheme to “rattle” Livvie, and Alison makes a return trip to Caleb’s apartment. Livvie, meanwhile, disappointed that Caleb did not answer her phone call, heads over to Jack’s house to pick up her belongings. She is pleased that Jack kept them all this time after their break-up. Despite her love for Caleb, she still seems to harbor affection for Jack and the hope that they can be friends again. When she arrives at his house, Jack has just stepped out of the shower. A towel partially drapes his boyishly slender nude form. Although he lacks Caleb’s charisma, seductiveness, and fierce, animal sexuality, Jack, nevertheless, has retained the cute mischievous boy-next-door charm that first attracted her to him. Feeling awkward at glimpsing his familiar nakedness, she hesitantly asks if she has come at a bad time. “No . .. Livvie, it’s not a bad time,” he assures her. “Brings back old memories, huh?” he laughs. “Yeah, you and the river, us meeting,” she says in a rather shy, embarrassed voice. Seeing Jack awakens memories of innocence and first love, memories she is not sure she wishes to revisit. As Jack leaves to get dressed, she begins looking through the box of clothes, pictures, and other mementoes Jack saved. When he returns, bringing her a beer, they sit together and talk of times they shared. Their conversation gradually becomes more friendly and relaxed. For a few moments they are back to being their old selves, playfully joking giggling, and grabbing at photos. But then, suddenly, Jack, perhaps pretending to stumble, falls against Livvie. He hovers on top of her, his eyes meeting hers, and she senses the physical tension between them, the space between their bodies electrically charged with echoes of their shattered love. She pushes him away, wanting to escape the tug of contradictory emotions. “Sorry,” Jack murmurs, as she walks to the door. “I kind of lost my balance.” “No harm, no foul,” she replies, tense, breathless. “I should probably be on my way. . . . Thanks for the trip down memory lane.” Outside his house, she lingers on the porch. Home with Caleb is where she yearns to be, but he did not answer her phone call, and she dreads being there, alone in the apartment, alone with her restless, self-tormenting thoughts. Jack, as always, represents comfort, safety, companionship. He is here while Caleb is not. Noticing her standing there, Jack heads outside and hands her the box of mementoes she came to pick up. “Look, I’m glad I caught you before you left,” he confides. “I want. . . I want to be honest with you. . . . In there, I didn’t lose my balance. I almost kissed you. You almost let me.” “Nothing even happened,” Livvie protests, blaming the almost-kiss on the nostalgia of old photos and happy memories. But Jack continues to make a “big deal” out of it, implying that she is unhappy, disappointed in her eternal romance with Caleb. As usual, Livvie retaliates by accusing Jack of being jealous and resentful that she is with Caleb. Pointing to his failed relationships with her, Tess, and Reese, she sneeringly suggests that the reason all the women in his life left was that he wasn’t “enough for them either.” She then insinuates that he doesn’t have “the guts” to do what he really wants to do right now. “Is that right?” he teases, responding to her challenge by kissing her. “Get your hands off of me!” she hisses and asks him why he is “being such a jerk.” His taunting advances and sarcastic jabs are wearing down her defenses. “We were having a really good time for the first time in a long time, and then you had to ruin it,” she pouts. |
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| Snappies of "The Gift" scenes taken by A. Armstrong |