| "Naked Eyes" : Analysis of the "Naked Eyes" Arc of ABC-TV's Port Charles
(c) Alison Armstrong |
| An analysis of the "Naked Eyes" 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. |
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| Snappies of "Naked Eyes" scenes taken by A. Armstrong |
| "Naked Eyes" #6 (cont.) “You’re not making this any easier,” she teases him. “Nothing worth the wait ever is,” he replies, pouting seductively as she gets up to answer the door; then he vanishes from the room. |
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| “OK, I’m counting to three,” Alison threatens, continuing to act like the scolding mother of an unruly child.
When Elizabeth opens the door a crack, explaining that this is not a good time for a chat, Alison barges inside. Reproaching Elizabeth for being such a “messy woman,” she looks around and notices a man’s watch lying on the table. Shocked and repulsed that her mother must have had a man in the room, she is even more appalled when she finds out that Elizabeth doesn’t even know her lover’s name. Angrily, she lectures her mother about the impropriety and dangers of having sex with strangers. It is clear from the conversation that Alison is far more adult and responsible than either of her parents. Unfortunately, perhaps as a result of Rafe’s influence, Alison is also quite judgmental. Defending herself in the midst of Alison’s moralizing attack, Elizabeth explains why she “slept with a stranger.” “He told me I was beautiful and I was exciting,” Elizabeth relates, trying to get Alison to understand woman-to-woman. “And God he wanted me. Do you know how good that felt to have somebody want me? I would have given anything to have your father feel like that about me.” Elizabeth’s impassioned explanation manages to partially thaw Alison’s icy feelings towards her mother. Feeling slightly more empathetic, Alison listens as Elizabeth begins writing down the names of all the women who slept with Malcolm, one list for “his brief encounters” and another one for his affairs. The lists, compiled as part of her agreement to help her daughter find her long-lost sibling, are so lengthy, Malcolm’s adulteries so numerous, that Alison begins to feel sorry for her mother. Suggesting that Elizabeth put down the pen before it runs out of ink, Alison talks with her mother about the stranger. Elizabeth smiles rapturously, like a young girl in love for the first time, saying that even though she doesn’t know his name, something tells her “that he is one of the good ones.” We who already have seen Caleb in previous arcs know that he definitely is not what could be considered “one of the good ones.” He is (and will remain throughout the series) a complex villain with good, loving qualities as well as cruel and destructive traits. We have seen his gentle, benevolent attributes expressed in his Father Michael aspect during “Tainted Love”, and we have seen his most malevolent characteristics exhibited as he plotted vengeance during “Tempted.” Good, as well as evil, dwells within Caleb and within us all. Having portrayed the empathetic lover who murmurs the type of sentimentally poetic statements Elizabeth yearns to hear, Caleb adopts a much more cynical, macho pose when he meets Rafe later at the gym. Their encounter seems far from accidental, part of an elaborate plan that Stephen, knowing his long-time foe so well, had devised to torment him further. He probably predicted that Rafe, pent-up with hostile, aggressive energy after the Halloween party, would have headed for the gym to release tension, each brutal jab and kick at the punching bag a symbolic assault against the vampire he longed to kill. Murdered by Caleb and then prevented by angel rules from retaliating, Rafe probably felt inept, impotent, and emasculated by any reminders of Caleb’s presence. The idea that Caleb could somehow return from Hell, unscathed and unhumbled, must have made Rafe want to tear apart his foe limb by limb while cursing the heavenly justice that thwarted such vengeance. |