| "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. |
| "Naked Eyes" #9 (cont.) Upset by the two men’s violent outbursts, Tess approaches them, doll in hand. “Jack, why are you angry?” she asks in a monotone, childlike voice. But Jack, obsessed with keeping her safe, seems barely aware of her presence. Instead of responding to her, he continues to talk with Ian, trying to dissuade him from questioning her privately. Even when Tess assures Jack that she’s not afraid to go to Ian’s house to answer questions, Jack addresses Ian first, irritably telling him to “drop it,” then turns to Tess and denies he’s angry. Tess reacts to Jack’s anger and inattentiveness by shutting down, turning inward, away from the turmoil and hostility. Sitting on the couch, she rocks back and forth, humming, consoling herself the only way she knows how while Jack and Ian discuss her as if she isn’t even there. She has always hummed the same song, Jack explains, ever since their first encounter; living alone in the words, having never heard a radio or recording, she had that song for solace. Ian recognizes a familiar melody amidst the tune-impaired humming and informs Jack that the song is the one Stephen Clay was singing at the concert. How, he asks, could Tess, dwelling by herself in the forest, know the song unless she has a connection with Caleb? As Jack is struggling to understand and explain this disturbing mystery, Livvie, overhearing the conversation, walks in the door. “I knew it. I knew the little bitch was evil,” she snarls. “She was sent by Caleb to torture me. Weren’t you?” she accuses, glaring at Tess. “You’re his messenger, aren’t you? Answer me. Answer me!” She then turns towards Jack. “Would you listen to her humming? That’s Caleb’s song. Jack, she’s a monster just like he is. . . . He brought her here to toy with us, all of us. . . . She’s Caleb’s, can’t you see that?” Livvie oscillates between viciousness and seductiveness, lashing out at Jack, threatening to drive a stake through Tess’s heart, yet trying to pass herself off as a frightened, helpless, vulnerable young woman who needs her former boyfriend’s protection against the “monster,” Caleb. When Tess leaves to go with Ian for questioning, Livvie plays upon Jack’s conflicted feelings towards their shattered relationship. Livvie and Jack’s conversation begins with an exchange of hostilities (Livvie threatening to kill Tess, Jack threatening to kill Livvie if she harms Tess), but concludes with a rather tense congeniality. Although she realizes that Jack has fallen in love with Tess, she believes she can still arouse his lust and protective impulses towards her and his jealous rivalry towards Caleb. After she informs Jack that Caleb “came after” her while Jack was protecting his “poor, helpless Tess,” she suggests that Caleb hasn’t killed her yet because he hasn’t had “enough time torturing” her. She claims that Caleb wants to drive her crazy by pretending he is someone else and creating an “exact replica” to “take over” her life. When Jack insists that Caleb did not create Tess, Livvie reminds Jack that Tess appeared in town the same time Caleb did. “Caleb owns her, he owns her,” she exclaims. According to Livvie, everyone thinks Tess is so “special, pure and wonderful” because that’s what Caleb wants people to think. “That’s what he is good at,” she argues. “Remember? He pulls people in one by one and then picks up off whenever he feels like it. And then he created that . . . that thing to take over my life and reel everyone else in.” Frightened of the “twin” who embodies everything Livvie lacks, Livvie tries to get Jack and everyone else to fear Tess. Although her paranoid theories, we later find out, are partially true, since Caleb did create Tess, Livvie is wrong in implying that Tess is dangerous, deceptive, or evil. Tess is just as she presents herself—good, kind, innocent. Unlike everyone else, she does not have a mask, for she is an incomplete person, the all-pure, virtuous aspect of Livvie. She is an antithesis, a personality fragment. Livvie, as we will see, is also in a sense, a fragment of her former self, the person she had been before Caleb corrupted her soul. Stripped of her compassion, loyalty, and morality, Livvie has become the person Caleb has created her to be. Jack, more than almost anyone else, knows what Livvie has become. “That thing? Is that what you call Tess?” he bristles at Livvie’s remarks. “Look at you. You’re barely human anymore.” “Yeah, and when did that happen, Jack? When?” she retorts. “When Caleb turned my life inside out. I am well aware of who I am and the things I’ve done. But this is not just me. I didn’t do this alone. And God knows, I am paying the price for my sins. . . . My baby, Jack, my baby,” she whines, craving Jack’s emotional support but accusing him of forsaking her when she needed him most. “I don’t have anyone. I have nobody in my life, no place to go. And you of all people I thought were the one person that still cared about me. But you have made that very clear that you don’t give a damn about me anymore. So where do I go from here? Where can I go to hide from him, Jack? I can’t do this alone. I can’t be alone right now. So please, I am begging you. I need to stay with you, Jack. I know you don’t want to, and I know I shouldn’t even be asking, but I’m really, really scared right now.” |