| "Tainted Love" Diary 33 (c) by Alison Armstrong |
| An analysis of the "Tainted Love" episodes of the show "Port Charles," formerly of ABC-TV. This site will focus on the scenes featuring the vampire character Caleb Morley (portrayed by actor Michael Easton). The character of Caleb Morley 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. |
"Too late," Caleb argues. "And I won't let you turn me into some bloodless saint like you." He makes another expression of disgust and repugnance, as if getting ready to spit. "Someone who doesn't feel anything, who doesn't desire anything. I'd rather be undead." "I didn't ask for this war. But I will fight it," Michael vows. "And you'll lose, Bro," Caleb says with a triumphant smile. "You know you'll lose." |
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| At a stalemate in his perpetual struggle with Caleb, Michael goes to the hospital in search of Eve but ends up bumping into Gabby, who, in an ironic twist, "mistakes" him for Caleb dressed as a priest. "Great outfit," Gabby exclaims with lusty delight, perhaps anticipating a night of decadent dress-up games with her ever surprising, ever arousing lover. "I am so glad to see you." Michael, however, is shy and uncomfortable in the presence of this sexually aggressive female and asks if somebody needs a priest. |
| "I'll play along," Gabby laughs, but then becomes irritated and jealous when Michael says he's looking for Eve Thornhart. "Why HER?" she snaps. "She's married now and pregnant." Then, informing Michael that Eve is probably at the diner across the street, she adds, "But you're wasting your time with her." |
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| When Michael starts to leave, Gabby persists in trying to gain his attention, asking if he is "hungry." But Michael replies, "No, I had a bite already. Thank you. I'll go find Eve." Like his alter ego Caleb, Michael leaves Gabby yearning with unrequited desire. "Caaaleb," Gabby moans, stretching out his name in a plaintive wail, "Why do you go after her when you can have me?" Indeed, Caleb, in a sense, does have Eve as well as Gabby, gaining Eve's affections as Father Michael in addition to igniting Gabby's and Livvie's desires in all his true vamp glory. After talking with Michael in the diner, Eve, in fact, even ends up inviting Michael to stay with her and Ian at their house. He, like Caleb, is a rival, a threat, in Michael's case a wolf in sheep's clothing, a vampire believing himself to be a priest. As in previous scenes with Caleb and Michael, the mystery of Caleb's past remains tantalizingly unresolved. Did Michael once exist as a real brother to Caleb, and is he now a fragmented aspect of Caleb that refuses to be engulfed by vampirism, a force of repression, negation, and self-hatred as well as a vestige of a haunted human yearning for spirituality while feeling damned by all? The Caleb side is stronger because it is vitalized by sensual joy, passion, erotic release, as well as the blood needed to sustain physical life. It remains as the dominant personality throughout the rest of Caleb's saga, but the hidden, condemning Michael side persists as a shadow of recrimination and doubt, a force that subconsciously undermines Caleb's goals and thwarts his chances for happiness. |
| Snappies of "Tainted Love" scenes taken by A. Armstrong |