Volume I, Issue iii

November 1998

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:

I just wanted to let you know that I love your new magazine and am enjoying its thoughtful commentary on the show.

Two comments in this edition were particularly intriguing to me: the observation of the frequent references to Luke's "way" and the description of Luke's ambiguous feelings about his home. Both of these observations bring to mind that most venerable of wanderers, Odysseus himself. The emphasis on Luke finding his way, all the while being beguiled by temptation and threatened by danger, brings to mind the adventures and mishaps in the Greek classic. And Laura, who must await her husband while he finds his way back home, is in some ways like Penelope. That Laura was held captive on a Greek island (perhaps not so far from Ithaca...) and compelled to ward off over-eager suitors (a role she has reprised during this most recent of absences) makes the analogy even more resonant for me. And perhaps at some level Lucky is a version of Telemachus who must go in search of his father (not literally but metaphorically, as he uncovers the truth about the man he idolized). The fact that Luke must find his way (which in Greek is "odus," hence the word odyssey and the name Odysseus itself) only reminds me that he is the wanderer torn between his love of the journey and his love of his wife and (possibly?) his home.

I am newcomer to the show, and my observations have probably already been made before (and better). But the confluence of different remarks in this month's issue got me thinking!

Keep up the excellent work!

Lisa (clearly a former Classics major looking for an outlet)

I am going to don my flameproof suit and admit it: I am surprisingly interested in the Katherine/Nikolas Harold & Maude pairing.

Let me first say that I agree with Ned: Katherine should be dropped into a volcano. However, like Ned I also realize that Katherine will not die. She, like death and taxes, is an inevitable, irritating, fact of life. So, given that Katherine, like cockroaches, will survive a nuclear war, I think she and Nikolas are intriguing.

Unlike Stefan, Ned, Scotty, and every other great GH man that the writers have unsuccessfully thrown her with, Nikolas and Katherine actually have chemistry. Maybe it's just the dangerous, taboo nature of their coupling, but I feel like there is actually a semblance of a spark between the two of them. When Nikolas kissed her, I didn't feel the urge to hurl--unusual for a Katherine scene.

Like others, I feel that Nikolas's crush on Katherine pre-dates Katherine's relationship with Stefan. He wanted her all along, and neither he nor Katherine has forgotten their kiss on the night of "Twist of Fate." Nikolas had been raised to think of himself as atypical. He is too important to associate with his peers, yet, due to his isolated upbringing, he is socially immature, and does not fully realize that pursuing a woman old enough to be his mother is, to say the least, inappropriate.

Putting Katherine and Nikolas also forever squashes the possibility of a Stefan/Katherine pairing. Stefan will never forgive Katherine for this.

I find Nikolas to be a great character except in teenage storylines. Hated him with Sarah Webber. Could barely stomach him in The Hardy Boys Investigate Internet Porn. As the physical embodiment of the Cassadine/Spencer connection, he merits a storyline that takes full advantage of the richness of his heritage. Putting him with Katherine impacts Stefan and Laura, and, due to Katherine's current residence and Emily's crush on Nikolas, the Quartermaines.

I actually think Nik and Emily have decent chemistry, but I don't believe that Nikolas would be attracted to somebody as naive as Emily is currently being written. (If Emily were being written as a girl who'd lost her mother to cancer, was stuck in the midst of Quartermaine hell, experimented with drugs, and now was watching her adopted father succumb to an addiction she'd be a great match for Nikolas. But since they've got her dancing to Aaliyah and giggling with Lizzie, she's not for Nik.) I never liked Nik with Robin, because A) I'm not a Robin fan and B) I thought they had absolutely no chemistry together.

I enjoy the perverseness of Nikolas, who has longed for Laura all these years, falling for the woman who his uncle/father attempted to transform into Laura. It's so overtly Oedipal; lusting after the woman who Nik's "uncle" dressed in his mother's clothes, gave her engagement ring, and desperately tried to convince himself was Laura. It's even more interesting in light of the fact that Nikolas actually has gained a relationship with his mother. Now that Nik's realized that Laura and Stefan may have a relationship that has nothing to do with him, he needs an older blonde woman that is exclusively his. In addition, Katherine's current contempt for Stefan now mirrors that attitude that Nikolas used to think Laura had for Stefan. To Nikolas, Katherine represents the Laura he imagined, not the actual Laura who is becoming a kind and loving mother to him.

Finally, I think it's fascinating how many of these older women/jail bait stories have been popping up on TV lately. On ATWT, 40-ish married Margo was tempted by a 19 year-old, on Alley McBeal, Alley kissed Jonathan Jackson's slightly older brother, and on Dawson's Creek, Pacey had a sexual relationship with his teacher that was treated as a positive experience for both characters. Who knew that Mary Kay LeTourneau would pique the imagination of so many writers. And, I've got to say, after years of watching 20 year old woman with men old enough to be their fathers, I'm enjoying the switch.

Sara Bibel

[Ed. Note: A version of this letter first appeared as a post on the newsgroup rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc.]