Sonny and Carly (cont.):

Carly: "Why would I even think for a minute that you would take my side? You'd much rather defend the innocent, huh?"

Carly: "Listen to me. Elizabeth has been over Lucky since the second you became available, since our baby died."
Sonny: "Don't you dare use our child that way."

Sonny: "And I'm sorry--"
Elizabeth: "Don't worry about it."
Sonny: "It's just--you know how things are."

Terry: "Interestingly enough, I think Carly and Elizabeth are a lot alike. Well, actually, I think Carly's problems are far worse. Elizabeth is a child. Both women are trying to deal with setting limits on what they will accept from the men they love, and trying to stand up for themselves. Both want love, and feel they are being rejected in some form--hot-and-cold annoying mixed signals and frequent outright rejection for Lucky in Liz's case, while Carly is convinced Sonny sees her only as an obligation, a burden, not someone he cares for in her own right. Both are trying to figure out where they fit in, how people feel about them. Carly, however, has been rejected not only by Sonny (okay, he didn't reject her, but that's how she's feeling) but earlier, in her eyes, by Jason, Bobbie, by her adopted father, etc. Most importantly, Carly has to factor in what is best for her son. And I refuse to join the chorus of 'she just uses Michael' I hear quite often. I think she truly loves Michael and truly is trying to do what's best for him. She has made sacrifices for his sake. But she can't, at this point in her life, make the sacrifice she perceived in her situation with Sonny--stay with a man who doesn't love her just so Michael could have a cushy upbringing. For that, and for alot of the other things she's done as she struggles to grow and change, I applaud her."

"Lately, she has managed to avoid total trainwrecks in her dealings with Sonny. And, by the way, her earlier train wrecks were not purely her fault--she might have represented trouble, and been a determined schemer, but as when Stefan manipulates folks, it takes two to tango. She may have slept with Bobbie's husband (Tony), but she didn't rape him. He went to bed with her willingly, and often. He's a big boy, and he was thinking with his little head. So why should Carly alone be blamed for what happened?"

"Yes, Carly has a vicious mouth. That's one of her most effective in a very limited array of weapons at her disposal. When cornered, when afraid, she lashes out like a wounded animal. Yes, she doesn't have faith that she could be accepted for herself by anyone but Jason, largely because so many in her family have failed to do so over the years, so she assumes the worst in most cases. It makes perfect Carly-logic sense that when she decides to try to smooth things over with Sonny, Liz would be standing in the way. That's the way things work in Carly's world. She sleeps with a drunk one time, and gets pregnant, even though she's slept with Tony for months and never had that happen. She pours her heart out to her mom about wanting love, not just a sense of obligation, from a man before she will build a life with him, and Bobbie says 'you're manipulating people' and orders her out of the brownstone. She works to get out of her marriage to AJ to be with Jason, and rides off into the sunset without saying goodbye. So when she sees Sonny embracing Liz, consoling her, she's not supposed to figure that with her luck, Liz has a much better chance of winning Sonny's heart than she does?"

"As for the claim that she's with Sonny only for the money, she lives with incredibly wealthy people, who give her money. She doesn't steal if, for criminees sake. And when she doesn't feel she has a right to that largesse, she rejects it. She refuses to take Sonny's money now. Why is her spending Jason's money on clothes and toys for Michael worse than what AJ's doing with his money now--throwing darts at the financial page, trying to lose it all on stocks? And Carly treats 'servants' very well. She has a genuine friendship with Johnny. She and Leticia get along fine and I love their little talks."

"Suffice it to say, I see her trying very hard to take responsibility right now, and I see Bobbie pushing her back into Sonny's arms even as if a man in your life is the only solution to any problem. Yuck."

"As for Elizabeth, like Robin before her, she certainly makes an exception for Carly. Yes, Carly is awfully vicious toward Liz, but Liz gets in some pretty good shots herself, but never, it seems, when anyone else is listening. She tore into Carly when Carly came home and found her sitting in that rocking chair. She had made fun of it as a tacky piece of furniture, certainly Carly's taste, when in fact it was a gift from Mike that Carly had not even seen. Then Carly came in, Liz sat in it like the cat who stole the cream, and started making catty remarks. Was Sonny there to hear them? Nope. Once he was on the scene, it was all sweetness and light and big brown eyes."

"Is Liz a terrible person? Of course not. But I'm uncomfortable with this madonna/whore mentality that labels Carly the whore and Liz the Madonna figure. It's not that simple, thank goodness."

Continue to Next Page of Review

Back to Front Page of Issue

Back to Top