A Musical Note
by Judy Ellison
One thing that I noticed and absolutely loved about the dream episode is that
during Nikolas's dream they used my all-time favorite "ominous" music
as background: the overture from Mozart's Don Giovanni. This absolutely
cements the theory that
someone is an opera buff on that staff! This music was not only right for the
scene because it was written in a scary minor key (the two opening chords, which
unfortunately didn't come through well in the audio, are just bone-chilling: huge
crashing minor chords with one single note remaining after the others have quit,
looming like a threat), but also because the scene in the opera during which this
music is reprised parallels Nikolas's deepest fear: that he will be unable to
break free of his title, and that he is destined to become his father.
In what is arguably opera's most memorable and disturbing scene, Don Giovanni
(a.k.a. Don Juan), master seducer (and rapist and murderer) is confronted by the
ghost of one of his victims, and is told that in order to escape the fires of
hell, he must repent. Now, one would think that the Don would have no difficulty
repenting, given the fact that, at this point, the stage has opened to reveal
said fires of hell, waiting to consume him. After all, in addition to his other
"talents," Giovanni is a master of the art of deceit, and whether or
not his remorse is heartfelt is immaterial. Yet, faced with certain death and
eternal suffering, he refuses to repent. And it is in that moment of utter truthfulness,
that the audience realizes that Don Giovanni, the legend, has seduced Don Giovanni,
the man: that he cannot give up his past or relinquish what he perceives as his
place in the world, even though he knows it will destroy him.
As for Stavros, he's looking more and more like the "master seducer"
himself, skillfully playing Gia, Carly, Chloe, and, quite possibly, his own mother.
To these women, he's as charming as the Don, and equally as dangerous. And I can
picture him, in the end, going down in flames rather than give up the path which
he so clearly relishes.
Even for those who've never seen Don Giovanni, the music was also made
effective by some sound editor's brilliant timing. The music of the overture,
being a sampling of all the music in the opera, shifts from minor key to major
key to minor again with the shifts in musical mood corresponding perfectly with
the events in Nik's dream. The beginning is all minor and dark, as Nikolas prepares
to sip the wine his grandmother prepared, and then, as Laura and Gia have their
say, the music takes a decidedly happier, hopeful tone which is eventually shattered
by the return of more minor chords as Nik sees Stavros's image in the mirror.
Wonderfully done!
Lady in Red
by Teresa Leslie
I am of mixed minds, as you can see from my June review, about the reviving
Stavros story. There is such potential here for a great revisitation of the fabulous
Spencer/Cassadine wars. And when things are hitting on all cylinders, it lives
up to the potential. Other times, the majority of the time in recent weeks, the
story is silly rather than sublime, especially scenes that feature the thawed
Cassadine baddie himself. The early stuff in the lab, with Helena clutching her
pashmina, as Joan often fussed, and fretting over her "darling Stavros,"was
more DOOL-ish than GH-ish for me. There was one arresting moment,
however, that sticks in my mind because it created such a powerful mental image.
The small touch that delighted me was the magnificent image of Helena cradling
Stavros as he struggled to awaken from his frozen state. Both her outfit and the
pose were powerful symbols.
The outfit that Helena was wearing as she had Stavros awakened was perfectly
selected--a bright crimson suit. The symbolic weight that blood red suit could
carry was awesome. Red is, after all, the color of passion, of anger, of strong
emotion, of love, and of blood. There stood a triumphant Helena draped in the
color of blood, and blood is at the heart of the Cassadine/Spencer feud, in more
ways than one. There is the blood of kinship--Stavros is her blood, Nikolas has
rejected his bloodline, blood is thicker than water for both Cassadines and Spencers,
and on and on. There is the blood that has been spilled because of the feud, and
the blood she has shown no hesitancy to consider spilling in the future, as when
she ordered a programmed Lucky to take out his father. There is the blood tie
between Nikolas and Lulu that set up the whole revival of the Cassadine feud with
the revelation of Laura's secret family. To see Helena at this critical juncture
in the Cassadine story swathed in bright red seemed only appropriate.
Stavros was coming out of his coma, not yet fully awake but not still fully
asleep. Helena was holding her shirtless son in her lap, and the pose was a twisted
Pieta, a sick variation on the artistic staple of the Virgin Mary cradling her
son on her lap after the Crucifixion. It was a great use of a traditional image
that calls up all sorts of associations and stands them all on their heads. Yes,
Helena is a loving mother, like Mary; but there is something decidely unholy about
her obsession with her eldest son. And the moment captured in a Pieta is one of
extreme sadness for Mary as she holds her dead son, but the viewer familiar with
the Biblical account knows that Jesus will triumph over death in the Resurrection,
so the sadness is momentary. Helena's emotional response to the son in her lap
is rather one of joy, as she thinks she is celebrating a triumph over death that
has already taken place. This is a moment after the resurrection with a small
"r" rather than a moment before the Resurrection. And I would argue
that Helena's response is as temporary as Mary's, as once Stavros is fully awake,
he proves to be much harder to handle than she anticipated and to have very different
ideas of what his priorities should be than she does. For this one moment, however,
we see Helena the mother, just as a Pieta shows Mary the mother. For a moment,
there is not the constant click-click-click of her mind plotting a mile a minute,
there is no need to control the situation, there is only a mother holding her
grown child as if he were still an infant. To see such an evil pair in a pose
traditionally associated with such a holy pair is a jarring image, which has lingered
with me all month and helped me to appreciate this story when absurdities like
the "venture capitalist" business cards threaten to get the better of
me.
A Short P.S.
by Joan Roseman
What a great piece, Teresa, and as accessible to Jewish me as to any Christian.
I had most of the same emotions, saw most of the same things, especially the Pieta,
but I have to confess that for me, it seemed almost a whiff of the Black Mass.
Isn't that the one where all the Christian symbols are perverted, hung upside
down or changed in color, to show the strongest lack of respect to God? Here we
have Helena exultant, triumphant over God's laws and the laws of Nature. Helena
the validated, rescuer and deliverer of her well-beloved son. For me, this moment
is utterly poignant because I suspect is it the only completely satisfying moment
she will ever have in her life, greater than the day Stavros was born, greater
than the day on which she cursed the newly wedded Luke and Laura. And from that
moment when Stavros breathes unaided but has not yet achieved full consciousness
to the end of the story, Helena can only slide further down and down into the
woes and worries any mother of a troubled child must endure--on steroids. Stavros
suspended was innocent, almost. Stavros awake and on the move is so far beyond
her control that he renders her, the fearless, terrified. Yummy.
Not as Stupid as He Looks
by Amy McWilliams
On several occasions, Luke Spencer has noted that he is not as stupid as he
looks. Another favorite ironic quip of his in recent years has been that his purpose
in life is to make others feel better about themselves. I keep expecting one comment
or the other to come out of his mouth as I watch my way into early May, trying
desperately to catch up. For, while we have often seen Luke playing on the fact
that somebody will underestimate him, and while that somebody has usually been
a Cassadine, I have thoroughly enjoyed the writing this time around.
I think the trick is that Laura is not with Luke these days. In the past, we've
seen him report in to her, telling her what he's up to, assuring her that he's
one step ahead of Helena, Frank Smith, or whoever it is that's rattling his chain
at the moment. We get to see the plan, get reassurances that he's got it under
control. Even when we didn't see all of the details ahead of time--as with the
"Twist of Fate" storyline that had "flashbacks" to material
we hadn't seen spotted through it--we had Luke's own reassurances that he was
on top of things. This time around, we have no such assurance, and while I didn't
believe for a minute he would so easily sell Helena the disks that she so desperately
wanted, I did fall for the "why wouldn't he just copy the darn things"
trap.
I have enjoyed the look on Helena's face when she realized he didn't bring
the disks, and loved the scene where Lucky didn't realize that his father's shock
was not that the "only copy" of the disks was missing, but that he suspected
Lucky took them (and again, Helena believes that he would never think to suspect
Lucky). I think the nicest touch of all, however, was the pairing of this comic
set of underestimations with a big one: Luke telling Laura that he doesn't like
her treating him as if she thinks he can't save the club on his own. No, Our Luke
is still on top of things, and the writing of it has made it very enjoyable to
watch.
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