"Tempted" Episodes 25-27
The moral scruples of the Port Charles residents continue their steady decline as insecurities grow. Eve and Ian lose trust in one another, with Eve beginning to believe Ian may be dangerous and Ian doubting Eve's mental stability. Both probe for dark secrets they suspect the other may be harboring. Finding solace in their friendship, Eve and Kevin are drawn closer together, thereby causing Ian and Lucy to bond. As they all become more tightly enmeshed in Caleb's web of betrayal, Lucy's vampire-slaying cousin, Rafe, casts himself as moral guardian and protector of human virtues. But although Rafe supposedly represents the forces of “good” (love, trust, compassion, faith) versus Caleb’s “evil,” he is clearly no match for Caleb’s perceptiveness, intelligence, and perseverance.
Of all his sinister tactics, Caleb's corruption of Livvie's soul is the most reprehensible. To sever her relationship with Jack and prove to Livvie that human love cannot endure, Caleb manipulates Livvie into seducing one of her acquaintances from college (Kyle). By pimping out Livvie, Caleb betrays his own better nature, sabotages his own heart just as Livvie destroys hers and Jack's. Is Caleb watching as Livvie makes puppet-like love to the man Caleb chose for her? Is he aroused at the sight of her being caressed by another man, knowing that with each kiss, each erotic sigh she is forever tainting herself in Jack's eyes? Is this his savored revenge for being rejected by both of his Olivias, for having his own love poisoned? It is especially fitting that Caleb has Livvie be unfaithful to Jack on the very day that Jack is ready to propose to her. As a result, Jack, like Caleb, is deeply wounded by the woman he wishes to marry, destroying his idealistic hopes for a happy-ever-after romance. |
