"Tempted" Episodes 30-32 (cont.)
As she sits at a table with Alison and Jack, Livvie infects them both with her cynicism, stirring Alison’s jealousy and rekindling Jack’s anguish over Livvie’s betrayal. Hinting to Alison that it’s “pretty weird” Jamal’s ex-lover Valerie just “shows up in Port Charles” at this time and then they learn “there’s a baby involved,” Livvie slyly leads Alison to suspect there may be a connection between Valerie’s baby and Jamal. When Jack defends Jamal and tries to reassure Alison that the supposed connection could be coincidental, Livvie snidely remarks, “But wouldn’t you want to know the truth, Alison? Even if the baby is Jamal’s, your love was meant to be. It’ll go on forever. You can get through anything. Right, Jack? . . . You’ll forgive Jamal, Alison, even if Jack can’t forgive me, even if Jack doesn’t love me enough.” Livvie’s voice is cold, hollow, the voice of a person wounded to the core and deadening herself to the pain of feeling. Everything she had once believed about her life with Jack, their enduring love, has been shattered, and now she is left with the bitter realization that perhaps Caleb was right—human beings are incapable of unconditional love. She lashes out at Jack for failing Caleb’s test, for failing to live up to her own ideals about love, and she lashes out at Alison for having a relationship which might endure. She wants Alison to feel the desolation of rejection and ravaged dreams.
In this scene there is a foreshadowing of the Livvie to emerge in later arcs, the self-pitying, spiteful Livvie attacking anyone she perceives as a rival or potential threat. However, here, Livvie seems to be Caleb’s confused pawn; she doesn’t know what she’s doing or why she’s doing it. She is torn between two opposing impulses, one propelling her towards safety and contentment, the other towards danger and mystery. Within her lies the innocent wonder later manifested as “Tess” and the scheming ruthlessness of Livvie at her most malicious.
When Jack angrily inquires why she is trying “to stir up problems between Alison and Jamal,” Livvie becomes bewildered, saying in a voice, now sad and scared, that she doesn’t know what came over her. She then abruptly leaves the restaurant. “God, what have I done?” she moans to herself as Caleb’s music summons her once again.
“I’ve created chaos,” Caleb’s voice tells her. “They destroyed me. Now it’s my turn.” Angry, vengeful, and lonely, Caleb sees in Livvie the wounded, vulnerable, and disillusioned aspects of himself that he hides behind a mask of malevolence. In Livvie he finds his soulmate, accomplice, and model student, using her sadness and desperation to bind her forever to his restless, ravenous spirit.
As Livvie enters the cave, Caleb, as before, knows he has attained another victory in the battle against his Port Charles foes. Responding to her mournful, defeated expression with a look of unconvincing innocence, he asks her why she is upset. “Don’t tell me there’s more trouble out there,” he remarks with mock concern.
“Why don’t you just leave them alone?” Livvie pleads. “Caleb, I’ll go away with you.” |
