| "Surrender" : Analysis of the "Surrender" Arc of ABC-TV's Port Charles
(c) Alison Armstrong |
| An analysis of the "Surrender" episodes of the show Port Charles, formerly of ABC-TV. This site will focus on the scenes featuring the vampire character Caleb Morley/Stephen Clay (portrayed by actor Michael Easton). The character of Caleb Morley/Stephen Clay and any other characters relating to Port Charles are the property of ABC and their creators. This is a fan-run site and is not an official site, nor is it affiliated in any way with ABC, Port Charles, or the actors portraying any of the Port Charles characters. No copyright infringement is intended. The writings on this site are copyrighted by the author, Alison Armstrong, and may not be reproduced without the author's express permission. |
| "Surrender" #1 (cont.) “I made you Tess. You know that now, don’t you? You’re the goodness that I pulled out of Olivia. And you can’t stop me from getting her back,” he warns. “But I have to. I have to keep her safe,” she stubbornly insists. “How do you know?” he demands. “How do you know she doesn’t want to be with me? To feel me touch her? She loves me, Tess, you know that.” “You hurt her so much, Stephen. I can protect her,” she argues. “No, no, you can’t. Olivia, come to me,” he commands, trying to use his hypnotic power to release Livvie from Tess. He is so focused on Livvie that his supernaturally keen senses fail to detect the presence of his rival, Jack, who had gone in search of Tess at the docks. Before Caleb can cast Livvie out of the possessing, suffocating shelter of Tess, Jack sneaks up behind him and clobbers him over the head with a baseball bat. Recovering quickly, Caleb, in turn, grabs Jack by the collar and flings him against the wall. Tess is caught in the middle of the battle, her emotions torn between her lover, Jack, and her creator, Caleb. She tries to intervene, running first to the barely injured Caleb and then to the badly battered Jack, but her efforts to make peace are uselessly naïve. Caleb arrogantly mocks her attempts to revive Jack. “I don’t think he can hear you, Sweetheart,” he sneers. “When are you going to learn, boy?” he addresses his unconscious foe, waving his hand limply in a gesture of effortless victory. “I don’t ever lose.” “Please don’t hurt him. Please,” she sobs. “I could care less about Jack,” he smirks, scooping her up into his arms and baring his fangs. “It’s you I’m interested in.” |
 |
 |
| Snappies of "Surrender" scenes taken by A. Armstrong |
| The episode concludes with imagery of violence, addiction, and obsession. While Caleb is on the verge of biting Tess, Ian, driven by murderous rage, bursts into Caleb’s apartment, intent on destroying the vampire he believes is a threat to his infant son and loved ones. Instead of confronting Caleb, however, he encounters Elizabeth. Foolishly assuming that Elizabeth doesn’t know Caleb is a vampire, Ian comes to her rescue and offers to take her to the hospital, where her debilitating symptoms can be relieved. But the relief Elizabeth craves cannot be found at a hospital. Instead, she craves the pulsing hot blood she smells inside Ian’s veins. Ian is her temporary antidote to Caleb, her fix, her source of nourishment and emotional support, her tool of vengeance. Complaining to Ian about how Caleb abandoned her on her wedding night, whining about her history of rejection, and moaning about her headache, she nurtures her narcissism by basking in Ian’s chivalrous attention. With a seductive smile, she gazes at him, her desire and hunger overpowering her. “Sometimes you just have to do things,” she murmurs in a throaty, feral voice. “I can smell the blood in your veins.” She leans over him, whispering her flirtatious confession, and then plunges her fangs into his neck.
Elizabeth’s impetuous act, transforming Ian into a vampire, will have repercussions on the rest of Port Charles, the townspeople and the series. By having Ian, a pivotal human character, become a vampire, the writers of the show have irrevocably altered the fragile dynamics of the series, diminishing the power and allure, the elite magic of the vampire archetype. Although Caleb continues to epitomize the vampire mystique in all its beauty and splendor, the lesser vampires created in “Surrender” and subsequent arcs are disappointingly commonplace, banal. Port Charles has lost some of its sparkle when bumbling all-too-human vampires begin to encroach upon Caleb’s territory and overrun the town. |