| "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" #2 (cont.) “I married you because I thought you cared about me,” she whines. “Because I thought we could make each other happy. And you love me, Stephen, don’t you?” “I thought so,” he says callously, a bored, petulant expression on his face. |
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| “You thought so?” she shrieks. “What, was I wrong about you? Is this what it’s going to be like? Like a repeat of my marriage with Malcolm? OK, because if it is, believe me, I would rather die than just be dismissed.” |
| Snappies of "Surrender" scenes taken by A. Armstrong |
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| “I don’t dismiss you!” he shouts, suddenly angered. Gone is his tone of cruel detachment, her remarks seemingly exposing some raw, uncalloused part of himself.
“Can you imagine for a minute what it’s like to be certain with every fiber in your body that you have found the love of your life just to find them someday gone?” she wails, bitterly re-experiencing her lifelong history of rejection. “They just leave you. They just leave everything. I know what that’s like, Stephen. Because it is exactly how I have felt most of my life. And for me to just wake up over there and find you just gone.” In her anger and bitterness she has recovered her strength and will. She is not just Caleb’s puppet, his toy; she is a woman with passion, a woman who has been wronged too many times to just lie there like an object to be abused and broken. |
| “I know how it feels,” he confides, his voice soft and sad. She has re-awakened his feelings of rejection, the emptiness all his arrogance can never completely conceal. “Better than you think. I’m sorry you feel so alone. Come here,” he soothes, kissing her. “What can I do to make things better?” “What you’ve . . . ” She hesitates, unsure how to express her feelings of hollowness, her loss of self. “I don’t know what I am, what you’ve turned me into. I need to know, Stephen. There’s things I need to know.” |
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