| "Tainted Love" Diary 67 (c) Alison Armstrong |
| An analysis of the "Tainted Love" episodes of the show "Port Charles," formerly of ABC-TV. This site will focus on the scenes featuring the vampire character Caleb Morley (portrayed by actor Michael Easton). The character of Caleb Morley 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. |
| As Caleb and Livvie gaze into each other's eyes and smile with expectant delight at their union, the wedding ceremony begins. This ceremony, unlike the one between Caleb and Livvie at the conclusion of "The Gift," abounds in imagery of light (white curtains, white flowers, the shimmering pale beauty of the Villa). Unlike the stereotypical vampire castles of old horror movies, Caleb's Villa is radiant and glistening, not gloomy or foreboding. "We gather at twilight to celebrate the coming together of two souls committed to be one," the Judge begins. |
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| "Entwined for all eternity, Caleb and Olivia, you are the bone, flesh and heart, which will soon be creating a new family unit. You enter joyfully into this covenant. My honor, and duty and pleasure it is to join these fated souls as willing wife and husband, through this life and the many lives and generations which will follow. If there be anyone who would object to this union, speak now or eternally hold your peace. . . ." |
| However, just as the Judge is ready to pronounce them husband and wife, Jack bursts though the door, disrupting the ceremony. Caleb looks at him with sad, frustrated anger, once again denied the happiness almost within his grasp. |
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| ********************************************** Manipulation, seduction, self-justification, and coercion play dominant roles in the episode following Caleb and Livvive's interrupted wedding. Caleb, Jack, and Kevin, professing to love Livvie and act in her best interests, all try to brainwash her to accept the life they offer regardless of her own wishes, while Chris, justifying his actions in the name of medical science, keeps Gabby imprisoned in an electrified cage, dehumanized, and regarded as a laboratory animal. As the episode begins, Gabby is attempting to manipulate Chris into releasing her from her cage. Luring Chris with promises of eternal life, power, and irresistible sexual allure, Gabby urges him to join ranks with her and Caleb. "Turn these [the electrified bars] off and let me turn you on--to the kind of power that you can only imagine right her here, right now," she tempts, unbuttoning her blouse. "Let me show you what I can do for you. A forbidden pleasure you've never had, a thrill you've never tasted. All you have to do is open your mind, Chris, and open this cage." Chris, however, refuses her offer. Referring to her as a "bloodsucking freak" and considering her merely "a sexy science experiment," Chris treats her with almost the same disregard and disrespect that scientists have towards laboratory rats; she's a means to an end, a way to gain prestige, admiration, and monetary rewards. Reducing her to the level of an experimental animal, Chris feels justified in endangering her life in order to gain professional acclaim. In his eyes, she is just a beast, disposable at will to further his ambitions. |
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| Eve, likewise, views Caleb as an animal undeserving of empathy. Explaining to Ian Caleb's plans for her son, she tells her husband that Caleb is "not a man. He's an it," a vampire who, unable to have children of his own, must steal their baby in order to create his family. Later in the episode Eve has a dream in which Caleb is cast as a fairytale ogre, a skulking predator who lays in wait for her child. In Eve's dream, her baby is in a white cradle that sways in the branches while a dissonant chorus of children sing "Rock a Bye Baby." As the cradle falls from the tree and breaks upon the ground, Caleb, in black leather, catches the falling baby, and smiling with smug triumph, clutches Eve's child in his arms. "There, Baby, Daddy's got you. Daddy's got you," he smirks, looking up at the sky as if daring the heavens to thwart his obsessive plans. |
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| Snappies of "Tainted Love" scenes taken by A. Armstrong |