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Following Gabby's seduction, Caleb's tainting influence over the Port Charles populace grows. We see his power at first indirectly as he stands in the background at the Nurses' Ball, silently and subversively making his presence felt as he directs Gabby's performance, exerting his mesmerizing influence on her like a puppeteer in the shadows. The way he watches her, guiding her actions with his eyes, controlling the proceedings, reminds me somewhat of the emcee character in "Cabaret"--a sinister presence overseeing and perhaps arranging events on the stage to reflect the perversities within the populace and how these may presage future events.
Doing her rendition of the "Gypsy" song "Let me Entertain You," Gabby at first is hesitant, self-conscious, shy. However, as she looks into Caleb's commanding eyes, watches the slight shifts in his expression, her movements become wilder, more abandoned. She becomes like a woman possessed by carnal appetites and energies she can no longer control or suppress, writhing, flashing her breasts at her boyfriend Joe, taunting the audience to partake of her sultry and dangerous charms. It is clear from this scene that once having sampled Caleb's tempting gifts, she will never be able to be satisfied by Joe; she cannot settle for less. Throughout the Tainted Love arc I identify quite strongly with Gabby. Once Caleb came into her life, she was addicted to him; no other lover would ever satisfy. She could never again be content with what passes as happiness in the ordinary mortal world. Yet even though Caleb was her supreme passion, he felt nothing for her; she was his to use and possess, then toss aside.
As with the triangle between Caleb, Livvie and Jack, there is a triangle here, with Joe, like Jack, being the loser for his beloved's affections. Watching Gabby's gyrations, Caleb's face takes on a mischievous, lewd expression, demonstrating Michael Easton's mastery of subtle yet brilliantly evocative facial expressions; with a curl of his lip or flutter of his eyes he eloquently conveys minute shifts in thought and feeling.
The theme of seductive sorcery represented by Caleb's psychological manipulation of Gabby's onstage behavior is echoed also in the "Love Potion #9" sequence performed by Livvie, Jamal, and Alison. As this song seems to show, "love" is like a spell, irresistible and uncontrollable. It, like vampirism, has symptoms similar to disease--fainting, weakness, palpitations, fever.
This episode, focusing on the Nurses' Ball to raise money for AIDS research and on Joe's waiting to find out the result of his HIV test, emphasizes also the parallels between vampirism and other blood-transmitted diseases, such as AIDS. Just as the characters of Port Charles believe their problems are over--Serena is safe after a train accident, Joe's HIV results are negative, Jack is back from the dead--their future will become darker than they could imagine. Jack is the first to sense his doom, when getting ready to leave, he once again starts to feel the sickness return. Caleb, watching in the background and sipping a glass of dark red wine, says, "Do you think this is bad, Jack? Just wait. This is just the beginning." Caleb's vampirism, like an infection and an addiction, has begun to spread.
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