Best episode of OLTL in months. Complex, dark, ambiguous. RC hit it out of the park. Life is situational; all of us have crossed the line, violated our own moral codes and asked ourselves the next day how the hell we could have let ourselves go there. Did you murder, did you rape, engage in inappropriate sex, or drank so much alcohol that you drove home with one eye closed so you could stop seeing double? Did you do it more than once? The vagaries of human behavior are such that the evil among us is us; the everyday guy, the soccer mom who lives next door. And the truth is, like every victim, every perpetrator is someone’s husband, lover, father, best friend – they are likable and lovable until it comes to our attention what they are truly capable of. It makes us uncomfortable because we really don’t know and can’t predict – is there a chance he/she may reoffend? The world is not black and white – and neither is the human soul. The only thing that is certain is that time clicks along; while some victims heal, and others cannot. And some perpetrators are capable of real and effective change while others lie to themselves and convince us the delusions are absolute truth because we want to believe. RC gave us a sobering glimpse of just a little bit of exactly that…so who will Todd and Marty turn out to be? I suspect a lovely shade of obscure grey somewhere either left or right of in between.
I'm not sure it was the best episode, but I thought it was very good. I still take issue with TSJ's acting; he missed so many opportunities to show what was obviously written for Todd today... that he was/is at war with himself, tortured by his conflicting actions and feelings. TSJ (and some weird technical issues) aside, I was impressed. I've never seen the Todd/Marty story, in its latest incarnation, as something as clear-cut as the consensus appears to be around here. While Todd's actions certainly amount to rape in the moral and legal context (Pennsylvania law deems amnesia as a state that renders one unable to render consent), his motivation is by no means two-dimensional or easily summed up.
Todd has convinced himself that he is in love with Marty and that her serendipitous delivery into his care is an opportunity at a fresh start. Wiping the slate clean with Marty means he can be a different person. He doesn't have to be the guy who beat Cole, or hurt his children, or killed two people, or menaced many others, or raped several, or was abused by his father. Everything he has done to Marty and is doing is, in his mind, redemptive. The show, however, has gone to great lengths to tell the audience that it is in no way such a thing. Everybody and their brother has told Todd what he is doing is wrong, even if they don't know it. Viki, John, Tess, etc. But Todd, as Todd has always been, is of one mind.
The writing is on the wall that he's going to have a huge reckoning and that Marty will take action to destroy him. The clues have been there all along. No way will there be any kind of romance for Todd/Marty as of tomorrow's show. I think we're seeing the first part of a larger story that overhauls Todd's character, from top to bottom. Given the bufoonish behavior Todd's exhibited post-Labine (although I think she deserves credit for that stupid parrot), I couldn't be happier. At long last, some ambiguity. Todd's wrong, he's despicable - but I get why he's doing what he's doing. It's really very sad. And Marty, well... I wouldn't be surprised if, when all of this comes out, she's a stronger, more dynamic character than she was since before the original rape.
This post has been edited by TraveSteve: Nov 7, 2008 @ 5:00 am.
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