OLTL:Carlivati I'm calling you out!!

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

<Dust's off the keyboard>

Let me start this by saying that I've been in the medical field for over 8 years. I worked in Hospital's in Brooklyn New York, Long Island New York, and currently, Easton Pennsylvania. I have seen many things in the hospital. Gunshot wounds, stabbings, broken bones, Head injuries, heart attacks, death and even worse, rape. Rape, the act of someone forcing sex with someone else against their will. A concept that can [!@#$%^&*] up a person's whole life. The violation, the violence, and not to mention the pain for a woman. I have seen many rape victims, all woman in my experiences, and I have cried after seeing the pain these women have been caused. All of the hospitals I worked at have offered couseling, but my first hospital in Brooklyn did a program where the women could come back a year later and speak about how they are to victims currently going through what they went through. It is just something these women do not get over. I have seen suicides, and suicide watches put on woman, and this is the reason that I am sick to my stomach when watching my all time favorite Todd Manning caring for his rape victim, lying to her, basically raping her again, only raping her mind this time. I just watched the ABC soap scoop or whatever and I saw an amnesiac Marty placing her hand on Todd's. I am disgusted at the fact that the writers could even consider doing this story after Todd and Marty's past. After the attempt by Michael Malone to pair Marty and Todd up romantically, I thought the writers would have received the message. I for one am not entertained, and I think it is a horrible story. Todd keeps his rape victim, only to get back at John, and Cole, because we know Todd isn't doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He is lying to her about the man she loves, and he is keeping the fact that she has a son from her. Is this really entertaining? To anybody? Emmy award winning actress Susan Haskell returned for this? This reminds me of Todd when he was raped by Mags and he was in that bed. Marty, in that bed is being raped by Todd, just in a different way. Why couldnt Marty just return to town? Is it because this is good drama, because it isn't. It's sick. I know this is a soap opera and I know that this is supposed to be entertaining since it is fake but when you use real concepts, you are going to get real reactions and my real reaction is a big YUCK! So in the words of Hillary Clinton..."Shame on you Ron Carlivati!"

[JackPeyton]

THANK YOU!!

I honestly do not think they are going there with these two, but that doesnt matter, IMHO.

He *is* mind raping her now. for his own selfish reasons.

[Cat]

Pulling out a Hilary Clinton? Dr. Jay means business!

ITA. And I hate seeing Marty (again) so victimized and enfeebled.

[Sapounopera]

I really don't see what the problem here is.

Is this some kind of contest? Each of us has to get mad about something RC did? First the Addie thing, now this?

This man is writing a soap opera and SOMETIMES in soap operas characters do things that aren't so nice. He is not the President of the United States, he is not a cult leader and he is not playing with people's lives. Todd and Marty are soap opera characters and I for one enjoy this storyline. I didn't like the fact that Bo wants to marry Lindsay on the day of a family funeral but I didn't go all "Shame on you RC! We just had a funeral!"

Relax.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Did viewers cry during Todd's execution? Have viewers cried when characters died? Yes, they did because we feel for these characters. Never mind the fact that it is a soap opera. Do you know anyone who has been raped? Have you ever had a conversation with a rape victim? This is an insult to rape victims. Whoa boo hoo, Bo wanted to Marry Lindsay on the day of a family funeral. That [!@#$%^&*] rarely happens. I bet a man isnt wanting to marry a woman on the same day a a family funeral every two minutes. Rapes occur every 2 minutes in the U.S at least. Many more people are offended by rape than wanting to marry someone on the same day as a family freaking funeral. You can keep that. If any of my former patients saw this, they would be sick to their stomachs. I'll tell you this much. The network is lucky no one is rioting.

[brimike]

Jay, I do understand what you're saying, and I don't totally disagree. But this is TYPICAL soap opera. We're SUPPOSED to be disgusted and horrified, and scream at our TV sets for Marty to get her memory back before she does something that repulses ALL of us. And yes, it IS mind-raping. I agree. Todd is violating her just as much now as he did fifteen years ago. Which is why I am COUNTING THE SECONDS until she gets her memory back, and explodes on him in a series of episodes I know are going to be damn-near Emmy worthy (at least, I hope they will be).

And you KNOW I'm hoping this is building to a murder mystery. Because honestly, I think OLTL is in a place where it's no longer dependent on the character of Todd Manning. But I don't know if TPTB feel the same way.

[Sapounopera]

Characters like Laura Spencer Horton and Laura Webber Spencer have ended up marrying their rapists on other soap operas.

I enjoy watching Todd and Marty together and secretly wish that she will fall in love with him and later be shocked by the fact that he had raped her with two other guys while in college.

I think rape is cruel. Marty's rape was very shocking for me the first time I watched it. I was horrified. But I really don't find this storyline insulting.

[marceline]

*slow clap growing louder as I stand*

I commend you for this "rant". But I don't consider it a rant I consider it legitimate criticism. The "its only a soap" excuse doesn't fly. It's a story and a story is "supposed" to make you think and feel. Obviously this one has.

Higley herself couldn't have penned something so foul.

[brimike]

ROFLAMO! She already did! (EJ and Sami hash out the rape in ONE EPISODE and then have sex)

[rhinohide]

I can feel your outrage and disgust. I agree that it's horrifying that Marty's rapist is holding her and lying to her and messing with her. I wish I could care. Marty's last few appearances in Llanview have been written to make the audience believe (at least this particular member of the audience) that she has healed, if not fully recovered, from her rape experience. I realize that in real life a rape victim always bears those scars, and Marty does as well. But as long as the character is defined by her rape, she remains a victim. It's my hope that Carlivati is revisiting the Todd/Marty dynamic in a different way as a means to mitigate her victim status. Like many of his stories right now, I am taking a wait and see approach and continuing to hope that he's taking corrective measures that will make more sense as the story unfolds. However, if I am wrong, I agree that Todd victimizing Marty again in anyway is most foul.

[Cat]

Wow. You certainly went there! I think this is a SL idea that OLTL honchos have been toying with but never dared to really touch for YEARS. I wonder whether your SL would have people switching off their TV sets in disgust or keep people talking about OLTL.

I also wonder whether this whole SL isn't about TODD, not Marty. Bringing him down to his souless depths -- in order to slowly build him back up.

[Khan]

I don't believe I could have said it any better than these two have. Thanks, rhinohide and brimike!

[Khan]

I can't speak for all OLTL fans, but I know I couldn't watch the show anymore if the writers were to decide to pair Marty and Todd romantically. Even if Marty were still an amnesiac, I would hope that she'd learn about their history not too long afterwards. Soaps, IMO, have to be careful about the messages they send forth to people. Pairing Todd with Marty would be saying rape wasn't an act of violence, but a romantic overture.

[Ryan]

Thank you. That's why I refuse to support EJ & Sami, would NEVER support Todd & Marty, and stopped liking Luke and Laura when I found out he raped her. Luke, IMO, has never been the same for me since I found out what he did.

[Desertrose]

I agree with you completely Dr. Jay. It is just too painful for me to watch this whole Todd/Marty thing. I remember very clearly the rape, even after all these years. It was actually a gang rape no less. OLTL did an incredible job with it as did Susan H & Roger Howarth. It was amazingly well done and the impact still reverberates through the show & my memory.

However, this *new Todd* who seems to show no remorse and none of the weaknesses and humanity that the character had for many years, has completely turned me off. Does he not remember his own rape & feeling of helplessness? I can see how TSJ is playing the hell out of Todd recently, but I just can't like this character anymore. There is nothing within him I can relate to. Any growth he's had over the years of being a husband and father has just disappeared and what is left leaves him (IMO) totally unrootable for.

Now having Todd care for his one time rape victim and as you said, which is exactly what I've been thinking too, is that he is raping her all over again. In a cruel, deliberate planned out way. It continues on & on, unlike a onetime rape event (not that that doesn't get played out over & over again in a victim's mind and heart). He withholds her family & loved ones all the while making her dependent on him. YUK. Not even slightly entertaining for me.

I am however, holding out hope that Carlivati, who has done so well by other characters & history thus far, will end this ASAP and let Marty walk away - or run or stomp away from victim mode. I am sure she will exact revenge against Todd, too, although I'd much rather see her move away from his orbit altogether and get on with her life...then of course there is the matter of that grandchild-to-be....*sigh*.

I don't know how ANYONE who watched the show & the original rape can feel comfortable watching this storyline with Todd once again making Marty his victim without having some sort of payback down the road for all that he has done....and that includes his beatings of Cole.

Karma can be a real bitch and I'd say the character of Todd is overdue for some of his own....