OLTL: Carlivati interview on Marty/Todd

[dragonflies]

From Proteus at SZ:

OLTL Writer Sounds Off On Rape Retelling

— By Lauren Flynn

ONE LIFE TO LIVE Head Writer Ron Carlivati is the first to recognize that the idea of a rape survivor living under her former rapist's roof isn't easy to digest, but in the 9/2 issue of Digest, he reminds viewers that Marty has no memory of the gang rape involving Todd, and insists that the curious relationship between the two couldn't happen under any other circumstance. Read on to hear more about what the scribe has to say regarding Todd's motives and his take on viewers' reactions.

Soap Opera Digest: It's still unclear what Todd really has in store for Marty. Why did he take this woman into his home without telling anyone?

Ron Carlivati: He made a very spontaneous decision in the moment when he realized that Marty didn't know who he was ... and he sees this opportunity to maybe start to shape her memories not only about him, but of John and Cole, who he cannot stand. Then, he starts to get something out of it. He's got nobody and is all alone in this house, and here's this woman who seems to be very grateful for him and he starts to be able to talk to her. He's getting something different than he thought he might have gotten out of it. He starts to see this opportunity for redemption and possibly for forgiveness.

Digest: But that can't go on forever.

Carlivati: Obviously, it's all going to blow up in smoke. All the time I think Todd is thinking, "Is this all going to come back to her?" But talking to her becomes a little bit like a drug for him; he starts to get addicted to it. I think he sees this gift that she doesn't even remember and she doesn't see him as this horrible person. And I think you might know that it's wrong when you have an addiction; you might know that you're headed for disaster, but I think you push all those other things out of your mind. And I think that's always sort of been the case with Todd. He doesn't always worry about the consequences. I think what makes this story great is you're not exactly sure what he's doing. We purposely didn't give him the talk-to so he could say, "Well, I'm using her for this, this, this and this. This is why I took her." I think it's more interesting to watch the two interact and not know exactly what he's doing, especially because it changes from week to week to week.

Digest: What do you say to viewers who cringe at the idea of a friendship or something more between these two?

Carlivati: I'm not quite understanding the resistance to exploring their relationship if she didn't know. I think I would want to hear more about it. Some of that is a reaction to just hearing Todd and Marty in the same sentence or seeing them in the first day or the week of the story. I'd be curious to know if they feel that way now. She doesn't know who he is.... I have yet to meet someone who didn't think the rape story was the one of the best stories that ONE LIFE TO LIVE ever did, but if I said, "Hey, I have an idea. Let's have three guys hold down Starr and rape her, what would everyone's reaction be?" They'd say, "No, I don't want to see that." That doesn't mean that we don't sometimes tell stories that aren't sometimes difficult to watch or shocking. They always have consequences, but I think you can't be afraid to tell a story if it's a good story.

*sigh* RC is starting to sound so much like a soap hack. I guess he is missing the big problem ALOT of us have with this: Todd is holding his RAPE VICTIM HOSTAGE in his home, and not to mention how Todd is manipulating a woman without a memory

[Toups]

I personally think that's BRILLIANT.

Bad people are suppose to do bad things to good people.

I agree, RC! Whenver they're in scenes together, I have to watch it, to see how they interact.

This is the best storyline in daytime right now. No other storyline is as intriguing as this.

[dragonflies]

Sorry Toups I cannot even watch these scenes. I find them utterly despicable and find myself VERY disappointed in Carlavati for even doing this. I find nothing interesting about Todd victimizing his rape victim once again

[marceline]

Really Ron? You don't understand the resistance?

Clearly Brian Frons chose well when he made you his minion. You are either painfully naive or exceedingly well-trained. And as far as I'm concerned that lack of "understanding" has set you well on your way to surpassing Dena Higley as one of the most misogynistic writers ever to darken a TV screen. When you finally get to Writers Hell, please be sure to say hello to James Frey as I suspect you'll have adjoining houses at the intersection of Overrated Hack Boulevard and Pathetic Sycophantic Bitch Boulevard.

Enjoy the view.

[Cheap21]

except the way he's sounding makes me think he's trying to make this come across like Luke and Laura with some love story here. I have to say I am not opposed to seeing Marty and Todd together. Ive always thought they had amazing chemistry back when RH was in the role and even wanted them together at one time. So much time has passed and they are both in different points in their lives. This however is NOT the way to go about it. He is victimizing her. Theres no doubt about that. He's using and manipulating her and its not romantic and sweet. Its sick and twisted and while you may find it to be one of the most intriguing stories out there, I, as someone who's watched these characters over the years find it to be the most disgusting and revolting one on daytime. Its a good thign theres more going on on the show bc I find this hard to watch. Not only that but he brutally beat her son and is keeping her from her child who's been in desperate need of her help. He wants Marty solely dependent on him which is why he's been feeding her lies about her loved ones. Todd is the most despicable character on daytime and what he's doing to Jessica now in order to protect himself is a new low even for him. Ron C is doing a damn good job at making Todd near unredeemable and completely unlikeable even without trying. I cant beleive he cant see whats wrong with this. Like WTF?

[Toups]

If she doesn't know, why can't you explore something that wouldn't be happening if she had her memory? It's a "false feeling" and it's not real. Once she gets her memory back, that's going to be the next chapter of this storyline. Another reason why I think this storyline is brilliant is because the anticipation of the fallout is as good as the build up. I hope it plays out the way I'm thinking and so far, so good. I'm on the same wavelength, and I have the same vision as Ron with this storyline.

[Toups]

It doesn't sound like that to me.

Exactly!! I love it because of those things you mentioned. LOL

Todd is the most watchable when he's despicable. When he does bad things, I cheer him on, maybe it's because my first memory of Todd is of him holding everyone hostage in June 1998.

[dragonflies]

I just have zero interest in Todd victimizing a woman he gang raped. Plus have you read the SOD spoilers, what he is gonna do is making my hatred for this even more intense

[Angela]

He doesn't understand why it doesn't tickle a lot of people's fancy to see OLTL scratching their rapist and rapist victim love-match itch? Hmm, maybe it's because Todd initialted a brutal gang rape on Marty. He then proceeded to stalk her like an animal and try to rape her again, several times over, so she'd stop trying to get him prosecuted. He was a serial rapist until the show rewrote it. Have any of you guys recently viewed those scenes on YouTube, I did a few months back and incredibly disturbing. You don't play with that kind of disturbing this far, you just don't.

It is real, she'll still have those feeling mixed in with the other feelings when she gets her memory back. She fell in love with her rebel of a cute-a** rapist *swoon* Not from me.

[Toups]

I don't want to read what happens, I want to see it.

If you're hating it, then I'll probably like it since we have opposite views on this storyline.

[Cheap21]

Its mind rape. She may not know but HE does. He should not be doing this to her. Its wrong on so many levels. Her mind is fragile as it is. I can only imagine hte psychological damage he will do to her once she remembers

[marceline]

Toups I love you man, but you and I are polar opposites on the subject of Todd. I always found Todd most watchable when he was trying to rise above his dark side. Like when he discovered Starr and confided in Tea and, yes, began to fall for the dreaded Evangeline. I've always preferred the "Jean Valjean" version of Todd. I simply feel like after all these years, Todd should either show some serious growth or disappear. I grew sick of "can't-see-five-minutes-in-front-of-him" Todd back when RH was playing him.

Of course I loved hostage taking Todd, too. I was at my corporate retreat the night that primetime episode aired. And I pretended to be sick so I could go back to my hotel room and watch.

[Toups]

By false feeling, I meant that she's falling in love with him under false pretenses. I am really looking foward to Marty having to deal with those feelings she developed for Todd. That, to me, is twisted drama. It's seeing how all of what's happening will affect the characters because it's something that's not going to be forgotten. Ron is taking the time to tell all the beats in this storyline.

[Toups]

Exactly!! It's so funny how we see the "same" things but have a different perspectives on it. LOL Mind rape? Yes! Wrong? Yes! psychological damage? Hell yes!!

[Toups]

Hostage taking Todd was the reason why I started to watch OLTL. I think I was bored with AW at the time, so I flipped the channels to see what else was on.....and then I saw this crazy dude holding people hostage. I was captivated by Roger's performance and of course I wanted to know what was gonna happen next and why he was doing this.