Matthew was written as much more complex, and his behavior had much more sense behind it, until Nate showed up. Only when Nate showed up did he become this classist quasi-racist who was persecuting saintly Nate and his banshee of a girlfriend.

And as always with OLTL and their pets, it did nothing but destroy even more characters and provide absolutely zero storyline. OLTL excels at making fans hate characters, but never at making any of them popular.

When Matthew doesnt get his way and loses, he lashes out. Thats core to how the character is. He has an anger issue which he uses to insult and attack people that disagree with him. They started writing him this way to model him as a mini-Buchanan, taken up more like Asa. This was before Nate and it wasnt appealing then either

As far as Nate goes, he isnt written much better either. He has his own set of anger issues and aggressive problems. He isnt portrayed as a saint. Causing Matthew to have a head injury and

possibly dying,

wont do much to win him favors with the audience

The country club brat against the poor-but-proud Latino family.

They toned that down when Inez disappeared.

that wasnt about race. I dont think it was ever implied that Matthew had a thing against latinos. That was more of a class thing, with him flaunting his money and power over the working Nate who wasnt privelged with the same oppurtunities. IA with MontyB; it was about him being an elitist. Implying Matthew was written as any kind of racist to prop Nate is a stretch

Edited May 19, 201114 yr by Cheap21

+1. I think people are too blinded by hate for Nate to actually see why he would be angry at Matthew.

No, I can see why he's angry but I don't see how he can justify it when he's the cause of his own misery. He is the one that confessed for a crime he didn't commit. Matthew's actions had nothing to do with him staying out of jail. Also, we're all forgetting he was willing to let Todd take the fall for the murder, who was innocent. He's such an angel, right? Sounds like some of you are drinking the Ford Kool Aid.

Also, he's about to hide his involvement in Matthew's attack, making him a hypocrite AND a coward - something he called Matthew today. He disgusts me more than I can put into words.

Matthew was written as much more complex, and his behavior had much more sense behind it, until Nate showed up. Only when Nate showed up did he become this classist quasi-racist who was persecuting saintly Nate and his banshee of a girlfriend.

Yep, the change was obnoxiously apparent.

None of this story has been about Matthew in over a year. Even when we found out he killed Eddie, he was barely onscreen.

If this story has failed - which I would say it has, badly - that's on the shoulders of the untalented actors who can do nothing with the poor writing OLTL has thrown at them.

No, I can see why he's angry but I don't see how he can justify it when he's the cause of his own misery. He is the one that confessed for a crime he didn't commit. Matthew's actions had nothing to do with him staying out of jail. Also, we're all forgetting he was willing to let Todd take the fall for the murder, who was innocent. He's such an angel, right? Sounds like some of you are drinking the Ford Kool Aid.

he did? When was Todd arrested and put on trial and nearly convicted of the murder? Nate was arrested before he later confessed in court. This whole mess is a result of Matthew lying about his murder. There shouldnt have even been a trial bc Matthew should have fessed up. He STILL stood by and was ready to watch him go to jail for a murder he commited. Thats a fact. He antagonized Nate about Eddie after he killed him. Thats another fact. Matthew could have went about his business but he pretty much killed the man and then rubbed it in Nate's face and then later watched as he almost went down for it. Looks like theres more than one brand of Kool-aid going around

Yep, the change was obnoxiously apparent.

As obnoxious a Matthew has been? Correct

Edited May 19, 201114 yr by Cheap21

he did? When was Todd arrested and put on trial and nearly convicted of the murder? Nate was arrested before he later confessed in court. This whole mess is a result of Matthew lying about his murder. There shouldnt have even been a trial bc Matthew should have fessed up. He STILL stood by and was ready to watch him go to jail for a murder he commited. Thats a fact. He antagonized Nate about Eddie after he killed him. Thats another fact. Matthew could have went about his business but he pretty much killed the man and then rubbed it in Nate's face and then later watched as he almost went down for it. Looks like theres more than one brand of Kool-aid going around

It's not so much Kool-Aid as it's Lenny Platt being a lousy actor who consistently failed at every opportunity he was given.

The story was also horribly paced. Viewers can't be all that angry over Matthew antagonizing Nate because at that time no one knew he had killed Eddie. When we did find out he killed Eddie, he vanished from the screen yet again, so there was no real reason to feel drawn into what he'd done.

Matthew has barely been onscreen for most of the past year, and when he was, it was as an afterthought to the Fords and to Clint. If it's tough for people to blame him, that's a big reason why.

Edited May 19, 201114 yr by CarlD2

Yeah, Matthew had his snarky teen turn when his parents found the joint and all but that brand of smart ass coming of age angst is not uncommon and we saw it with Jessica and Starr and even now with JackAss, it is almost always about their frustration with their parents. Matt was wishy washy with Destiny but he was kind hearted if not totally at odds with his parents when he had his accident and fell for Danny in boarding school. Her dumping him for Nate is when they made him like Reggie off of Richie Rich. No effort was made to show his pain or heartbreak, it was just petulant rich boy doesnt get his way and Destiny has to school him on what a jerk he is being. Even one scene of him alone in his room crying would have done a lot.

I don't even blame Lenny Platt. He could have been a deaf mute, he is a Ford brother and the writing has always had his and his brothers backs.

All makes sense on paper, I just cannot get with Matthew being thrown under the bus for Nate Ford. My issue is with the biased writing hence I will always side with Matthew.

Are you referring to when Mathew got dumped by Dani? Because I fail to see how Mathew is being thrown under the bus NOW when the minute he falls and is rushed to the hospital it becomes about poor Mathew and how Bo and Nora copes with the aftermath. And when Nate realizes he's responsible he'll have to deal with the guilt as well as answer to everyone else.

Are you referring to when Mathew got dumped by Dani? Because I fail to see how Mathew is being thrown under the bus NOW when the minute he falls and is rushed to the hospital it becomes about poor Mathew and how Bo and Nora copes with the aftermath. And when Nate realizes he's responsible he'll have to deal with the guilt as well as answer to everyone else.

I think this will somehow become again about how Nate is suffering, and the price Nate has paid for Matthew's lies and selfishness. The reaction scenes will be about Bo and Nora, not about Matthew - just as Matthew killing Eddie has been about them (and Clint), not about Matthew.

Matthew is a pathetic plot device for everyone else.

I think this will somehow become again about how Nate is suffering, and the price Nate has paid for Matthew's lies and selfishness. The reaction scenes will be about Bo and Nora, not about Matthew - just as Matthew killing Eddie has been about them (and Clint), not about Matthew.

Matthew is a pathetic plot device for everyone else.

That does diddly squat for Nate in the eyes of the audience. All it does is garner even more hate an contempt for him as witnessed by this thread already. The majority are looking at it as poor Matthew and Bo/Nora, both of whom are suffering at the hands of evil Clint and despicable Nate

Edited May 20, 201114 yr by Cheap21

When I say Kool Aid, I mean the purposeful writing to endear us to the Ford Bros...and any other characters the writers are obsessed with at the moment. Matthew has never gotten that treatment. They made the only son of the show's supercouple into a murderer. All I can say is thank god Rex and Gigi aren't being given the Kool Aid treatment at the moment.

That does diddly squat for Nate in the eyes of the audience. All it does is garner even more hate an contempt for him as witnessed by this thread already. The majority are looking at it as poor Matthew and Bo/Nora, both of whom are suffering at the hands of evil Clint and despicable Nate

I wouldn't take this board as gospel. I don't read a lot of other boards but I have heard people say that at other boards the Fords are very popular. I've also seen a lot of fans who may not like Nate but who now loathe Matthew.

What matters most to OLTL is that you hate who they want you to hate - if you like their pets, fine, but the main thing is to remember who the scapegoats are.

That does diddly squat for Nate in the eyes of the audience. All it does is garner even more hate an contempt for him as witnessed by this thread already. The majority are looking at it as poor Matthew and Bo/Nora, both of whom are suffering at the hands of evil Clint and despicable Nate

A lot of it has to do with Lenny Platt not being able to act.

For instance Marty has gone completely crazy but Haskell is a good enough actress to keep her entertaining if not always sympathetic.

With Lenny Platt it's a bunch of yelling & absolutely no levels to his acting.

In addition it doesn't help his own character framed another "innocent" character himself (Todd), has been (along with the rest of his useless family) ridiculously propped from Day 1 (Matthew & Destiny conveniently completely disappeared for weeks if not months at a time), taking his anger out mainly about a father he barely knew, happily treated his family like crap & cared next to nothing about & is about to

hide his own culpability in what's about to happen with Matthew.

Edited May 20, 201114 yr by DeeeDee

What alexis said, Money. And yeah, I was referring to when Dani dumped him for Nate which in and of itself is not so horrible, but how he didn't even get a new love interest to even out the playing field but this lame lingering thing with Destiny that finally got consummated like some weird twisted too little too late bone thrown to their supporters. PLUS making him Clint's bitter little imp who isn't even getting rich boy ass from a Kim/Rama in-training. But through it all I really liked the way EA played the material so I am at least thankful for what he brought to the show.

What alexis said, Money. And yeah, I was referring to when Dani dumped him for Nate which in and of itself is not so horrible, but how he didn't even get a new love interest to even out the playing field but this lame lingering thing with Destiny that finally got consummated like some weird twisted too little too late bone thrown to their supporters. PLUS making him Clint's bitter little imp who isn't even getting rich boy ass from a Kim/Rama in-training. But through it all I really liked the way EA played the material so I am at least thankful for what he brought to the show.

and in a weird sort of way, Matthew like this actually works. He's a prick yes, but he owned it. I always thought EA was a horrible actor until they actually gave the character a bit of a personality and that started about 2 years ago when he became an ass