GH: Classic Thread

[carolineg]

That's the day a lot of feelings I had for Sonny died lol.  

[Khan]

I enjoyed Luke and Sonny's friendship, too, as long as TG adhered to Claire Labine's vision of Luke as a reformed husband and father who had not entirely lost his "street sense."  I think that version of the Luke/Sonny relationship was more interesting and appealing than it what became later on: the pitiful barfly and the "coffee exporter" with control issues.

That is what happens when you grant any actor the right to change anything in the script as they see fit.  You give an actor an inch, and they will not think twice about taking the rest of the mile. 

Wendy Riche and ABC did a lot of great things for GH in the '90's and '00's.  That was not one of them.

As I see it, Luke and Laura are a conundrum that never quits.  They should be endgame.  Nothing else makes sense.  Yet, because we have acknowledged openly that Luke, indeed, raped Laura, reuniting them at any point will look offensive, especially to real-life victims of sexual assault. 

Again: that is why I never wanted the rape officially acknowledged as a rape.  I do not think Gloria Monty and Pat Falken Smith should have acknowledged it initially as a rape in '79, when they had it in mind already to keep TG on the show and with GF; and I do not think Wendy Riche and Bob Guza/Michele Val Jean should have acknowledged it as a rape in '98 either.  Because, when it was acknowledged as a rape, I knew that something like this would happen.  I knew GH would reach that point when neither reuniting L&L nor allowing them to grow out of their relationship with each other and into new ones would satisfy. 

I am sorry, Ms. Val Jean, for the trauma you suffered as a rape victim; and I understand how much it offended you personally to see Luke and Laura happily together given their dark past, but what you did in the name of rectifying that just made it so much worse.

[carolineg]

I think there is input by actors and just total disregard for the material.   NLG just can't walk in one day and say, hey Alexis should be able to drink today because I don't like being an alcoholic anymore.  Tony did just that.  Luke showed little regard to killing his own grandchild (at the moment) and it completely turned me off to him.  More than the rape.  More than the wacky ne'er do well hijinks that a 60 plus year old man should have long grown out of.  Even more than retcon Ethan (thanks again Tony!).

At the time I did think it was very full circle the way they had Lucky find out about L/L's past while he was helping Liz with her rape.  Did I enjoy the story?  Yes.  Was it the best thing for L&L and their future?  No.  Hindsight is 20/20.  I still think the show could have worked past it if they had moved a little quicker with reuniting L&L instead of dragging it out until the point of no return.  

I don't disagree that it would be a bad look to reunite Laura with her rapist, but I do wonder how much of the current audience would be offended by it. 

[Khan]

I literally said the same thing as I was wrapping up that post, @carolineg, lol.

And I hope I am not offending anyone here with my admittedly strong opinions on Luke and Laura and the rape revisit.  It would be one thing if Gloria Monty had discovered the chemistry between Tony and Genie only after the assault.  You could say, "Well, that was just a miscalculation of epic proportions."  By all accounts, however, TPTB had changed their minds about killing off Luke when they saw how well Tony and Genie worked together.  Yet, the rape was allowed to go on as scheduled.  Therefore, I think there was plenty of time for someone - Tony, Genie, Gloria, Pat, Jackie Smith, but someone - to say, "Whoa, let's turn this from an assault into something that is consensual."  If they had, things would be a whole lot different.

There is a part of me who will never, ever, ever want Sonny reunited with anyone, let alone with Brenda.  If you love Brenda Barrett like you and I do, @carolineg, you would not want her to spend the rest of her life with scum like Sonny Corinthos.

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay, I do not understand. I thought we had learned that the head of ABC daytime mandated that Luke would rape Laura. I thought that they did not think of putting them together romantically until sometime had gone by. Are you saying that you think that whole scene should have been staged totally differently? Because it is not possible to see that scene, hear it, etc, & not know that it was rape. They did not call it rape. They dramatically presented rape. And, then they had Laura dramatically act like a rape victim. Then, Monty decided to call it a seduction, which was ludicrous. And, when it was scripted & taped wasn't Douglas Marland still there? 

We seem to have a different understanding of the timeline. 

I have long thought that Monty should have thrown that out & retaped a romantic scene. 

I have joked that if Ron were doing this, he'd have killed off Luke & brought Tony back as another character to have the grand romance with Laura. In the joke his name is Myron & he wears a sweater vest & has doodads in a pocket protector. 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges

[carolineg]

I was honestly okay with Brenda ending up with Jax before Ingo ruined it.  

You are absolutely correct and Sonny is the worst.  I just want to believe the love of Brenda will change him in the end lol.  I have invested too much in this to just let it go now

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I don't know if I actually want to watch years of Sonny/Brenda onscreen doing the same old thing over and over.  Either Sonny completely changes (doubtful) or they leave the show together.  It can be when Mo leaves or when the show ends I just still want it to happen.  

[Khan]

Between social media and the MeToo movement and its' fallout?  More people than you would think, lol.

[janea4old]

I am a real-life victim of sexual assault and I am offended.
I will never condone the pairing or re-pairing of Luke and Laura.

Furthermore, I did see the rape televised live when I was teen and it was traumatic.  Pretending it didn't happen doesn't erase that.

Regarding any claim that the Luke and Laura chemistry is what is important...
I find it offensive that society/media thinks viewers find it hot.
I hated when *some* viewers thought Todd Manning the rapist was hot.
This isn't the same thing, yet... it is like that.

In my view, chemistry never outweighs rape, and that shouldn't even have to be said!

Edited December 21, 2023 by janea4old

[carolineg]

I think people have a right to be offended.  I just still see Luke/Laura on all the anniversary covers and specials and the mainstream public hasn't seemed to cancel them.  It's still considered to be the most iconic and famous GH pairing.  I am just curious how the audience at large feels about it.  Most posters on here seemed to be very against the pairing.

I am so sorry.  Thank you for your input.

[Contessa Donatella]

I listen to you talking about Tony & I think that he said upfront that he hated soaps. He was personally powerful enough that he actually got to act out that hatred even as he was making a small fortune as a soap actor. 

[titan1978]

IIRC, Marland was gone by the time the rape happened. And nobody at ABC was mandating things back then like they did later on, especially advocating for a controversial storyline.

They knew he was staying, they went forward with the story, including Laura going to therapy and the slow dissolution of her marriage to Scotty because she was having (rightly so!) intimacy issues and also conflicted about her feelings for Luke.

The show chose to play Luke bringing flowers to Laura in the hospital after the attack. And even though Genie finally gets to make her personal feelings clear about a rape romance, they both said that was when the characters fell in love- when he brought the flowers to her.

It’s twisted and it’s dark, and nobody should be telling it as a romantic event today. And I think there is a place for a storyline like that, but without the attempts to smooth it over.

Laura was a damaged person, and Luke raped her. Laura could easily have fallen in love with him even after the attack, because she didn’t have a chance at stability or a healthy relationship. If anything, choosing Luke guaranteed that Laura was going to live a life of instability, which adds to the later decision to cling to stability for her children. Making it a seduction instead of what viewers saw play out was the problem that the show has wrestled with since. I understand real world popularity lead to compromise in the story.

Monty learned her lesson- she never told another actual rape storyline again, while copycat shows like DAYS repeatedly had women raped as obstacles in their supercouple formulas. Although Monica and Alan clearly had scenes of marital rape, they didn’t tell a story around it like L/L.

@KhanI don’t think I wish Sonny on anyone either anymore. And I loved him with Brenda. But the end scene of her last full return with Sonny telling her power will always be the most important thing to him really ended them in a deep and adult way to me. He’s never going to be the man she deserves. Jax can also go to hell- on and off screen.

[Vee]

Because it is the only romantic story TG will allow. The last time someone tried otherwise (Ron) he brought the hammer down. I think if someone had actually pushed him again he might've respected it.

This is a more down to earth, less over-ambitious and probably much more viable angle than my own ideas lol, which are pretty grandiose and simultaneously designed as a splashy farewell for the network version of the show allowing it to clear the decks for a new streaming version, and would probably require burning all of its remaining ABC budget on the way out the door. Yours are smarter, more mature and I like it! But I keep my big ideas in a drawer though I have zero intention or likelihood of working on the soaps, so I won't post all my mess in here.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Vee

[titan1978]

Those fools at ABC should be so lucky. And I bet both of us could bring the ratings up while doing it too. Because lapsed audience is there, waiting for something worthy of these characters again! Someday you will have to share the budget busting endgame with us.

[Vee]

DM me sometime and I'll drag it out of mothballs. But yes, my idea was not designed as a permanent end; it was done to close off Luke and Laura and do a nice adventure for the whole cast (a la the 2012 water crisis when they definitely thought they were being cancelled, and managed to save the show instead) while assuming the show would be moving directly to Hulu or wherever immediately thereafter, with a new cast, budget, content restrictions, etc.

[Khan]

I am so terribly sorry, @janea4old.  Please allow me to echo @carolineg's thanks for your input.