There are few
things right now on General Hospital I am enjoying at the moment.
One is the Nicholas and Emily story. As teen stories go on General
Hospital, this one seems to go beyond the juvenile meanderings,
and seems to want to truly delve into a romantic and deeper story.
I want to see where this story goes in the coming shows. The other
story, which excites me, is the story of Sonny and Faith.
Sonny and Faith
are a new pairing on the GH canvas, well not really a pairing but
a curious coming together of two equally strong actors. Maurice
Benard and Cynthia Preston bring these two complex characters vibrantly
to life.
Maurice Benard
plays Sonny Corinthos and Cynthia Preston plays Faith Roscoe. We
know the story well of Sonny Corinthos, but have little input on
what drives Faith Roscoe.
A quick back
story. Sonny Corinthos is a married mobster in Port Charles, with
a baby on the way. He cherishes family over all else and prides
himself on being faithful. Faith Roscoe also comes from a Mob background
and her mob husband recently died (rumor has it at the hands of
Sonny Corinthos). Faith wants power (as well as revenge) and will
seemingly do everything to get both.
The first time
we saw Faith Roscoe was at a Port Charles trendy Club 101 where
she walked in and looked straight at Sonny Corinthos. It was a contemplative
yet amusing look. A look that instantly showed that she was trouble,
and also that she's surely not afraid of Mr. Corinthos. From Sonny's
end it was resigned yet angry. From that very auspicious beginning
we saw a whole story take place. Its a story that has kept
me interested in these two characters. From there, these two characters
had very little interaction save for a small scene in a courtroom
where once again a look told a story. Numerous question was asked
and unanswered with that look. What exactly happened between these
two? Did they have a relationship before? What created the underlying
passion and tension?
Fast forward
a few months and now Sonny Corinthos whose wife has been kidnapped
must play nice with Faith Roscoe to find his wife. They must pretend
they are lovers to smoke out the kidnapper. This has allowed these
two characters to interact on a daily basis.
It's actually
a very familiar story: two characters who initially hate each other
- are forced to live together and eventually learn to trust one
another. Yes we have seen this all before, many times over. Yet
Sonny and Faith's story is different, and much more interesting
and feels more complicated than we have seen before.
Sonny Corinthos
over the top anger at Faith Roscoe implies maybe that something
went wrong between these two at some earlier date that the viewer
in unaware. He flings obscenities and other brutal words in her
direction, and until recently, these words rolled off Faith's back
with relative ease. Hinting to the viewer that Faith Roscoe knew
these words were coming and was quite ready for them. Why?
There have been
intense scenes, words thrown back and forth and as I read recently
by someone who wrote, "whats really interesting is the
words not being said". Maurice Benard and Cynthia Preston taunting
and incendiary interplay gave us such an intriguing and promising
beginning - that I and many viewers could not resist dreaming up
any number of tempting back stories for their smoldering animosity.
I mention the actors because Im skeptical the writers of General
Hospital, (who have shown very little imagination of late) can do
Sonny and Faith justice. From what I've witnessed so far the writers
seem incapable of bringing to life such a powerful and complex relationship.
And complex it most certainly would be.
Sonny prides himself on being faithful -and with a child on the
way even more so. Sonny Corinthos will never be unfaithful to his
wife. Nevertheless, the undercurrent of this story lead the viewer
into believing that Faith could prove to be the sexy wrecking ball
that finally destroys the Corinthos marriage.
What if he
feels an intense passion for Faith - stemming from a shared but
unspoken past? And what if these unspoken feelings for Faith are
strong enough to make Sonny feel guilty - so much so that he hides
behind words of hate and anger as a smokescreen? In regards to Faith,
you have to ask yourself what happened in their former relationship
that would warrant this anger - on both sides. Why would Faith be
willing to go through with this charade knowing what took place
between them - as well as knowing that Sonny's anger was a foregone
conclusion?
What is driving
Faith to push and push, almost daring Sonny to speak about a subject
both seem unwilling to "dig up"? This could be an incredibly complex
story, however, General Hospital has been known, especially recently,
to take the easy way out of stories. Viewers have been given badly
written, juvenile and uninteresting nonsense - instead of complex
and moving stories, that not only challenges them as writers but
also challenges the viewers. However as I stated at the beginning
of this article. I am under no illusions.
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