April 3, 2008

Character Annihilation 

Last week I wrote the following in the spoilers commentary, “I like SR but I would prefer him to be someone other than Jerry.  I would prefer to have Julian Stone back as Jerry and Mr. Craig can stay Mr. Craig”.   

Wow, who knew so many people read my commentary?  I received several emails regarding my opinion.  First I’d like to thank everyone who does read what I write.  It’s nice to know someone might be remotely interested in what I have to say because I assure you there is not one member of my house that is.  (Truth be told, my husband is but he’s out of town so he doesn’t really count right now.)

The commentary Kathy and I write for the spoilers is intended to be short and quick and because of that, I think I should clarify what I meant.  No one said anything negative about my comment or slammed me, for which I am grateful but I think the comment does deserve an explanation of its background.

Let me start by saying I truly enjoy the acting abilities of Sebastian Roche.  I think he’s a fantastic actor, one who is wasted on General Hospital.  Actors with such caliber should be doing motion pictures and why this man hasn’t been ‘discovered’ for something else baffles me.  He can pull off smarmy but still be likeable.  He is sexy.  He can be evil one minute and kind and considerate the next.  I don’t think we’ve seen the depth of his abilities and I’m not sure we ever will.

I have no problem with Sebastian Roche.  Trust me there is nothing to have a problem with.  He is charming and humble and damn, a hell of a lot more attractive in real life than on my TV screen (he’s got abs to die for).  My problem is with his character.  Originally portrayed by Julian Stone, who in his own right is sexy and a fine actor, Jerry Jax was charming and a sort of ‘wannabe’ bad guy.  He wanted to be bad but mostly he just screwed up.  It was part of his charm.   Maybe the character was created to make his brother Jasper Jax look better, who knows?  The point is, Jerry wasn’t innately evil and he wasn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree either. 

This Jerry Jax is someone entirely different.  He’s evil down to the core and though he does seem to have an ability to form attachments, we’ve yet to see him truly loyal or devoted to anyone but himself.  And he’s smart.  A fine character in his own right but not Jerry Jax.  Bring back Julian Stone and have him be innately evil and I still wouldn’t think it was right. 

I like Jerry Jax as he was written for Julian Stone but not so much for Sebastian Roche.  I love Mr. Craig and can associate the evilness and intelligence of the character with the name but I have a hard time attaching the personality to Jerry Jax.  They’re still almost two separate people to me and I find myself waiting for Julian Stone to bebop into the hospital saying, “Has anyone seen Bobbie?”  It’s as though the writers have created an entirely new character and slapped an old name on him just to give him some history and frankly, it doesn’t work for me.  This is where my problem is.  I miss the Jerry Jax of the Julian Stone days but that doesn’t mean I don’t like Sebastian Roche.  It simply means I do not like what they’ve done to the character of Jerry Jax. 

There are several characters on each ABC soap that have been changed entirely to fit the acting style of the recast and/or storyline the writers provide.  Some changes have been good and I’ve enjoyed them and others have really stunk.  This new Jerry Jax isn’t really bad but he’s not the Jerry Jax I found so endearing and it’s not at all about the actors.  Honestly, if someone said to me, “Look there’s Sebastian Roche and Julian Stone over there.  They both want to take you home, talk to you all night long and do terrible things to you.  Pick one,” I would be stuck.  I couldn’t choose.  I think I’d just have to let them take turns.