MOTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

 

 

Where are the good mothers on soaps these days??

Okay, so I'm not a mother myself, but raised by a single mother for most of my life I think I have an inkling of an idea of what a GOOD mother should be. Believe me, I by no means mean all mothers should be perfect; Mother Teresa and Mommy Dearest are both way too extreme for me. 

Need examples? Not a problem.

Now, Janet from Another Planet on All My Children is the ultimate case of the extreme. She does anything and everything necessary to protect her little girl, Amanda. Honestly, I don't buy the whole spiel Janet tries to sell everyday, but Kate Collins does make it work. I know that there are mothers out there who would do whatever it takes to make their children happy and safe, but what mother do you know who would blow up a Mardi Gras party or lock a bunch of people in a truck in quicksand or especially kidnap another child from its mother? I know in soaps we are supposed to have a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, but really how much are we to take? No matter what her motives, Janet is not demonstrating the qualities of a good mother: responsible, understanding, caring. Yes, she's a schizo and I'm supposed to chalk it all up to crazy lady talk. Fine. I could do that. But AMC should stick to that instead of playing the mother-to-the-rescue bit.

What about One Life To Live, you ask? Well, just this past week, Hunky Rex Balsom was shoved into some dark alley, which mysteriously looked like the one behind Ultraviolet (guess OLTL ran out of sets), and was forcibly injected with heroin. And why did all of this happen? Cause Dorian doesn't want her daughter, Adriana, involved with a former criminal. I know Dorian didn't actually order the drugs, but she did finagle her power over some people in New York to interrupt Rex and Adriana's weekend getaway. But again, am I too honestly believe that Dorian would stoop to such a level just because she doesn't like Rex? Hell, five minutes ago she hated Duke just cause he was a Buchanan, but that doesn't seem to stop her now from going to him for help and especially that she has her eye on Clint Buchanan herself. And ten minutes ago, River was unacceptable for her daughter even though he has been a member of a prominent family for years.  Will this woman ever be happy with ANY man in her daughter's life? If I really think about it, Dorian has stuffed her nose into Kelly's and Blair's lives too much as well in the romance department. My opinion? That woman needs a new hobby....or stifle her pride and hook back up with David. Because the way she is acting now as a mother is completely destroying her character.

And onto General Hospital.  Okay, let me admit I've never been a huge Carly fan. Sarah Brown was a wonderful actress, but as a Liz and Alexis fan first I tended to loathe Carly. When Tamara Braun took over, I fell for Carly. Maybe it was the CarLo pairing, but I finally bought into the character. But when Jenny came in, the character was turned back into its original form and I tuned out. Now that Laura Wright is here and she's paired with Jax, I'm slowly beginning to appreciate her more and more. But that doesn't take away from the fact that this woman is in no way a good mother. She sat in a mental institution for months, literally DYING to get out to be with her boys. She's been out since Christmas and I swear Leticia has more screen time than ever. It went so far that the other day Carly asked Elizabeth, a girl she has hated for years and years and years, to take care of her boys for her. Now on what planet would Carly ever ask her for a favor? The storyline claims that Carly is just fulfilling a promise to Courtney by taking care of Little John, but I'm pretty sure Courtney would want Carly to take care of Michael and Morgan first. Instead, she's off gallivanting around town: out to dinner with Jax, teasing Robin constantly, seducing Max, trying as hard as she can to separate Sonny and Emily. She's being quite selfish, in my eyes, and I don't get why everyone claims that she is such a good mother.

So, there you have it. Three examples of bad mothering that have been plaguing my mind for quite some time now. And that's not to say that there are not some good mothers out there in soap world because there are or at least there were.

But I am left to wonder where have all the GREAT ones gone.....

By Keri