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GENERAL HOSPITAL – Kelly Monaco plays “Sam” on ABC’s “General Hospital.” The Emmy-winning daytime drama “General Hospital” airs Monday-Friday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. GH14. Photo by Todd Warywchuck/ABC
When GH decided to explore Sam’s paternity through Danny’s cancer battle, all precursors pointed to the beginning of something many Sam fans have clamored to see for years. The story started off well, as it was focused on Sam’s grief as a mother, and she turned to her friends and family for the strength to get Danny through this ordeal. Casting All My Children alum William deVry as Sam’s mobster daddy Julian Jerome aka Derek Wells had many TVSource Magazine staffers salivating at the thought of what was to come. Making Julian, Sam’s father was not only interesting and smart considering Sam’s own criminal past, but it further tied her to General Hospital’s history. Both of her parents are legacy characters; she inherited a new brother, Lucas (Ryan Carnes), who is the adopted brother of her sometimes rival Carly Jacks (Laura Wright).
As good as the story began, focusing on Sam’s gratitude for Julian, who realized he was Sam’s father but kept it to himself; building Julian and Alexis’ (Nancy Lee Grahn) relationship and positioning the growing mob war between the Jerome and Corinthos factions, the initial story quickly derailed after Julian was exposed as Sam’s father. All the emotional beats were skipped over in place of, well, what aired. There was no Julian earning Sam’s love and forgiveness; or Sam struggling with possibility that her father was using her and her son as an insurance policy in the event he was targeted; or being pulled into the mob storyline as heir apparent (as Julian’s daughter and Jason’s wife). Viewers never got to see Sam decide whether or not she would give her father a chance. She hated him, then he did a favor for her while trying to help Silas, then a few months go by and suddenly she didn’t hate him anymore.
More Jerome-Davis family scenes would go a long way. Photo courtesy ABC
Big, important moments like connecting with her new brother or playing tug of war with Carly over him, either never happened or did off-screen. How did Sam initially feel about her parents’ new courtship? How was Lucas’ first time meeting Danny? We’ll never know, because it wasn’t shown. This might seem small in the overall scheme of GH, but it goes a long way to establishing viewers’ emotional connections to these familial relationships. The one constant in all of this should have been Sam; after all, all of these characters are connected to her. But instead, months were spent with Sam supporting Silas while they worked to prove he was framed for trying to murder his wife. Destination storyline isolation – Sam and three new characters (Silas, Nathan, Madeline) with the shadow of another new character, Nina (never pictured until Michelle Stafford’s casting), looming large overhead.
Once again, Sam’s story was sacrificed for her man. There is no denying Monaco and Easton’s chemistry. Their pairing is quite popular despite what their detractors say, but are they a good couple? Everyone’s opinion of “good” is subjective, so don’t presume I’m speaking for all fans, but for me, they’re not…yet. They could be if they had the right story accompanying their romance. Sam is back to her “ride or die” ways and I’m as annoyed with it was I was when she was with Jason. That is why the pairing doesn’t work for me at the moment.
I know some would argue that Sam needs to be paired with someone like Patrick or Nathan or anyone other than Silas – who she’s paired with has no relevance if the outcome is always the same. It’s not the guy Sam is dating that needs to change so much as how the character of Sam works in her own pairings. Sam’s romantic relationships need to be more firmly grounded in furthering her development as a character, less conformity and more independence. Make her struggles be less about being the supportive girlfriend or wife and more about her finding what she needs – sexually, emotionally, financially, paternally (for her son) and professionally.
fuck you ;)
actually your an idiot liarson fan, so no thats your prospective not the truth dumbass
oh shut up!
No. She’s still be worthless. Whitewashed characters suck. She’s NEVER paid for anything. While characters that cheat on cheaters are reminded of their ‘crimes’ daily. Kill her off please.
Can’t believe GH is considering a Sam/Patrick romance COME ON GH Scrubs fans don’t want to see this happening even when Robin is coming back. I love Sam/Silas and I want that to continue.
I have to disagree- we have seen Sam’s anguish over this situation- when speaking to her mother and taking it out on the balloons, when speaking to Patrick – she is just trying not to dump even more on Silas and be supportive, since he has gone through so much in 3 soap days time since learning his wife is alive and not dead, is broke, temporarily paralyzed, etc. Maybe he’s made a few mistakes in trying to do the best for everyone – okay, I agree, but ANY decision he would have made would have hurt someone in the end- there is no manual for such a thing as this. lol – I have seen Sam stand up for herself to him quite a bit throughout their relationship, but I would actually think LESS of her as a character if she wasn’t supportive in his time of need, just as he was in hers (with Danny) – coupledom is a two way deal. Each leaning on the other when the one they love needs it, being their strength, and yes sometimes sacrificing for their happiness. Without such things, relationships would be too frail and easily break – and really, isn’t that how supercouples are formed? To deal with the bad, the harsh conflicts, to learn from each other’s mistakes, and to strive to get through it and get better? Silas has made some mistakes in this, true, but so has Sam. It’s called being human. ;-)
If they were perfect, they would frankly be boring – and not real or rootable at all.
Actually I am seeing on my screen most of what you have addressed in your article. When she blew Silas off the other day and left with Patrick I cheered. I love Sam/Silas and am rooting for them. This story seems to be more about Nina (character I don’t care about) . We are seeing Sam’s reaction somewhat now through Patrick and now with Alexis. I thought Sam had a good comeback with the nurse. I do think they are beginning to develop her but the only problem with these writers is all they can think about is plot points, they don’t write good character development and they certainly don’t know how to write love stories. They are finally beginning to connect some characters such as the conversation with Liz. I enjoyed that. Right now they are writing Silas so weak and I hate what they are doing to him. Monaco/Easton can bring the conflict and light up the screen but in this story they spend most of there time on Michelle Stafford and yes I used that her name to make a point. They wanted her on the screen and used any excuse to get her there. I don’t have a problem with new characters but honestly she takes up half the show on most days. The article was very good but it does seem they are going to in part build Sam’s character.
Sam looks great with Silas, and most of GH fans hates Silas’s wife Nina, this characters fans really don’t like and this is only her first week NOT good! for Michele Stafford
Glad you enjoyed the article!
If I thought she was a waste of space, I wouldn’t have written about her:) Perhaps if she had more of an identity you would feel differently about the character.
Would love to see more Carly and Sam!
Lucky called her Liz while banging her then told her he was never really that into her. Yeah I’m thinking you don’t want her with Lucky again ;) Jason and Sam pulled 1.6’s. Hopefully nobody is dumb enough to put those two back together to again watch the ratings tank.
Yes as a deadbeat hitman who treated her like poo on his shoe after threatening to kill her is better? Puhleeze
Sam is a waste of space. She was Fron’s agenda girl. Her and Borg brought in the LOWEST ratings in GH history as he was a deadbeat killer and she was a whore who stalked his child out of spite. They’ve tried to white wash her into some sort of slutty Donna Reed and it failed too. They’ve killed a child, fired a more popular actress, given her a replacement kid, a wedding and a month long honeymoon all with 1.7’s with her up front. LET IT GO. Backburn this dud before she sinks the show again.
As a Sam fan I am too disappointed with the writing of her character. The death of her husband would have been the perfect time to write her as the strong, independent woman she is. Lets just face it though the writing for GH has been all over the place and its hard to keep up sometimes. I love Sam she was the reason why I started watching GH and to see her character like this is upsetting. There could have been way better storylines than Sam/Silas. I mean for years fans have asked for the writers to make Sam and Carly BFFs and with Jason’s death that would have been the perfect time to do it. Having Carly be there to support and care for Sam and Danny would’ve been great. Can you just imagine those two together as friends. Instead you barely see them in a scene together. I mean Carly should be all over Danny with Jason now being “gone”. Then you have her finding her father and gaining a whole new family. one person already said it and I agree with 110% they could’ve showed Lucas meeting Danny for the first time. Her reaction to Julian and Alexis being together etc. I understand that Sam has to move on with her life so that is why I wanted to give Siam a chance but as hard as I tried I just couldn’t get into it. I can’t picture her with anyone else besides Jason and I hate that we couldn’t get those Jasam/Danny scenes. I cant wait for the reunion and I am all for a recast but Steve Burton has to come back. The chemistry she has with him is undeniable.
Thank you for writing such a thoughtful article. I have been growing increasingly uncomfortable with the way GH writes its women, and I think you really hit the nail on the head here. I feel like some of this stuff we miss is a result of the faster pace they adopted a few years back to prevent cancellation, but taken in conjunction with the very blatant issues the show has with women, there is probably more to the story.
I do watch Days on occasion but not as regularly as GH. I wish the writing were better for Sami and Nicole too (I love the actresses). Thank you for your comment and suggestion:)
Sam was front and center the entire time she was on the show, the actress is/was a favorite pet of Frons, so if she had issues with her story all she had to do was go cry to her boss, BUT she obviously enjoyed being stuck to Jason otherwise she would have asked to stay paired with Lucky or ask for a new pairing.
Sam’s a con and only works when she adapts to the man in her orbit.
McBain or Silas being tied to Sam is no different than the YEARS in which Sam was stuck like a bad rash to Jason’s backside! Jason had to die in order to finally loosen’s Sam’s death grip on his tush.
The truth hurts.
Typical hater response that ignores onscreen dialogue. Silas saved Danny through Sam’s own words as she’s mentioned several times before. He performed the marrow transfer procedure and was there for Sam emotionally, spending extra time with her and going above and beyond his duty as a doctor. Neither Patrick or Julian were there for her in that way.
I too enjoyed the article. Many good points. With the exception of Siam fans I honestly believe there are many fans who enjoy the actors individually but can see beyond the forced nature of this pairing and are not happy with it.
LOVE this article! So well written with many great points. My main issue is that the writing for women on soaps sucks. Do you watch Days of our Lives? I would love to see you write an article about Sami Brady or Nicole Walker. The writing for them as women has also been (and still is) horrible.
TPTB are using ME and KM’s chemistry and pairing from a failed soap from 12 years ago to move this current pairing forward. Really? That is not enough. The writing has to be believable. As much as I like ME he does not work in this role. The story has to work and be believable for acceptance. Cutesy kissing and love scenes are not enough.Part of the problem is again he was forced into storylines such as delivering Sam’s baby when he was McBain and holding Danny recently. I could see where this would irritate Jasam fans. Jason never got a chance to do these things and the writers are turning everything over to Easton’s character. Well that sounds like a sure way to turn many off and not be able to get past the extremely obvious forced down your throat pairing.
The writers are relying on a couple’s chemistry from a cancelled soap 12 years ago to float this pairing. I really like ME however something about this couple doesn’t sit well with me. TPTB will write whatever to attempt to ingratiate the pairing to the audience. In reality I do not know how long they can continue to do this. When a recast Jason returns if they write him horribly to broaden Silas’ appeal I believe it will backfire in the long run. AGENDA DRIVEN FORCED PAIRING
Typical Fangirl response. Silas didn’t “cure” Danny. Molly and Julian did!
I enjoyed the article. The dumbing down of women on this soap is infuriating. I enjoy Michael Easton immensely but in this pairing not so much. As he has said himself it has been an uphill battle and truth be told that has stemmed from many things. Among them the abrupt change in characters from McBain to Silas and the insertion of this character immediately into Sam’s orbit. Like the prior poster stated , forced pairing. Too obvious and not appreciated. Isolation of characters also not good. Build the couple and let them do their jobs and interact with others. I will never support this pairing and sincerely hope that when Jason returns he isn’t made to be a monster just to promote Silas. That will definitely backfire over the long term.
Good points made in this article. The bottom line is this pairing is forced. I love ME however he and the writers are going overboard trying to make this work. Sam is all about Silas give me a break.
[…] a twitter friend wrote a column for TV Source magazine about Sam Morgan on General Hospital and it’s been getting a lot of buzz. At question is the […]
This comment just drips bitterness.
Right, sleeping with her mother’s husband, kidnapped kids, unknown con marriages, having only one love in
10 years, supporting the town superman drive his stories…just screams how she was favored. RME
So, in other words, let’s make Silas (the man who cheated on his wife & knocked up his mistress after poor Nina paid his way to med school) the poor blameless victim. LOL. Please. They need to get rid of Silas, he’s a failure who can’t stand on his own so the writer’s attach him to Sam’s hip. Now, they’ll attach him to MS’ Nina’s hip because God forbid he has to stand on his own.
Sam was a Frons’ pet her entire tenure on this show!
An article was written about Liz a few months ago, and of course RC keeps dragging Liz back to round zero. Liz in a million years would NEVER take Ric back after the crap that he pulled while the couple was married, twice! Ric showed up after being gone for five years suddenly still in love with Liz? Liz would be polite with Ric, but shoot him down in terms of a relationship and the same is true with Nik. RC seems determined to keep Liz in triangle crap or moving her around until he can maybe find a Lucky actor to come back to the show.
Sam is a con and becomes whatever she needs to be for the man at the time; Sam was adventure girl for Jax, Brenda clon wanna be for Sonny, ride or die chick for Jason, sleazy seductive hookup for Ric, and a revenge seeking missile going after Lucky in order to stick it to Liz for her one night of passion with Jason, a poor widdle wife pregnant with her maybe rape victim’s baby while with McBain and a mother torn up that her Jake replacement baby might end up dead. Sam is and will always be a con artist that changes to match whatever con she’s working at the time!
I think this is a good article. It touched on the things that need improvement for her character.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Sam benefited from a writing team since the strike of 2008. That short month or so from January to early March was a god send because it showed how well she CAN be written. She was incredibly flawed but was able to possess vulnerability, pride and had standards for herself. Then Guza came back and it went right down the drain again.
I also think some people within her fanbase are myopic. They don’t see her beyond who she is with, whether they hate him or not. They are willing to ignore terrible writing for SAM if it benefits the couple. But if they dislike the couple, suddenly, Sam is no longer Sam anymore, which is silly because she is written the exact same way in every pairing. A blind supporter who never thinks about her needs. OR worse, the writers decide that her need is to keep the man at any cost, which makes it easier for them to marginalize her altogether.
I couldn’t get into Jasam for that reason. So I learned just to ignore the couple and support Sam solely, which is why this Siam stuff doesn’t bother me to the extent it has bothered some others. I’m used to not liking her pairing so it’s just another dud as far as I’m concerned.
Here are some questions I would love the answers to:
1) Why is it that both regimes never give her a voice?
2) Why is it that she is never given the opportunity to cultivate friendships?
3) Why is it that all of her past romances are ignored? She no longer talks to Jax, Sonny, barely spoke to Lucky after they broke up? They all cease communication.
4) Why give her a father and brother they have never let her get to know on a personal level?
WTF kind of mess is this LOL
As Sam is so fond of pointing out: she’s a P.I. As a result, I’m holding out hope that it will be revealed that she has known about Nina since last Summer. She would have wanted to completely investigate Silas after he had her investigated in order to prove she was unfit to be his nephew’s guardian. It was soon after Silas got custody that Sam suddenly started changing her attitude towards him. She went from being beligerant to being flirtatious. From wearing decent clothing fit for a newly widowed mother of 1 to being dressed in trashy skin-tight, and often see-through clothing. She basically began following him around constantly. At first, it could be brushed off as her being concerned that he take the best of care of her son while he had cancer. But once he was cured, she continued to insinuate herself into his life. Showing up at where he worked at every shift, often several times per shift. Sticking her unnecessary comments in when Monica talked with him about the COS position he was up for. Sticking her unnecessary nosiness in when Kiki was trying to have a private conversation with him about a job at the hospital. And so on. Not an ep with him in it goes by without her turning up to supervise and make sure he’s not spending too much time with any other woman. Her constant references to having a gun and license to use it and carry it everywhere should make him very nervous. Her attitude at the gallery family dinner seemed to be one of, “if I can’t have you, I’ll make sure nobody else will either.” It can’t all be blamed on her, of course. the bad writing is largely to blame. Sam has always managed to scam and get what she wants, even if it means killing a man to do it. She did kill one of her previous 6 husbands, don’t forget. But RC’s constant recycling of old storylines is showing up here. At long last in this instance. I fully expect Silas to learn not only that Sam has known the truth all along, but that Nina has been a prisoner and not comatose all these years. I expect and hope that Nina will reveal that she gave birth to a boy and a girl within 6 months after waking up from her coma. Twins that were taken from her after their births so her mother could continue to control everything. That will set Silas and Nina on a new path to find their children together and finally be as close as they were before Nina’s mother interfered in their lives all those years ago. Keep in mind that Silas has said Nina was in a coma for OVER 20 years. it could have been as much as 28 years passing since he last saw her. We don’t know the exact dates. What we do know is that Ava stuck herself into his life at some point, at least twice. and the second time, she got pregnant before dropping out of his life again. That could be where the age differences would end up being explained, if it is eventually revealed that Nathan and Britt are the children of Silas and Nina after all. Either way, this reunion is apparently shaping up to be a repeat of how Rex and Gigi were reunited and resumed their relationship in spite of Rex being with and marrying Adrianna on OLTL before. It would be a unique twist on such a storyline if it is revealed that Sam accepted a deal from Madeline to deliberately seduce Silas in exchange for payment of some kind. It can’t be cheap to maintain the apartment and raise a son(with a Nanny) when she’s not taking on investigation clients. How much money of her inheritance from her “late” husband, Jason, does she have left by now?
Such an excellent response. i also wonder why Silas’s role in curing Danny was so minimized, considering it offers a ton of insight into why Sam instinctively went to bat for Silas, choosing to believe the best.
I enjoy Silas and Sam’s relationship very much and love the chemistry between the actors. This is my favourite pairing on the show. But yes, I would also like to see them interact more with others outside of their relationship. The key word is “them” since both Sam AND Silas have been quite isolated in their pairing. Silas has actually been much more isolated than Sam has. Sam does get to have interaction with her family and friends even if it isn’t as often as some would like. Silas on the other hand barely has any development outside of Sam and is rarely seen at work or with his children. Nor has he formed any friendships despite being on canvas for a year.
As far as Sam playing a supporting role in Silas’ story, I disagree. So far the story has been about Sam and Silas learning to trust each other, and a huge part of that was Sam showing that she instinctively understood that Silas was a good man who would never try to kill his wife. And she knew that because of all the time they spent together while he was Danny’s doctor. Silas and Sam bonding through that difficult period when Danny was ill shouldn’t be minimized as it was in this article. I for one have had no issues understanding why Silas and Sam are together romantically because their relationship was slowly and carefully built over time and through Danny’s cancer I really got to see why Sam’s heart would soften towards Silas. Also, I didn’t need to see Sam break up with Silas and watch him try to win her back. She understood his reasons for keeping the fact that he was married a secret, and it was in character for Sam to not just abandon him because he had “baggage.” Sam working to clear Silas’ name showed how much she trusted him and it brought the two closer. When Silas and Sam finally say “I love you” to each other, it will make sense IMO because the audience has spent a year watching the two grow closer & be there for each other during difficult moments in their lives.
I also don’t understand why Patrick was brought up in a romantic sense in this article since Sam would be placed in the same position she is in with him as she is in with Silas, should Robin return. That sentence “whether it’s romantic or platonic…” doesn’t make much sense in the context of this article which argues that Sam’s romantic partner isn’t the issue.
Gosh, the article focuses on Sam because that’s the character they have chosen to write about for THIS piece. It is not like they are saying they like everything and Sam is the only one with an issue in her character and they don’t intend to potentially write about any of the other woman but the writer chose Sam. The next time, it might be about Anna or Alexis or Lulu or Maxie or Britt or Sabrina or Tracy or Molly or Jordan. It can be about the canvas or the women in general. Give them time. They are not writing machines.
Patrick is married! Patrick belongs with Robin and only Robin. He is married to Robin and shouldn’t be with anyone but looking and helping his wife. Sam can help Patrick and both go find Robin and Jason over this nonsense of a ridiculous baby story. I want to see Scrubs together again. FV can work with Kimberly McCullough schedule and give her a deal like he gives to others and recently the Y&R actress.
I do agree with some things you have written. I didn’t actually think it was OOC for Sam to have compassion for Silas when she found out about his wife, but you had her angry the one day, and then it was never addressed or resolved onscreen or alluded to. They needed to have that conversation onscreen. Then you had her angry at Silas in the jail cell, and the next time, same thing. Absolutely no follow up. I did not get those choices at all. We need to see that stuff. But I do find Sam and Silas rather balanced. He was there for her with Danny’s ordeal and then she was there for him during his. It’s not like Silas had a ton of POV when the focus on was on Sam, even though part of it was developing their relationship (as was the Nina story). They have both had a role in supporting the other and literally NEITHER of them get much outside of their “pairing”. I find Silas in need of development on canvas, moreso than Sam, but I would like them both to get focus inside and outside of their relationship.
Sam and Silas suck and will continue to suck. Sam works with bad boys. The good guy types fail she her with Jax, Lucky and Silas. I like bad girls. Sam needs to go back to that and not that zen shit that started with Guza and went full tilt with Ron when she got stuck with Silas.
Thank you so much for this wonderful article.
That being said, I’m pretty bias since I’m not a fan of her current pairing at the moment because I found him too old looking for her and a bit creepy and a one noted actor.
I think the biggest problem is that Sam as a character has too many things going on right now, she’s a Cassadine plus a Jermone two families that are center of gh at the moment, she basically has a child she had wanted for 8 years etc, she has too many things going on for her then just her a pairing. Also I’m really turn off by her pairing because it seem like the writers think she depend on her male leads, for example when the pp mess happen she wasn’t seen that much nor did she had a sl because Easton wasn’t on the show compare to Michael and Carly who were getting pretty go sl at the time.
In short she’s too good of a character to be in this pairing when she works so much better being bad ass.
True, but it’s about plot, not character, and has been hugely rushed. We have barely seen them together and Alexis is in love, and suddenly with no prior hinting, Julian is leaving the mob. Talk about taking steps backward with Alexis though. I mean, same issue over and over (that being said, I’m happy she has a story).
I thought the writer made some very good points. She did say Silas/Sam could work but she wanted pov from Sam and I agree with her on that. Hopefully we will see some of that with there talk on Monday. The problem with the writers and I know the ratings are up but they don’t write for the characters. They parade too many people through here. Really both times when Silas talked about Nina, it would have been nice if he would have asked how she felt about him talking about her. I don’t agree that Sam hasn’t done any PI work and she is going to find out Sam is going to spread out a little more. She really is blaming it on the writing and I do agree with her on that. These writers are just not deep with there writing. I do think when Silas told her he was married, why didn’t we get to see them talking about it and Silas asking her how she felt. Instead they had him walk out the door and it was never addressed again. I noticed she said Patrick/Sam could be platonic friends, she still could go with Sam/Silas if they wrote them well, that isn’t going to happen I don’t think. I agree with her about the dad story, they focused too much on the mob and Alexis instead of a relationship with her dad and really how did she get to the point of accepting her dad’s invitations without a second thought. It would have been nice to see them talk about it. They wee so busy pushing Nina they didn’t have time for Sam. I do believe we are going to see Sam’s story now though, it seems she is doing a lot of taping. Of course it will involve Silas and that is what we want.
The canvas in terms of episode appearances, has really never been more balanced. Sonny has taken over this year, to be sure, but compared the last two years of Cartini’s regime, with Guza’s and you will see a dramatic evening out of episode counts. IMO, there are too many characters. Caritini really did breathe life into Sam, questioning Jason and wanting more for herself. i had been waiting for it for years truthfully. Her taking a step in the right direction is one I would re-iterate, but I fail to see where she took one back? Because she helped Silas? That is part of her character. To take a step back, you would need to see her accepting very little for herself, insecure and needy, with Silas being her whole world. I don’t get that sense from her at all. She has had less focus, but we all know she is coming into a ton of story. And I would like to mention, Silas was supporting “in his own story”. He is equally as lost in terms of only getting relationship focus, as Sam. Much different than with Jason and Sam, where Sam existed for the relationship, and Jason existed for everything else on canvas. I actually see Sam and Silas as much more mutual, but like I said, they could both use more focus on their individual character development.
They skipped a boat load of beats with Duke & Anna, too.
There is no balance with the women this show. While some would say Sam and now Alexis are all about their relationships, you have Anna on the other side of the spectrum. 99 percent of Anna’s scenes are with her working. Just like there is zero effort when it comes to Sam’s life outside her relationship, there is pretty much no effort in Anna’s life away from work and her relationship with Duke. RC has no idea how to write the women on this show and balance their personal & professional lives.
While others on the canvas share similar issues to the ones that I addressed, I chose to write about Sam because she has had many of the same issues for the duration of her time on GH. I saw her take a step in a new direction and then a step back.
Many feel the same way you do about the cast size but I disagree. It’s not the size of the cast but the lack of balance. When one actor has over 80 episodes year to date and another has 30, it tells me that things need to be evened out.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article and comment.
First off, thanks for writing this article. It was very thoughtful and carried out in a manner that didn’t show any bias or malice but just a questioning of things.
As a Sam fan, I can admit her shortcomings. There has been plenty over the past decade. Everything you said in this article is spot on and exactly how it has went. She’s always kind of been the ‘and’ in the relationship while not really being Sam McCall. The only time she didn’t necessarily become the ‘and’ in the relationship was with Ric but that wasn’t a relationship and Lucky BUT that eventually turned into an ‘and’ kind of situation. For a writing staff that is supposed to be writing some of the best episodes and have a balanced cast; it’s failing and since she’s a lead character, one would expect more for her.
I don’t like Sam and Silas together and probably never will. I have liked all of Sam’s pairings and Siam is quite frankly my least favorite one. There just doesn’t seem to be an actual balance between them. Sure, he’s the doctor and she’s the PI but if I wanted simply that to balance things out, she could be with Patrick. We have yet to see any kind of issue between them be properly discussed (i.e. his lying about his wife, said wife being in a coma, her life before him, whether or not she’s truly over Jason) but rather glossed over or simply not talked about. It’s ridiculous. Give me some reason to care besides it being ‘Michael and Kelly from Port Charles’ and ‘this is their third time working together in the past 2 years’ charm because the novelty has been worn off.
Hopefully, they decide to eventually write for her and respect the character but given the canvas? I have no faith in such a thing happening.
Why is the focus on Sam? Of the current couples/women on screen, her partnership with Silas is probably one of the most developed. I don’t have the issue with them as a couple at this point, but the greater theme in this article applies to the majority of characters on GH…male and female, with the exception of a select few. You make it sound like Silas somehow got some hefty POV in his coma-wife story to the exclusion of Sam. His history was the catalyst to set the ground work for Michelle Stafford, but wasn’t really written with much POV for his character either. Interesting that you say that Patrick and Sam have a lot to bond over, having both lost spouses, when Silas and Sam actually share that as well, and have discussed it. I’m all for more POV, for Sam, for Silas and for a lot more on canvas. Maxie has barely had a moment of POV since her return. Look at Carly and Franco, or Lulu and her narrow baby focus, and now there’s Alexis and Julian, which skipped a wazoo of beats. And Liz is probably in the absolute worse spot. i don’t understand any of her decision-making and she just hops from guy to guy hoping he’s the one, never learning from her past. I guess I”m confused why are you making this a singular issue for Sam, and in particular, her pairing, when much of what you have said applies canvas-wide. That being said, i would love some more POV for Sam, but I am also not one who thinks she gets none while the others are swimming in it. The canvas is huge and unfortunately, any kind of depth and nuanced writing is missing for most.
Sam has suffered the same fate as Patrick. She is merely a prop for a Cartini pet. Patrick lost who he was as soon as Sabrina was invented and Sam lost who she was to prop Silas. Ridiculous. I like the dichotomy of the samtrick friendship but not the pairing. Mentally they are not in the same level. If Patrick was played as he supposed to be…. Pre princess propping duty he is a brilliant brain surgeon… Sam is an undercover slueth but really is a scam artist turned good. BUT ANYTHING WOULD BE BETTER THAN WHAT CARTINI HAS GIVEN THEM.
I think some of the stuff you said about writing is correct but Sam used to be shown with Maxie or her family because this show revolved around Jason, Carly and Sonny. So all of those people and Jasam as a couple were every story on GH. Now GH is no longer about 4 characters it is much larger than that so some beats don’t get played. I am willing to make that sacrifice for a cast of characters that goes beyond the unholy trio. Sam used to be on 4 to 5 days a week plenty of time to show her with Jason & family and her POV but now not so much. She wasn’t on at all this past week for example. There really is only time to show her A story which is her romance with Silas. I love Siam and I think Michael and Kelly are doing a fantastic job at making Siam different from their other incarnations. They have had amazing chemistry 3 times now. I would love for more exposure of Sam and her life but I got that for 10 years she was front and center, I think it is time the show was more well rounded. As far as Sam and others like Patrick, I am not a fan because KeMo and JT have chemistry but not any heat between them. I don’t see couple chemistry. I feel they work as friends and shows always want to make everything a romance. It is refreshing to have 2 people who can talk to each other and not have it be a romance thing. Two good looking people who are just friends what a concept. Also really who on this show is getting all that perspective right now. I can only think of Ava and maybe that is because she is on all the time. I think the writer’s need to do a better job at balancing this big cast and all of your problems might just go away.
Silas and Sam are doing wonderful in my book. They have both had to take supporting roles in their relationship at times, and thats what balance is all about. They will be really tested here soon, and I cannot wait to watch them overcome this mess too. Love them together, and love how their romance has been built up. I mean we got to see them crushing, then dating, now falling in love with each other. Great love story with substance and love making. Definitely winning for me.
Sam needs to back to Jason or even find him.