The events of the past two weeks involving Todd and Marty set off one of the most explosive waves of feedback that we've ever received on Soap Central. This week, while Two Scoops' Dawn takes a much-deserved week off, we're going to share with you some of the comments you've shared over last week's column.
THANK YOU! Your column was dead on and I agree with you completely. I'm so tired of people comparing this Todd and Marty thing to Luke and Laura on the lists and I can't seem to get it through their skulls that Todd and Marty are NO LUKE AND LAURA! This storyline is twisted and nauseating and must stop.
-- Deborah
Your take on the Todd/Marty disaster was right on the money. It is so disturbing that I can't even watch right now...
-- Melissa
BRAVO!!!! You said everything I was thinking and more, and I couldn't agree with you more. The Todd/Marty kiss thing, totally freaked me out. It made me feel...well, dirty. I do think this is a Marty fantasy thing. GOD I hope so. I don't think I could stomach a "romance" from these two.
--Ejay
I've been really interested in this Todd/Marty storyline. I watched the original rape story with my siblings when I was a kid--I think it did a lot for acquaintance rape visibility, and I know it was the first time any of us understood about DNA evidence and so on. Anyway. I have always been horrified at the very idea of a real relationship between Todd and Marty (when I started watching again a few years ago, I was impressed the writers never went there), but this is interesting. I would disagree with your statements that Todd must be totally sick and twisted to be doing this. I mean, yeah, he's messed up, but haven't some of the things he's said made it seem like he's not doing this on purpose to mess with or hurt Marty, but really to have a second chance at life? He's trying to make up for having raped Marty and thinks all his problems go back to that. Getting romantically involved wasn't in his original plan, but he's going to convince himself that this will help make up for it. And yeah, there's NOTHING he could do to make up for having raped her, and eventually that's going to become obvious, and he IS going to get his comeuppance; but I'd say he's a poor, warped, sad guy, not a sadistic monster.
-- Wendy
Regarding your analysis of Todd I really do not see him change that much with the exception he would never intentionally rape some one again. I have never found Todd to be an antihero just someone who can do some heroic things on impulse when he isn't thinking of himself on the rare occasion.I believe that Todd believe's that if he hadn't left Marty the night she asked him to stay things would have been different between them and I think the writer's are simply trying to show the story from Todd's prespective. No need to panic the kiss scene pretty much played out as one would think it would.
-- Stacey
I'm a psychiatrist(currently a stay-at-home mom) and I was watching OLTL fairly regularly until the recent Todd and Marty storyline and the Tess and the secret room storyline. The first storyline I find generally repulsive, and the second one just plain annoying and repetitive of similar plots in other soaps. I have to say that from a psych viewpoint you have hit the nail on the head. Todd is essentially raping Marty again--this time emotionally. He is violating her when she can't defend herself. Yes, I agree with you that it would have been better if Marty had initiated the kiss on a shocked Todd(with Marty being the grateful and vulnerable patient crushing on someone she sees as her rescuer). And yes, the psychological thriller thing is appealing, particularly when Todd has the weird fantasy of both he and Marty starting out a new life together, with a baby, no less. But while it is interesting to psychoanalyze the whole situation, it still makes Todd unredeemable, if he continues on the way he is, and doesn't do the right thing and return Marty to a situation where she can get her memory back and rejoin her son and her friends. I think you are right--the writers need to be very careful about how they proceed from here. If Marty and Todd get more romantic(and God forbid, intimate), when she gets her memory back it will be liked she was raped again when she realizes what happened. Anyway, you have done a fine job of psycho-analizing the situation and are well on your way to your honorary "shrink" degree. Oh and by the way, someday I'd like someone to address how psychiatrists are always either stupid losers, or criminals (like the Music Box Killer) in soaps. And, psych wards are NOT either full of Nurse Ratchett types nor are they spa-like--but that is another story!
-- Cilla
I liked the views that you pointed out in your column. I would like a Todd and Marty pairing ONLY if Marty knew the full truth and still found a way to forgive him and to move on to a life with him. I mean this is a SOAP, it could happen. Look at how they were able to go back in time to 1968. Anyway the main reason that I wouldn't fight this pairing yet is : Luke and Laura of GH. He raped her too, and they still found a way to get together. Anyway I love your Two Scoops, so please don't be mad at my opinion.
--- Caterina
In terms of Todd and Marty it's just a show. [Todd] obviously has huge amounts of guilt about what he did and wants forgiveness.
-- Brian
