So, I’ve already mentioned that I’m generally okay with GH’s Jerry holding everybody hostage at Metro Court last year and still being around. Basically, as long as 90% of Port Chuck continues to treat him like he’s scum, I’ll be fine. Once everyone decides he’s made of sunshine and puppies, however, it’s a different matter. He’s actually teetering on the edge for me right now because he filled Alexis’ office with flowers and is all googly-eyed. Stop that! You’re a villain! I feel like there are things that a show shouldn’t “get over.” It’s one of my biggest pet peeves to see a character’s ugliest moments glossed over and explained away.

Here are some of my biggest “Oh, HELL no” moments in daytime: (Warning, there are some YouTube clips, and they are disturbing.)

1. AMC’s Ryan going all AngerBoy on Greenlee just because she wanted a baby and he didn’t. Not only did he grab her and verbally abuse her, but he faked his death just to get away from her and her baby. How does everybody in PV still think this man is a prize?

2. GH’s Sonny shooting Carly in the head while she was giving birth. Bullet. Head. Need I say more? I have no idea how every woman Sonny’s been with manages to get out that obligatory “you’re a good man” mantra without choking. Heck, I should probably give Sonny a separate number on the list for Karen and the Paradise Lounge…

3. GL’s Jonathan seducing his own virginal cousin, Tammy. Yeah, I know they turned into this “great love story” within a year, but honestly, that part bored me to tears. The fact that this messed-up creep had a twisted love for Tammy was interesting. When they forgot he was an incestuous creep? Trite and insulting. 
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_vFOnhLUDms

4. DAYS’ EJ forcing Sami to have sex with him to save Lucas’ life. WHY hasn’t Roman shot him in the face? They’ve full-on forgotten this little gem in Salem, but since this is the same town where nobody remembers Jack raped Kayla, I shouldn’t be surprised. Pretty soon they’re going to give EJ the “Man of the Year” award. Ick.

5. GH’s Ric putting Carly in the Panic Room. How did this guy end up married to Alexis and in the position of district attorney after he did that? He was going to murder Carly for her fetus! He almost suffocated his wife, Elizabeth (whom he drugged and seduced so he could nab Carly). Did we ever see him in therapy? In jail? Taking some antipsychotics? Nope! It was just: Voila! Ric’s a law-abiding citizen. 
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aAs_-js8iV0

6. OLTL’s Todd and Marty. They’ve finally remembered what a nutjob Todd can be, but for a long stretch of years, he was just a “wacky guy,” and, “Hey, a guy who loves his kid can’t be all that bad!” Then, of course, they had crazy Margaret (which is also Marty’s real name) rape him, as if two rapes suddenly make a right. Uh, not so much. 
(The following clip is of Todd threatening Marty later. The actual gang attack is on YouTube, too, for the morbidly curious.) http://youtube.com/watch?v=bkkpf5z6Les

7. DAYS’ Jack forcing himself on Kayla. (See the mention in No. 4.) Somehow, this case of marital rape never gets brought up by anybody. Instead, Jack is beloved by all, most of all by Jennifer, the ingenue he fell in love with when she worked at his paper. Um, ewww. I love me some Jack and Jennifer, but I repeat…EW. 
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SdEYpwEpUzI

8. GH’s Luke and Laura at the campus disco. I feel like this one event probably changed the face of daytime. It was retconned into a “forced seduction;” into a “youthful mistake.” It set the precedent for “chemistry excuses everything,” and is probably why the Todds and EJs of the soap world exist. Anthony Geary is awesome, no doubt, and he deserves every single Emmy he’s won, but the fact that Luke the rapist saved the world and got a lifetime free pass still rankles me. 
http://youtube.com/watch?v=x_wQJfwH_uA

Notice a pattern? Notice that it’s all about violence against women? Why does a genre geared towards women consistently glorify the abusers of them? Jerry is not a hero. Jerry is a great villain. He’s like GL’s Roger Thorpe or DAYS’ Stefano DiMera. He should never be a Jax or a Lucky. I don’t get how villains get turned into heroes just because the actor is cute or charming. Can you imagine that as a defense in real-life court? “Case dismissed because you’re a hottie!” Me neither. So why do we let our soaps get away with it?

originally posted on soapoperaweekly.com