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 2001
Starshine-
AMC's Finola Hughes (Alex Marick and Anna Scorpio): She's taken on two roles
and does them exceptionally well! From the very first day Finola Hughes made her
debut as Alex Devane Marick on AMC, fans were abuzz as to whether she was really
GH's Anna Scorpio, alive and well and now living in Pine Valley. It didn't help
that AMC had written Alex as a woman who couldn't remember parts of her past.
However, as time passed, the truth was finally revealed: Alex was not Anna, but
her twin sister. Alex was told that Anna died in a boat explosion along with her
husband Robert Scorpio and their enemy Cesar Faison. GH fans know that Faison
didn't die, as he returned to Port Charles to wreak havoc on Luke Spenser, only
to die once again. The fact that Faison survived the boat explosion left the
possibility open that so did Anna and, maybe, also Robert.
At the end of
last year, Hughes took maternity leave and Alex mysteriously disappeared. When
last seen, Alex was at a party on Ryan's yacht. With the exception of two phone
calls to her husband Dimitri, that's all we saw of Alex... until recently.
The mystery of Alex's
disappearance was solved when Dimitri and Edmund walked into a cabin in
Canada and were stunned to find not only Alex, but her twin sister Anna.
Thus began Hughes' first time playing dual roles. Usually when an actor is
called upon to play two characters, they are creating the second one,
which at times is easier. However, Hughes was called upon to bring to life
a character so popular and so loved, yet still maintain the popularity of
the new character that she had recently created.
How difficult is
this? According to Hughes, "It's impossible. I'm not very good at it at
all," she says, laughing. Wrong! She's very good at it. Hughes has brought
Anna back to life in a difficult situation, but has still maintained the
integrity of her new character, Alex. Hughes shows Anna's pain as she battles
not only an illness that could be fatal, but the fact that she can't remember
her past, and she does it so convincingly you just want to help her. At the same
time, Hughes continues to ender audiences with her portrayal of Alex, who will
do anything to help the sister that she has never had the chance to know. Alex
has even enlisted the help of a man that she hates, David Hayward, to find a
cure for her sister. Bravo to Hughes, who does have the ability to play dual
roles, even if she doesn't think so. (SOU 4/24/2001)
 2000
Editor's
Choice- Brotherly Love Story: For
months, viewers have pondered what would happen when presumed-dead Dimitri
was reunited with wife Alexandra, who, in her husband's absence, had
become involved with his brother, Edmund. Along the way, AMC mercilessly
teased the audience with fake-outs and near misses. And so when Dixie,
eager to reveal that Dimitri was alive, but sworn to secrecy, sent Alex to
the hunting lodge, there was no reason to believe that she would actually
come face-to-face with the count. When the reunion at last arrived, fans
were caught off guard almost as much as Alex was.
In a wordless
scene set to haunting music, an incredulous Alex stared at the great love she
thought had perished. Clearly frightened- perhaps her mind was once again
playing tricks on her- Alex slowly approached Dimitri. In a moment fraught with
tension, she reached out a hand to touch him, asking, "Are you real?"
The anguished
count offered to disappear for good so that Alex could go back to her new life,
but instead she rushed into his arms. Thankfully, this wasn't a chatty reunion-
there was time to play catch-up later. After the briefest rundown on what
happened to him, the couple shared a knowing look that showcased the great
chemistry between performers Finola Hughes and Michael Nader, and a tasteful,
romantic love scene ensued. (Not the easiest thing for the crew to pull off when
an actress is a couple of months away from giving birth.)
But there was a
shadow looming over the afterglow. In the cold light of day, it was time to talk
about Edmund. Seconds after Alex and Dimitri decided that she would be the one
to break the news to Edmund, she left the room to change and her fiance came
bursting through the door with a heartbreaking, expectant look on his face.
In scenes played
to perfection, every thought going through Edmund's head registered on
portrayer's John Callahan's face. At first, he was startled at the sight of his
brother, who was presumed dead three times over the course of a year.
"We've been down this road before," he noted wryly. "You want to fill me
in?"
When Alex entered
the room, it all came together for Edmund as he glimpsed her discarded lingerie
from the night before and observed that she wasn't wearing her engagement
ring.
There are two
sides to every love triangle, and already, viewers have drawn their battle
lines. Edmund and Dimitri's confrontation expressed the views of both camps. Edmund lashed out
at Dimitri for refusing to let him tell Alex that he was alive the second time
the count came back from the dead and then for faking his own death. "Is this
some kind of sick game?" he queried. "You die and come back from th
grave!"
When Alex
suggested that Edmund should be happy that Dimitri was alive, Edmund scoffed,
"I
should be grateful my fiancee slept with my brother?" Echoing the
sentiments of fans in the Dimitri/Alex camp, she responded, "Well, Edmund, he's
my husband."
One chapter of
this serpentine saga has reached a conclusion, but it's clear that this
well-acted and well-scripted tale is far from over. The relationship between
bastard son Edmund and to-the-manor-born Dimitri has always been complex and
compelling. Now, we'll sit back and watch this triangle take shape." (SOD 10/3/2000)
 1997
Editor's
Choice- Maddie's Daddies: "When Dimitri and Maria
slept together last summer, AMC fans revolted en masse. 'Just trust
us,' begged the powers-that-were, but by that point, the writers had
murdered Laurel, zombified Noah and Julia and turned Erica into a drug
addict. There was no reason to trust the show anymore, and it seemed like
the duo's single night of illict passion was nothing but the latest in a
string of blunders.
As it turned
out, the seeds that were sown (literally) that night grew into one of the
best-told, most fascinating storylines of the year. In January, Skye changed a
pregnant Maria's paternity test so Maria would think Dimitri, not Edmund, was
her baby's father. Ever since, fabulous plot points have blossomed in succession
like flowers in a well-planned garden. In February, Erica delivered Maria's
baby. By March, Erica had claimed it as her adopted Russsian infant, Sonya.
Erica 'fessed up in June, but Maria was killed in a plane crash in August. In
October, Dimitri realized he wasn't Maddie's daddy, but by that point, he had to
keep the child to retain Gloria's love. And now, finally, Edmund knows the whole
truth, too.
In one single,
flabbergastingly fabulous week of episodes, the payoffs flew fast and furious.
First up? An incarcerated Erica figured out the truth about Maddie's paternity
and resovled to settle things once and for all- an important step that brings
her even closer to her eventual redemption.
Next, Edmund
learned the truth from Erica- his perceived enemy. In an interesting twist, the
writers didn't try to drag out the drama with lots of denials and recriminations
on Edmund's part. Instead, he accepted the truth without hesitation. 'I always
knew she was mine,' he said softly, as he held Maddie as his biological daughter
for the very first time. The camera pulled back and we saw that he was
strategically positioned between Erica and Skye. The former was on her way back
from hell; the latter was just about to go.
And what hell
it was! After Erica left, Skye gave in to months of longing and cradled Edmund
in her arms. Then, knowing Erica had her checkmate, she whispered her complicity
in Maddie's troubled life. When Edmund blasted her for the bottomless heartache
she caused almost everyone in Pine Valley for a year, it was hard not to burst
out in spontaneous applause.
Best of all,
the story is nowhere near over. Dimitri fled to Budapest, with Maddie and Gloria
in tow. Edmund and Tad followed in hot pursuit, both to reclaim the baby and to
snatch Gloria from the Count's clutches. The chase was a brilliant way to bring
Tad into the story full force, much the same way that Adam, Hayley, Mateo and
Brooke were tied into the Maddie saga when the TransGlobal plane crashed.
Can Edmund and
Dimitri's battle for Maddie go on forever? Probably not. The storyline's been
going strong for well over a year now, and sooner or later it'll have to be
resolved. But by then, the Maddie uber-arc will have spawned off even
more storylines than it already has. Those tales will propel AMC into the
future, all the while cementing Maddie's place in AMC's very rich history." (SOD 12/9/1997)
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