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Killing me softly with
his song
Killing me softly with his song
Charles Fox
Roberta Flack thought about Don McLean
when she sang that song. It entered my twisted brain while watching
Carlos sing at The Pit. Of course Carlos was not exactly killing me
softly; it was more of a painfully excruciating death.
I have started this column a few times
only to be stopped by feelings of redundancy: why should I bash Carlos to
death when the writers are doing a fine job of that all by themselves?
Clearly TPTB thought Greens needed a
romantic partner. I think what she needed was a brief delightful
distraction from a widowhood that came way too soon. What Greens did not
need was the not very interesting conundrum that is Carlos.
This is not a slam at the actor. What
is happening with him is what is happening all too often on soaps these
days. A good-looking guy, usually a model, is hired to up the hunk factor
on a show. TPTB have some vague notions about the character. And not only
were the notions about Carlos vague, they changed from day to day. And
those “vague notions” are the problem. An experienced actor can take a
flimsy role and find the substance. We have seen that on AMC: Vincent
Irizarry was asked to return as David because he made David much more than
Allie’s stalker. Mark Pinter made Roger Smythe a full character from the
moment he arrived in Pine Valley. Few inexperienced actors can do the
same.
Carlos started out on the right track.
He appeared to be a man totally smitten with Greenlee but too shy to
express himself openly. Hence the anonymous emails.
When Carlos arrived, he barely spoke
English. Remember Reggie translating for him? I could accept that he
could write English but not speak it very well. That’s how I am with
French.
And then Sydney entered the equation.
OK, I thought maybe Carlos writes his thoughts in Spanish, and she
translates them. It was still romantic and sweet.
Exposed as the emailer, Carlos tells
Greens he also writes short stories. Terrific, what woman does not want a
man who is good with words?
And then, a short time later, Carlos
says that he did not write the emails at all, Sydney did.
What were TPTB thinking? Carlos went
from romantic, shy and poetic to a liar in one episode.
And not only that, he went from someone
who could barely speak or understand English to a graduate of Pine Valley
High School. Turns out Stuart was his mentor. Oh wait, I mean “Mr. C.”
And from someone who was not a writer
to someone who was a sculptor. A sculptor good enough to be part of a show
at the Chandler Gallery. (Maybe they renamed it “Mr. C’s Gallery” for the
show.)
It was a showing of “outsider art.”
That must mean art you keep in the backyard because I sure would not want
it in my house. It looked like Carlos had welded lawnmower blades
together. (Later will it be referred to as his Slingblade period?)
I totally lost it when Greenlee said, “So you make these from trash you
find at Fusion?” Is Fusion’s next promotion going to be “ Bring your
lawnmower in for maintenance and get a free lip gloss!”?
Greenlee tries to be nice about his
work and he replies, “This is what I do, this is not who I am.” That’s
odd Carlos, most artists think their art is exactly who they are.
Attempting to show his true self, he
drags her to The Pit where she can be made fun of and insulted by his
friends. And has to sit there with a polite smile on her face while he
“sings” to her.
Now we know that Carlos is a liar who
really does not seem to like Greenlee very much. A liar who thinks
drinking cheap tequila will make Greenlee a better person.
His lying continued at The Pit when
Carlos said he did not realize Greenlee was a, well, Greenlee. Yet he had
done work at the Greenlee estate and had some sort of liaison with Mary.
This past week at the bar, Carlos told Mary he recognized her the first
time he saw her at Fusion, so how could he have not known who Greenlee
was?
Is Carlos a con man out for revenge? Or
just a poorly developed character whose history changes from moment to
moment?
Either way, Greenlee deserves better.
And so do we. And if they are going to keep him, so does Maximillan
Alexander.
Can Carlos be saved? Maybe. But not by
Woodie telling us we should like him. First, get him away from Greenlee.
Anyone they pair with her will fall short compared to Leo. Let her wait
for romance until the writers have a fully developed character and story
in mind. Then back up the writers’ work by hiring an actor who can own the
part from his first scene.
Then take Carlos off the frontburner.
Give him more scenes hanging with the guys. Maybe make him the bartender
at SOS so he can interact with different characters. Have him mix it up
with a few people until we see sparks fly. Give viewers time to get past
the confusion and disappointment surrounding Carlos. Give the writers time
to plan out who Carlos really is and give the actor time to adjust to
that.
Soap viewers are a forgiving group.
Hey, we are still here despite Proteus aren’t we?
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