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Post by jwsel on May 26, 2012 16:29:55 GMT -5
Shayla Part 2
Ridiculously long, but this is the last part. I promise.
But What About Kim?
I've only briefly mentioned Kim in the discussion of Shayla, but I first wanted to address Shane and Kayla coming together, which occurred largely when Kim was in Los Angeles. However, Kim cannot be overlooked.
Isn't Kim Kayla's Sister?
The most significant issue viewers have with the relationship is that Kim is Kayla's sister. This tends to be the biggest objection to the storyline. How could Shane go after his ex-wife's sister and how could Kayla go after her sister's ex-husband? After all, Shane has always been portrayed as a gentleman and Kayla repeatedly emphasizes that she and Kim are not just sisters, but "best friends."
The simplistic answer is "it's a soap opera," but that is rather unsatisfying. On the other hand, Days of Our Lives has always emphasized the power of love and, if you accept that Shane and Kayla fell in love while sharing his house, then that love might override even the fact that Kim and Kayla are sisters.
Moreover, I would suggest that the fact that Kim and Kayla are sisters is somewhat responsible for the relationship. I am not sure that Shane would have brought Kayla to his house if there were no pre-existing familial relationship between them. Would his guilt over Steve's death have been as strong if Kayla had not been Kim's sister? I don't know, but certainly the several-year relationship between Kayla and Shane contributed to bringing them together.
Further, as I explain above, their knowledge and familiarity with each other's past loves was another critical component to the relationship. Shane's assurance to Kayla that he would not compete with Steve is probably something that very few men would have promised, and his understanding of her situation was probably informed by his own relationship with Kim. In fact, Steve and Kim are very integral to the early relationship. In Alamainia, Shane and Kayla were trapped in a collapsed tunnel and talked at length about Kim and Steve, respectively. Those past relationships helped forge the bond between them, and it is difficult envisioning that they would have been able to do that with anyone else. In fact, when Kayla returned to the show in 2006, it was established that Shane was her only lover after Steve died, so she clearly was unable to form a bond with anyone else.
What About Kim's Reaction?
This is the most curious issue for me. I had always heard about the Kim-Shane-Kayla triangle. Yet looking at the scenes that follow Kim's return, while there are a lot of uncomfortable elements, the triangle does not really develop until later, if at all.
Initially when Kim returns, Kayla's response is to get out of the way of a possible Kim/Shane reconciliation. She tells Bo that anything with Shane has to stop:
(There also is a sweet scene in that clip where Shane sees Jeannie for the second time -- and learns that she was named after his mother -- but then ends with Shane remembering that Jeannie is not his.) In the same clip, Kayla tells Shane she's moving out of his house and, while he may want to move on with his life without Kim, he won't do it with Kayla. Then she goes to see Kim, telling her that she obviously still cares for Shane and should "fight" to be with him:
And in another scene with Shane, she tells him that she won't choose him over her family:
Indeed, even in the mountain scenes, it is clear that Kayla agonized about the strain her relationship with Shane was putting on her relationship with Kim. It seems pretty clear that if Kim wanted to get back together with Shane, Kayla would have quickly stepped aside.
But Kim does not say that she wants to get back together with Shane. To the contrary, she tells Kayla that Shane has obviously moved on. And in later scenes, she pushes Kayla toward Shane. For instance, here, right after Eve has disappeared, Kim tells Kayla to go to Shane because he needs support and Kim also insists that things are over between her and Shane:
(This scene occurs after Kim reveals that she is working with the ISA to trap Lawrence and, as a condition to her continuing on the case, insists that Shane arrange for Kayla to be fired from the lab she started with Shane. Kayla then overhears a phone conversation and realizes her firing was due to Kim and Shane, though she doesn't realize it is related to an ISA case.) Later in that clip, Kim calls Shane, complaining that Kayla won't accept that their marriage is over, leading to a joint effort to show Kayla that things are over:
Also, during a Brady family meeting to address the situation, when Shawn angrily criticizes Kayla for moving in on Kim's husband, Kim defends Kayla, pointing out that Shane is her "ex-husband":
(I think there is a better version of this scene, but I can't find it.)
Then there is this rather astonishing scene where Kim tries to convince her sister how much Shane really loves her (beginning at 5:42):
Kim begins by telling Kayla once again that it's over between Shane and her. Then Kim tries to convince Kayla how much Shane loves her by pointing to the music box that Shane gave Stephanie, which plays a song that Kim knows has personal meaning to Shane. Kim says the music box proves Shane's love because "Shane doesn't give up pieces of himself that easily." Kim then discovers inside the music box the emerald ring Shane gave Kayla, and explains that when Shane gave Kayla the ring, he was giving her his heart. Those are very strong statements from Kim encouraging Kayla to pursue her relationship with Shane.
This whole sequence of events raises two significant questions. First, what does Kim actually want? I don't think it's clear. On the one hand, she keeps telling people the marriage is over. On the other hand, she is working for the ISA to capture Lawrence by getting close to him, so maybe all of her protestations are just part of her act. Yet there also are indicia that Kim is beginning to fall for Lawrence:
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That's hardlyconsistent with wanting to reunite with Shane. I also find it odd that Kim suddenly is the one who is struggling to accept their divorce, when she initiated the divorce proceedings in the first place. Kim's ambivalence towards Shane and Kayla also makes it difficult for me to sympathize with her, because I just don't know exactly what she wants.
And that leads to the second question. If viewers don't know what Kim wants, why should we criticize Shane and Kayla for accepting her statements that the marriage is over and her efforts to push Kayla to Shane? I've read some comments that Shane and Kayla should have understood that Kim still wanted Shane, but that would require them to ignore what she actually says and presume that she really means the opposite. I'm not sure that Shane and Kayla should be expected to be mind-readers.
Then there is the Lawrence Alamain issue, which complicates matters greatly. As I mentioned above, Kim accepts an ISA assignment to get close to Lawrence. (This occurs after he has tried to ingratiate himself with Kim as a way of screwing up Shane's life, part of Lawrence's plot to distract Shane so he cannot focus on bringing Lawrence down.) However, initially, Shane does not know about Kim's ISA assignment and Kayla does not learn about it until much later. Remember that Shane and Kayla both know that Lawrence killed Steve and were nearly killed themselves by Lawrence in Alamainia. Needless to say, before learning about her ISA role, they both try to convince Kim to stay away from Lawrence, and are baffled and angry that she ignores their warnings and continues to pursue a relationship with him.
One of the problems I have during this entire sequence is that I can't tell if Kim is just getting close to Lawrence because she: (1) is doing her ISA job; (2) actually has feelings for him; or (3) is running to Lawrence to find solace because Shane has rejected her.
Before Shane knows about Kim's involvement in the ISA case, he raises the third point, suggesting that Lawrence is another Cal Winters -- telling her "if you're trying to avoid pain, you don't go rushing headlong into a self-destructive relationship":
In that clip and the one where Shane suggests Kim may be falling for Lawrence, Kim's response is to tell Shane that he cannot control her and cannot dictate with whom she can have a relationship. I think her response is a bit of an overreaction, because Shane doesn't show any signs of trying to control her life generally (and he later takes no steps toward interfering with Kim's relationship with Phillip Collier). Shane is just warning her to stay away from Lawrence Alamain, the murderer and master manipulator. I do think Kim's involvement with Lawrence may be fed a bit by an "I'll show him [Shane]" attitude, but nonetheless she proceeds to get closer to Lawrence. Whether it's fair to blame Shane for "pushing" her to Lawrence is an open question on which viewers can disagree.
As the storyline progresses, I do think Shane is proven right that Kim has developed feelings for Lawrence. After Shane suspects that Kim has feelings for Lawrence, Kim actually sleeps with Lawrence (messing up Shane's plans to investigate Lawrence's house), and Shane then watches the videotape of her sleeping with Lawrence < and >. However, the ultimate proof that Kim has feelings for Lawrence is when she bugs him and finds out that he duped her into believing he was innocent of some rape charges < >. This causes her to break down in tears.
We also must consider Kayla's reaction to Lawrence, something that I believe is overlooked by many critics of the Shane/Kayla pairing. Kayla is furious, because she cannot see how her sister would get involved with the man who killed Steve. Initially, as I mentioned above, when Kim returns, Kayla offers to step aside. In the mountains and in numerous other scenes, she agonizes over the strain her relationship with Shane is putting on her relationship with Kim. However, Kayla's reluctance to pursue a relationship with Shane ends when she decides that Kim's relationship with the man who killed her husband proves Kim doesn't care about Kayla's wishes. So why, under those circumstances, should she cater to Kim by refusing to get involved with Shane? That is a major turning point for Kayla, and from then on, she fights for her relationship with Shane.
It is hard to question Kayla's view. She does not know anything about Kim's ISA mission. So to her, she is just seeing her sister shacking up with the man who killed her true love. Although Kayla had been willing to give up Shane in favor of Kim, why should she continue to sacrifice her own happiness for Kim, who is off with Lawrence? Some might see that as a form of revenge, but it also could be seen as an understandable reaction to what Kayla perceives -- her sister's lack of sensitivity to Kayla's profound loss.
Isn't Shane Torn Between Kim And Kayla?
Another very interesting issue about this so-called triangle is Shane's behavior.
Oddly, for a triangle situation, Shane does not really show any sign that he is open to renewing a relationship with Kim. In fact, in one of the clips I posted earlier, Shane echoes what he said when Kim returned from walking out in 1988 -- that Kim cannot just leave and come back expecting everything to go back to the way it was. From what he says, I think it also is clear that the pain of her leaving is still there and supports the notion that Shane won't entertain the possibility of reuniting with Kim because he does not want to subject him to that pain again. He also goes to dinner with Kim where he makes it clear to her that their marriage is over (at 5:35):
Immediately after, he tries to convince Kayla that she shouldn't walk away from a potential relationship, telling her that it would not be right for him to get back together with Kim:
He repeats both those statements in later clips. There are some brief hints later that maybe Shane might be having some feelings for Kim, but they really don't go beyond a look or passing comment. In short, the triangle does not really develop, because there never seems to be a realistic possibility that Shane will leave Kayla to return to Kim.
Didn't Shane's Horrible Treatment Push Kim To Lawrence?
I've read some comments that claim the way Shane treats Kim pushed her to Lawrence. But the clips I've already linked show he tries to block her relationship with Lawrence before finding out she is involved with the ISA and, later, warns her against falling for him. In both scenes, Kim reacts by dismissing Shane's concerns and accusing him of trying to control her personal life. Some see Shane's involvement as being unfair since he is both rejecting her and trying to control her, but I don't see him trying to control her as much as he is trying to protect her from a murderer and being hurt (which, in fact, does occur).
There also are two scenes during the mission to catch Lawrence where Kim actually slaps Shane, something she never did during their prior relationship. In the first scene, they argue about her plan to act as bait to catch Lawrence in the act of infecting her with the virus. Shane opposes the idea, but she goes ahead. That leads to Shane comparing her behavior to the situation in Miami, where she slept with Victor Kiriakis. She claims this situation is nothing like Victor, and he accuses her of "want[ing] it this time":
In the second, he manipulates her feelings so he can plant a bug on her, which she discovers while making love to Lawrence. That leads to a nasty confrontation where Shane angrily asks Kim if she deals with every situation by having sex, runs through her relationships -- Victor, Cal, and then Lawrence -- and asks "Is there anybody you wouldn't sleep with?":
Ouch.
My first reaction to that scene was to hate Shane for dredging up the past. Then I thought about it some more. Remember, he had tried to warn her much more nicely that she was repeating her past mistakes and that she would wind up being hurt by Lawrence (he was right). That warning failed. Also, at the time of this exchange, Kim had ruined Shane's efforts to find incriminating evidence, so he did have some reason to be angry at her. Was it harsh? Absolutely. I'm just not sure that his anger was completely out of left field.
It is hard to know how to interpret these scenes. Is Shane just being nasty to Kim because he is still angry at her for leaving him? Is he acting out of jealousy that Kim is getting close to Lawrence? Is he just acting protective of her and trying to convince her how dangerous her situation is after failing in his ear? Does his attitude indicate that he still loves Kim? I don't think the show clearly answers those questions.
However, I feel a need to give Shane the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because if Shane is just being nasty or passive-aggressive, then he is just a vindictive jerk. And if that is the case, it begs a critical question for Shane and Kim fans: If Shane is a vindictive jerk, why would we ever want them to reunite? For the same reason, I have to believe that Shane and Kayla did love each other, even though their love was a shadow of what they had with their prior loves. If they did not love each other, Shane's actions during this entire storyline are utterly unacceptable and it is difficult to see how his character can be redeemed. It is far more palatable to see Shane as a wounded soul who pushed Kim away because he could not risk being hurt again and instead sought happiness and a safer love in the arms of a similarly wounded soul like Kayla.
Importantly, I want to make something clear. I am not saying that Shane and Kayla should have survived. I just think it is possible to provide a reasonable explanation for why Shane chose Kayla over Kim at that point in his life and why that relationship should not permanently poison the well for a future reconciliation with Kim. Also, I really want to get across that I am not anti-Kim. I wouldn't be writing this story if I was anti-Kim. I just think it is possible to look at the Shayla storyline, see the role Kim played, and avoid oversimplifying her role by casting her as the victim of Shane and Kayla's cruelty. These characters are all too complex for such oversimplifications. But of course, that is what makes them so fascinating.
What Else Is Good/Bad About Shane/Kayla?
Changing themes, I figured I would toss out a few thoughts about some other good and bad aspects of the Shane/Kayla storyline.
The Good
Kayla's development. I'll admit that I was never a big fan of Kayla and Steve. (esp13 obviously disagrees.) Perhaps some of that was due to the natural jealousy that tends to arise when one couple is supplanted with another. During 1987-1988 I thought that the writers were bolstering Steve and Kayla as a supercouple, while saddling Shane and Kim with some weaker storylines (Gillian, Eve, Gabrielle, etc.). In addition, I found Steve to be rather over-the-top emotionally -- loud and obnoxious when he was angry and excessively weepy when he had to be sensitive. My opinions have changed significantly during my rewatch.
But one of the real issues for me is that I always felt Kayla was a bit of a cipher. Unlike Kim and Shane, who each had their own baggage, Kayla seemed like a good girl who mainly existed to react to Steve.
With Steve's death, however, Kayla developed a lot. We saw her standing up to her father and questioning her role as the member of the Brady family who subjugated her own needs to play peacemaker. For certain periods of the Shane/Kayla relationship, I enjoyed these developments. (In the "what's not good" section below, I do think Kayla was ill-served by the writers for part of the relationship.)
Shane's return to the cold, emotionless character in the wake of Kim's leaving. I've discussed this side of Shane above, but it is nice to see some consistency in Shane's character. From early in his history, we know this is how he reacted to witnessing his first wife's "death." It logically follows that this side of Shane would reemerge following the collapse of his marriage to Kim.
Julie Williams as meddler and confidante. In the friendships post, I commented on how certain characters served as confidants to Shane during his time in Salem. At the time Kim left, Hope had "died," Miss Peach was used sparingly, and nobody had really taken their place. For a few brief scenes, however, Julie Williams got to have fun pushing Shane to admit he was falling for Kayla:
You have to love Julie's quip that meddling in love lives is a "Horton-family tradition." It would have been nice if Julie were used more.
Charles Shaughnessy's and Mary Beth Evans' acting. There are some great scenes between the two of them, especially in the lead-up to their break-up and Kayla leaving Salem. I won't relink the scenes, but I've mentioned a number of standouts above, including the two scenes in the mountains, the scenes I linked from the paralysis storyline, and the final Shane/Kayla scene.
The Bad
You might think after this lengthy discourse, I would not have many negative things to say, but there is still a lot to criticize about the storyline. Here are just a few things I greatly dislike (not necessarily in order of importance):
Shane and Kayla are pretty boring. As much as I can defend the Shane/Kayla relationship as a reasonable outgrowth of their past relationships, they just are not a very exciting couple. Shane and Kayla were the more stable members of their supercouple relationships, and their only significant early conflict is Kayla's reluctance to get involved with Shane because of her feelings for Steve and Kim. After that, you are left with two relatively stable people who have some semblance of love for one another. They spend a lot of time kissing, but little else because they are "moving slowly." That does not make great drama.
One of the fundamental aspects of the great couples of that time period is that they had to overcome significant odds and were able to do that because of their strong love for one another. Shane and Kayla never really got any storylines that put their love to the test. In order, their storylines after Steve's death were: (1) going to Alamainia; (2) teaming up to start the lab to find the cure for the virus that was killing ISA agents; (3) dealing with Kim's return the instant they first kissed; (4) dealing with the continuing mission against Lawrence and Kim's part in the ISA mission; (5) Cal Winters' return to Salem in which he kidnapped Kayla and, later, Kim; and (6) Shane getting paralyzed in an explosion, leading to him pushing Kayla away and her leaving Salem. From the time Shane and Kayla first kissed (between 2 and 3, most of those plots heavily involved Kim, so Shane/Kayla never got a chance to get off the ground on their own). I actually think the paralysis storyline might have provided a "love conquers all" plot and might have made Shane/Kayla a rootable couple for viewers, but Mary Beth Evans chose not to renew her contract and the paralysis storyline instead lead to the end of the Shane/Kayla relationship.
The contrivances to make Kim an obstacle. From the time Kim first arrives back in Salem, it seems like there is a magnet that draws her to Shane and Kayla every time they kiss or have any display of affection. Kim even jokes about it becoming a "pattern." Then Kim becomes Shane's partner in the mission to catch Lawrence, leading to her demand that Kayla be fired from the lab, her repeatedly coming into conflict with Shane, her having to go away with Shane for ISA training; and her having to move into Shane's house after she receives some threatening letters and gifts believed to be from Lawrence (they actually are from Cal). Rather than create an organic conflict to provide drama for Shane and Kayla, the writers just shove Kim into the middle of everything and create artificial reasons for Shane and Kayla to be apart, even though there really did not appear to be any chance that Shane would return to Kim.
Kim also is used repeatedly to delay Shane and Kayla making love. For instance, the first time Kayla wants Shane to make love to her, he can't because he has to sneak into Lawrence's to catch him in the act of trying to kill Kim:
(That scene also involves the absurd scenario that Shane would spend the evening drinking wine with Kayla, knowing he has to be at Lawrence's later to protect Kim.)
Another time, when Kim is living in Shane's house and plans to seduce Shane (sorry, but I don't buy her dressing up and setting up a candlelight meal to be anything else), Kayla tricks Shane to come out to the middle of a lake during a storm by sending him a note claiming to have a tip about a case, and then takes him to an island fishing shack (there is some overlap between these clips).
They are about to make love when the police arrive, having been called by Kim who fears Shane is in danger (the police arrival is not in any of the online clips). When they get back, Shane and Kayla lash out at Kim, even though her concern probably was justified as the note was written in a way that it easily could have been a trap (beginning at 7:35):
Shane does have a decent point that Kim should never have read the note in the first place, but for the most part these scenes make Kim the victim of their unfair accusations. While Kim is living in Shane's house, Kayla repeatedly accuses her of using the situation to get close to Shane and interfere in the Shane/Kayla relationship. This, too, makes Kim a victim, but Kayla's concern also may be true. The clip where Kim dresses up and sets up the dinner suggests Kim's interest in Shane goes beyond business.
This all plays out in a lot of false drama. If Shane and Kayla are at the stage of their relationship where they want to become lovers, it makes no sense that Kimberly would be stopping them. In the scene where Shane gives Kayla the ring in the next paragraph, why don't they sleep together at that point? It just is silly delay for drama. The only thing that the delay does seem to indicate is that Shane and Kayla are not as intentionally cruel as many people think; if they were, they would have just had sex at Shane's house regardless of whether Kim was living there. Ultimately, this is just more of a contrivance that does not lead anywhere and makes the characters look silly. This could have been avoided with some storylines that let Kim move on with her life and leave Shane and Kayla to develop their relationship without Kim's interference.
The emerald ring. I mentioned the ring above (and it plays a role in the story), but I hate it with a passion. The main reason is that it cheapens the cameo that Shane gave Kim early in their relationship. According to Shane, the cameo was given to his mother by his father and was very special to her (and to Shane). His mother wanted her to give it to woman he loved. And the cameo recurs throughout the relationship -- Emma steals it, Eve steals it, Kim returns it to Shane after she leaves, etc. The cameo is the ultimate symbol of their relationship.
Suddenly, however, there is a new family heirloom -- the emerald ring. According to Shane's explanation, his father gave it to his mother in Ireland on the day he realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her (I think in a later scene, Kim adds that Shane's mother wore it every day for the rest of her life).
This backstory is extremely romantic (the cameo had no such backstory) and, obviously, a huge emerald ring is more valuable than the cameo. So it begs a tremendous question -- why didn't Shane give the emerald ring to his true love, Kimberly, during their six years together? Are we supposed to believe that he was just holding on to it in case he had to give away another family heirloom to a woman he loved? It really is ridiculous when you think about it. (Another question I have is how Shane even has the emerald ring. He tells Kayla that his mother wore it every day, but his mother and father died in a boating accident and their bodies were never recovered. Did she just not wear the ring that day?)
Another thing I dislike about the ring is that the story about Shane's parents, for all intents and purposes, suggests it is an engagement ring. And it looks like one. Given the state of Shane and Kayla's relationship when he gives it to her, that seems very premature. A different item would have worked better.
There are two good I see about the ring. First, it meant Shane could give Kayla a meaningful, personal gift other than the cameo. I can't imagine the viewer outrage if that had happened. Second, the ring serves as a prompt for the final scene between Shane and Kayla, when she returns it to him. Of course, both of those good things could have been done with a different item.
The cheapening of the Kim/Shane relationship. I've already discussed how the emerald ring cheapens the symbol of the Kim/Shane relationship, the cameo, but Shane also makes some statements to Kayla that are unduly dismissive of his past with Kim.
The first is the utterly indefensible statement that he is with "the right Brady." I've heard people say that he said "the right Brady sister," but I couldn't hear the word "sister" when I watched the scene, but that word does not change the meaning. Regardless, the statement is inexcusable, especially when Shane has been acknowledging the importance of his relationship with Kim throughout the storyline. I guess we could consider it a slip of the tongue or presume he was just trying to help Kayla deal with her insecurities. Otherwise, there is no way to defend the statement -- and I won't really try.
Shane also makes some statements along the way that echo things he said to Kim. The one that stands out to me is when he tells Kayla at the fishing shack that he wants to make love to her and has never wanted anything more in his entire life. Seriously? Shane used that line with Kim several times, so it hurts Shane and Kim fans familiar with their romance. I guess it is possible to say that is just Shane falling back on a tried-and-true line, but it does undermine the sincerity of his previous statements to Kim.
The return of Cal Winters. This is by far my least favorite storyline during the entire Shane and Kim run on the show. It fails for numerous reasons.
First, returning Cal is bats**t crazy. When Cal appeared on the show originally, he was a former POW who struggled with returning to society. Initially, he attempted to get back together with his former wife, who was then-engaged to JoRoman, and, after that, set his sights on Kim during Shane's disappearance and subsequent "death." The Cal Winters of that period was troubled, but wormed his way into Kim's life by being a supportive friend. There was nothing overtly crazy about him. Yet on his return -- played by a different actor -- Cal Winters is a total loon. He dresses in costumes, has crazy rants, and speaks primarily in pop-culture by randomly quoting movies and song lyrics.
The problem with this new Cal is that he is a cartoon. More importantly, watching him, you have to wonder how Kim ever got involved with him in the first place. Cal is so absurd that he just fails as an interesting villain.
I have read comments that crazy Cal is designed to be meta, i.e., that he is intentionally absurd to make fun of the absurdity of the Kim-Shane-Kayla pseudo-triangle. Unfortunately, the rest of the storyline and the aftermath is played so seriously that it is hard to accept that interpretation. Further, none of the main characters in the storyline has ever been used in a slapstick fashion, so forcing them to play off crazy Cal strikes a discordant note. If the intention was to play this entire storyline for laughs, it doesn't work.
The second failure is the hostage situation where Kim and Kayla are jointly held hostage. Originally, Cal kidnaps Kayla by accident. However, when another character discovers Cal's location, the character calls Shane but the call is received by Kim. So what does Kim do? She doesn't call Shane or any of the numerous police officers in her family. Instead, she rushes to the location on her own and is captured by Cal. It's just gross stupidity to create an artificial situation in which Kim fears that Shane is willing to deliver baby Jeannie to Cal in exchange for Kayla. Like anyone really believed he would risk Jeannie's life just because he believed he was not her biological father? This whole situation is far too contrived and comes across as ridiculous.
Third, there is Shane. Given the hostage set-up, he actually gets a chance to be a hero again. Yet he basically manages to do almost nothing to save Kim and Kayla. Yes he tricks Cal into letting him into the room by bringing a recording of a crying baby wrapped in a blanket, but then is unable to subdue Cal in a fight. This is the superspy character who managed to survive repeated attempts on his life by Victor Kiriakis, outwitted the KGB twice, and organized the plan that led to Stefano's apparent downfall. Yet he can't take care of crazy Cal Winters? Instead, Shane gets knocked out, leaving Kim to save the day by shooting Cal before he can kill Shane. Honestly, this story made Shane impotent long before Rafi Torres' bomb.
Now this story could have been vastly improved. This was an opportunity for Shane to prove how much he was willing to sacrifice for Kayla which, as discussed above, could have strengthened them as a couple. Make Kayla the lone hostage and have Shane actually do something. Make Cal dangerous, intent on revenge against Shane, and create a tense, dangerous situation. Instead, Cal is little more than a cartoon character and everyone has to play off his lunacy, resulting in a pitiful storyline that ill-serves the characters involved.
Kayla's insecurities. This actually relates to the Cal Winters storyline, but it starts even earlier. In the middle of the entire storyline with Kim's return, Kayla suddenly starts being insecure about her relationship with Shane. I think it starts with her accusing Kim of wanting both Shane and Lawrence after Lawrence is arrested for attempting to kill Kim, but gets off by having an underling take the blame. From that point on, Kayla becomes totally a shell of her former self (until Kim leaves and she and Shane move into the paralysis storyline).
But the biggest problem with insincere Kayla is that it creates another artificial drama -- will Kayla tell Shane that Jeannie is his daughter or not. This is supposedly some huge secret Kayla learns from Cal, and holds off telling Shane, because she fears she will lose him to Kim if he learns the truth about Jeannie.
First, let's talk about this fear. Why is she afraid? I have no clue. Shane has just spent the better part of a year professing his love to her and showing no inclination to return to Kim. He also has never contemplating reuniting with Kim for Andrew's sake. (In fact, he actually tells Kayla that it would be unfair to Andrew if he got back with Kim just for the sake of appeasing everyone.) In short, there is no reason for Kayla to worry about telling Shane.
Second, how long does Kayla keep this secret? I think it lasts for about a week. Compared to the secrets Kim and Shane kept, that is almost a negligible time period.
Finally, there is a big problem with the way the revelation of the secret plays out. All Cal did was refer to Jeannie as "his baby" when ranting about Shane. He immediately corrected himself and said it was a slip of the tongue and Jeannie was his (i.e., Cal's) baby. So what did Kayla really know? Yet when she finally confesses her secret to Shane, she basically tells him Jeannie is his daughter, leading to Shane and Kim to be angry at her. More realistically, she could have said, "Hey, Shane, I've been thinking about something that happened when I was being held by Cal last week. He was going on and on about Jeannie and, at one point, referred to her as your baby. He immediately corrected himself, but, you know, maybe that slip was the truth. Maybe Jeannie really is yours." That was far more in line with what Kayla actually knew and would not have resulted in the silly drama over Kayla not telling the truth. Further proving this is whole issue is silly, Shane forgives Kayla after a day or two.
Kim's wishy-washy behavior. I already discussed how hard it is to tell what Kim intends or wants. I suspect this is due to a combination of factors. First, I suspect the writers did not know where they eventually wanted to go, so Kim's intentions are unclear. Second -- and this is not intended as an insult -- I think Patsy Pease is almost too good an actress here. She can play almost any scene convincingly, so she comes across equally sincere when she looks at Shane and her expression makes you think she is pining for him, as opposed to when she tells Kayla that she and Shane are through. Likewise, she is persuasive when the tells Shane she is with Lawrence only for the mission and when she seems to be falling for him. The result is that Kim sounds equally persuasive when saying diametrically opposing things. I know a lot of people criticize the writing for Shane and Kayla during this period, but I think Kim suffers as much from the writing and lack of direction as anyone. Had the writers said that, yes, Kim is falling in love with Lawrence or, no, it's all an act, I think that Patsy Pease would have made that much more clear in her expressions and given the audience a clearer sense of what Kim wanted.
Shane's pissing matches with Marcus. I won't load clips of this, but some of the prior clips from the beginning of the Shane/Kayla relationship hint at a different possible triangle, with Marcus Hunter, Steve's best friend, pursuing Kayla. She never seems to consider him to be more than a friend, but this leads to a number of scenes where Marcus and Shane engage in posturing, including one where Shane comes off as a complete jerk for refusing to let Marcus know where Kayla is during a brief visit she makes to Los Angeles. (Why Marcus asked Shane instead of Shawn, Caroline, Roman, or Bo is a mystery to me.) It all is just silly, though it leads up to Shane and Kayla's first kiss, which comes after Marcus kisses Kayla
Silly Shane. During much of the Shayla storyline, Shane becomes totally ineffective. He certainly is not the action hero that he was early on. Well they also kept placing Shane in ridiculously awkward situations. Kayla takes him roller skating and he crashes into the ice cream cart and then spends several scenes covered in ice cream. (Can't he take of his jacket and wipe the ice cream out of his hair?) He also gets paint splattered over him at both Kayla's and Kim's apartments. And there is one truly embarrassing scene where he tries to prove he can dance to modern music. (I think that scene is not online and thank god for that.) For viewers who had watched Shane for years and were accustomed to the suave "gentleman spy," these scenes are beyond cringe-inducing.
There also are awkward scenes where the show seems to want to emphasize an "opposites attract" aspect of the Shane and Kayla relationship, including his taking her to a private wine tasting with a stereotypical snooty sommelier and them walk along the dock where he describes things he wants to do with Kayla, all of which are things she doesn't like. I understand that the writers were trying to create a bit of conflict in the characters insofar as they have different interests and desires, but they never went beyond those few scenes, so it just creates some momentary discomfort and silliness that never bears fruit.
Certainly there were opportunities to deal with Kayla's possible discomfort about playing lady of the manor, a role Kim seems to fit pretty well. Kayla was always more of a blue-collar character than Kim, who, despite being a prostitute, seemed to be quite cultured. Kim was often portrayed as Shane's intellectual and cultural equal as they spouted off poetry or recited lines from Shakespeare. Instead we get more slapstick, which doesn't fit Shane Donovan very well.
So What About Those Preconceptions?
At the beginning of part 1, I listed seven preconceptions that I had about this storyline before I watched it in detail and with an open mind. Those preconceptions were: (1) Shane began pursuing Kayla immediately after Steve died; (2) Shane used Kayla to get back at Kim because he was angry, was passive/aggressive toward her, and acted completely out-of-character; (3) Kayla turned into a mass of insecurity; (4) Kim was the victim of Shane's and Kayla's actions; (5) Shane and Kayla didn't really love each other, but were just using one another; (6) ultimately, Kayla got some of her own medicine when Shane cruelly rejected her; and (7) all of the above occurred because of terrible writing that made the characters act very out-of-character. Some of my views on those preconceptions are probably clear from the above discussion, but I'll run through them quickly.
1) As the time-line I provided in the first post shows, Shane and Kayla actually moved much more slowly than other soap couples. I just don't see any sign of Shane's pursuit of Kayla until 3-4 months after Steve dies.
2) I don't see any evidence that Shane used Kayla to get back at Kim. As discussed earlier, I think the Shane/Kayla relationship was an outgrowth of and framed by their past relationships, but I don't think there is anything overt in Shane's behavior.
I will concede that Shane's subconscious might have played a role, however. If Shane was so severely wounded by Kim leaving him, his actions might have been affected by a subconscious desire to foreclose any possible future with Kim. As I say in the story, just as Kim's lying about Jeannie's paternity was probably the worst thing she could have done to push Shane away, Shane sleeping with Kim's sister probably was the worst thing he could have done to Kim and would ensure no possibility of a reconciliation (at least for the foreseeable future). As I also said earlier, I can't believe that Shane's actions were fueled by any intent to hurt Kim, because that would make him a cruel jerk and raise questions about why anyone would want Shane and Kim to ever get back together..
3) For a time, it is true that Kayla became insecure. I don't see her early struggles about moving on after Steve's death being a sign of insecurity. Nor do I see any sign of insecurity after Kim leaves. That insecurity appears in the middle of the Kim-Shane-Kayla triangle, seems out-of-character for Kayla, and mainly designed to manufacture artificial drama.
4) This is probably where I depart the most from the prevailing viewpoint. I just cannot see Kim as the victim. Except for a couple scenes where Shane and Kayla overreact to Kim, where is the victimization? Kim is given the option of having a free path to Shane, but declines and then repeatedly pushes Kayla toward Shane. How is she the victim when they do what she tells them to do and then get frustrated when she later seems ambivalent about letting Shane go?
Moreover, I think there is something lost during Kim's return. Kim repeatedly talks about having not gotten over Shane or having difficulty accepting the divorce (though she also says the exact opposite plenty of times). At times, I want to say "But you asked for the divorce. You walked out on Shane. In fact, you tried to sneak out of town and leave him with a 'John Doe' letter." I just find it hard to be sympathetic to Kim's inability to deal with the divorce given that history, and that makes it even harder for me to see her as the poor victim of her cruel ex-husband and sister.
5) I didn't go into depth about the end of Shayla, because it isn't relevant to this story, but the pairing ended when Shane was paralyzed in an explosion, he pushed Kayla away, and she left Salem. But after watching the paralysis storyline (which is online) and their final farewell (which I linked earlier), I have to accept that Shane and Kayla did love each other. Comfort and security, a little bit of happiness -- those can all be the basis for love. That love is very different from the "true love" they each had previously.
As for whether they "used each other," I guess that depends on your perspective. I don't think they used each other in a hurtful way. They did use their relationship to "grab happiness" and relied on each other's past experience for understanding, but that is understandable given the events leading up to their relationship. And they parted on good terms, with each wishing the other future happiness and probably a bit wiser as they moved forward. I'll also add another clip that I think is worth viewing, because it is where Kayla admits she is falling in love with Shane:
6) I'm not sure that the paralysis storyline gave Kayla a dose of her own medicine or that Shane cruelly rejected her. I'm not even sure what her own medicine would be. Undoubtedly, Shane pushed her away and it was painful, but I don't see any evidence that there was revenge or some form of karma at work. Shane's paralysis was a cruel twist of fate and his decision to let Kayla go instead of tying her to his wheelchair was intended as a noble sacrifice so she could have a good life. (There's a clip I did not link above, but I think it highlights Shane's thinking. At John and Isabella's wedding, when Isabella goes into labor, Shane notes Kayla's excitement about the baby and asks her if she wants children. She says she does, Shane says he understands that someone like her would want a lot of children, and then sadly tells her he may not be able to give them to her.) I don't think Shane was ever intentionally cruel; he was just caught up in a terrible situation with an uncertain future. I also think Kayla fully understood that. I don't see how they could have parted so sweetly if Shane was cruel to her or there was any misunderstanding about what drove them apart. Their ending is remarkably bittersweet given Shane's supposed cruelty toward Kayla in the preceding months.
7) Certainly there was some bad writing. The Cal Winters' storyline is the absolute nadir. However, I don't think "bad writing" explains everything and can't be the basis to dismiss nearly 1.5 years of these characters' lives. There also are some very good scenes for which the writers deserve credit.
So there it is. More than you ever wanted ot know about Shayla. But, hopefully, it was informative. And even more hopefully, a chance for people to look at this reviled relationship with an open mind and consider things a bit differently than what they might have read or heard about the pairing. For those who managed to read all the way through, thank you for bearing with me and, ideally, this will provides plenty of context for what esp13 and I have been thinking as we write Collateral Damage.
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