February 17, 2009 was the last day of Steven Earl "Patch" Johnson and Kayla Caroline Brady Deveraux Johnson. Instead of leaving town or dying, they just will no longer be seen. Even nearly two weeks later, my feelings are muddled on this one. Steve and Kayla were the first couple I ever cared about in daytime, so my heart is kind of heavy and unlike many I never became actively involved in a community to discuss them.
Of all the ways to go, this is one of the worst...just disappearing. At least those of us on-line, who read the magazines or pay attention to the credits roll would know they were gone. Many viewers won't realize until much later that they will no longer appear as Steve and Kayla will be mentioned on screen.
Unlike many I don't feel the righteous indignation I feel like I should have. They wrote off the first couple I ever saw make love on a soap and instead of anger a part of me feels glad I got a second chance to see them again. Maybe my main emotion now is wistfulness. I would love to wax nostalgic and some day I just might, but not today. I'd have to find my journal entries, with their awesomely awful grammar to really do it up right.
In 1990, when Steve "died", I was stuck in school, didn't have a VCR and couldn't watch. I never got to say goodbye even if the episodes aired, which should have allowed me to do so. Years later, I finally saw some episodes around his "death", by a fluke as they were in a set of tapes from a Guiding Light fan. Why they had Days in them, I still don't know, but I was so happy I cried. This was maybe a year or two before Youtube, which may explain a little better why I had that reaction.
Then in 1992, Kayla left Salem, again I was stuck in school with no VCR. That time I was livid, as even though by this point I had lost a lot of interest in Days (ugh Shayla ugh), I still wanted to see these scenes. I thought I had off that day, because the school calendar said so, but it was a typographical error. We only got one day off for Memorial Day weekend and not two like the paperwork said.
Both times, I lacked closure. I felt angry, hurt and frustrated. I wished to become ill, so I could stay home from school to see Days. Back then a world where one could see episodes on-line just was so far out of the realm of possibility.
Flash forward to now...at least this time I have closure. Crappy closure, but closure nonetheless. At least I got to see their final scenes as underwhelming as they were. There were no flashbacks, no strong melodramatic declarations of love or remembrances of the past. It was just an average day, (outside the fact Kayla was in the hospital) in the lives of Steve and Kayla talking to their daughter Stephanie. Unfortunately, though that the actors didn't know it wasn't the end on taping day. I wish they had allowed them to go visit their family outside of Salem, whether it was them bringing baby Joe to spend time with his grandma Jo, Adrienne and Justin and their boys or Jack and Jennifer.
For those who are still hurting and those who may never stop, I have empathy. I’m not sure how I feel now and I am rotating emotionally on this one. I’m sad, but not forlorn, as I’m not crying and wanting to send evil missives to NBC. (Not throwing stones as there are certain soap things that still bother me and the programs they happened on are no longer producing new episodes.) There will never be another couple like Steve and Kayla and there shouldn't be. Each long running duo has their space, their time, their place and their fans. The memories some happy others painful are still exist. The characters reminded me to never give up and to find the courage within oneself to sometimes reach for the dream.
Even with how it ended with just a little fade to black. I'm glad that we were able to see Steve and Kayla back. (Yes that rhymed, and no I don't care.) While I wish it had been longer, at least the characters seemingly have a happy ending. Goodbye and thank you for even giving all of us the ability to see the characters reunited with their family.
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