Currently on One Life to Live, sisters Jessica Buchanan Brennan and Natalie Buchanan Banks are pregnant. The women, who are fraternal twins (that have different fathers); both have issues in regards to the paternity of their unborn fetuses. As a viewer, I have many concerns with this plot. I’m frustrated, and it has nothing to do with supporting any pairing. At this point, I feel this is a shock or tease story as there is a possibility they both became pregnant after having sex with the same man.
This is a rough summary of the story so far. Jessica has been dating Brody, but she got shock therapy without proper medical attention while being kidnapped. This fried her brain and she regressed to a high school senior in love with her former boyfriend Cris. During this time, Brody started to lean on Natalie as Jessica could not remember either of them. Natalie’s husband Jared had passed away, and while she had feelings for her former boyfriend John, he was tied to another woman, Marty. Marty suffered a miscarriage after a surprise pregnancy. Natalie decided to move to London after making one last appeal to John in letter form. Marty hid the letter from John, so Natalie thought John didn’t want her. On her way out of town, Brody and Natalie had sex. They were both drinking at the time. John caught up to Natalie and convinced her to stay. Since technically Brody and Natalie were not involved with anyone, their relations didn’t hurt anyone. Meanwhile, Jessica was rebuffed by Cris, so she spent time with Robert Ford, and they may or may not have had sex. She got her memory back and celebrated her reunion with Brody by spending time in bed together. Jessica and Natalie found out from hospital tests that they were both pregnant after they believed they had a bout of food poisoning. Right now Natalie is hiding her pregnancy from her family, while Jessica believes that Brody is the dad of her unborn child. The possible fathers break down like this: Jessica’s child could be fathered by Brody or Ford. Natalie’s could be Brody or John. Hopefully there isn’t another potential “dad” thrown into the mix in the future.
My first issue is this is the third pregnancy story One Life to Live has done with the character of Jessica in a period of less than five years. The other main plot she’s been involved in has to do with her mental illness issues (usually her DID except when she had amnesia and thought she was a teen.) It would be really nice to see a story about Jessica that didn’t involve either subject.
My second issue deals with the irresponsible way the show dealt with the issue of birth control and sexually transmitted diseases. Granted soap operas don’t do a great job with STD issues, but considering Jessica has a disease (Hepatitis C) that can be transmitted in that way (even if it is a small percentage) it sticks out even more for me. The forms of contraception that are 100% effective involve not engaging in certain activities unless one of the sexual partners is sterile. As far as we know, the men in this plot have the capability of impregnating someone. Natalie slept with Brody and John within a very short amount of time. She said after she was with Brody that they were okay. If you sleep with someone without using birth control, and are capable of getting pregnant, things are not fine. When Natalie and Brody talked afterwards, it played as if the twosome practiced birth control. If they had not, Natalie should have taken some after that and hoped it worked. Then Natalie also sleeps with John without protection. On top of that, as mentioned in the summary, John had recently gotten Marty pregnant accidentally. John doesn’t seem like the kind of person who doesn’t learn from his mistakes. He wouldn’t want to get another woman pregnant that way especially this soon. Jessica due to the Hepatitis C should not be having sex with anyone without a condom unless they are aware of the potential health issue. Yes she was mentally a teenager at the time, so like she did as a teen, she didn’t think and maybe had sex with someone she didn’t love. They were trying to show history repeating perhaps as Jessica cheated on her boyfriend Cris and became pregnant. Also, it doesn’t make sense as the program already established that Robert Ford uses condoms. Yes he sleeps with more than one girl, but he covers himself. That’s how Langston’s relationship with Ford was discovered by Starr, as she found a condom. Maybe in that case the condom broke. Also it makes Ford extremely unsympathetic for taking advantage of a mentally ill Jessica. Brody having sex with Jessica without a condom after sleeping with Natalie wasn’t responsible. He must have assumed that Natalie was free of disease; if he had been sleeping with Jessica without using a condom, he was potentially putting Natalie at risk for Hepatitis C as well.
If anyone asks me who I feel sympathetic for in this story, it would be the unborn children. They are not responsible for the behavior of their parents. As far as we can tell, all of them willingly had sex without using birth control, so if it creates emotional upheaval so be it. If Jessica feels betrayed that her sister and her boyfriend slept together, she should look in the mirror as she ignored him and was with another guy. Natalie owed John nothing when she slept with Brody, so he has no reason to complain. Ford wasn’t truly with anyone when Jessica was in his bed, so Langston or any other girl shouldn’t be upset, though he should be honest about whether or not there was penetration. If the women aren’t straight with the men, and they believe they are or aren’t the father, they are doing the wrong thing. Loving a child and then finding out it isn't yours biologically because the woman lied to you isn't exactly good for a relationship. Whatever happens, the children will be hurt the most if they ever hear the stories of their conception regardless of whom their fathers end up being.
Other than to facilitate this story, I can’t understand the behaviors of the characters involved, which I find a huge problem. This is what I want OLTL to fix as it is irritating when the motivations aren’t clear or if the characters are foolish for the sake of plot. At this point, I am just shaking my head. I like both of Viki’s daughters, but I fear that this plot will make me dislike them. In the coming months, we will see how this story will play out on One Life to Live.
1 comment:
Thanks for the update but just a little FYI: I have had HEP C since 1994 and I have had 2 kids who both were born while having the disease and neither of which contracted it. And my husband of 10 is also virus free and we don't use condoms. You can't contract it sexually unless there are other issues involved. HEP C is blood on blood contact only. And as long as neither person is bleeding from that area you're safe. At least that's what my doctors told me & y husband when we asked. I contracted the virus through a dirty tattoo needle & only learned I had it during my first pregnancy. Then my husband was also tested, since we didn't know the source & we didn't have all the facts yet. It is a very high misconception that you can contract the disease sexually.
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