Soap Opera Magazine

Liz and Lucky: Reality Bites Soap Opera Magazine 9-1-98     Life is no bed of roses for wise-beyond-their-years Liz and Lucky, who continue to battle their demons side-by-side.    Liz is still trying to deal with fallout from the rape and the fact that the man she was so sure was the rapist wasn't. She can't seem to let go. "Liz has an image one night of the guy's eyes. So she decides to go down to the police station," explains Rebecca Herbst (Liz). "She asks them to reopen the case, and Liz looks through all these pictures, but she doesn't recognize anyone. Then the station calls with a rape suspect they want her to look at. Another girl, who was raped at Por Charles University, made a wrong ID, but now she's saying this is the guy, and if Liz can identify him, he'll go to jail."
    After Liz is unable to identify the suspect, she's hit with a revelation: She wouldn't recognize the man who raped her if he walked up to her on the street. "She's not sure if she's conjured this image of the eyes in her head or if they're really his," says Herbst. "And she suddenly feels hopeless." Liz's fear and anger over her realization that she will probably never uncover the truth escalate into rage, which reaches a head in the following week.
    Meanwhile, Lucky is dealing with his own crisis: Luke is leaving town. Although Lucky hasn't wanted anything to do with his father lately, Luke's departure is deeply troubling to his son. When Lucky turns to Liz, she says she understands perfectly why he feels the loss of his father so sharply. "She tells him it's because now he doesn't have anybody to hate," reveals Herbst. "That's exactly how she feels now that she knows the rapist isn't Mr. Murty."
    The two bond over their complicated feelings. After their talk, Lucky asks if he can spend the night on her bedroom floor, and Liz already has his bed ready for him.
    As their relationship grows slowly into romance, Lucky is forced to cope with his hormones. And while he will seek out someone else's company in the process, being with another will make Lucky realize just how deep his feelings for Liz really are.
    Liz, on the other hand, is terrified of any physical intimacy with Lucky because of the rape. "She just wants to kiss Lucky and have it be like any normal teenage romance," Herbst explains. "But something has happened that has changed her -- the rape is always with her."

The Winds of Change Soap Opera Magazine 8-25-98 Character Analysis Almost five years ago, the child GH's Luke and Laura had while in hiding arrived in Port Charles. At the time, both Lucky Spencer and the actor who portrays him, Jonathan Jackson, were just 11 years old. It was not the typical American family by any stretch, but the unique circumstances and conditions of Lucky's upbringing actually served to bond this soap version of a nuclear family even more closely together. But at 16, Lucky was traumatized in a way far beyond that which the looming danger of his childhood ever managed to instill. Lucky discovered that his saviors, his role models -- his parents -- weren't quite the heroes of his juvenile idolatry. Consequently, this boy-man presently finds himself at a crossroads, as he lets go of the giants of his past while poised to embrace a new kind of love in the form of his feelings for Liz.
Ironically, like his onscreen alter ego, Jonathan Jackson is also at a crossroads with the recent announcement that he is considering leaving GH to attend college. For Jackson, the future, both immediate and long term, remain very uncertain. Consequently, he is reticent to comment on the potential impact such a departure might have on the show. Fortunately, since the talented actor is at no loss for words when it comes to his character, Jackson was happy to sit down with SOM to provide his take on Lucky -- where he's been and where he's headed at this most pivotal time in his life.

SOAP OPERA MAGAZINE: Laura was gone for the past year and really missed out on a lot of Lucky's growing pains. In general, how does he feel about his mother's return?
JONATHAN JACKSON: I think it makes it more difficult for Lucky to run from what's going on with his parents. Now he has two people trying to get to him, which makes it twice as hard for him to forget about it or not see them. That's one of the biggest effects of her coming back.
SOM: Is he more angry at her for keeping her own rape from him or for marrying his father after he raped her?
JJ: It's probably a combination. I don't know if it's so much that they didn't tell him, but that Luke didn't tell him after Elizabeth was raped. The problem with his mother is that Lucky feels she's living in a false reality and that she isn't who Lucky thought she was -- that it was a facade. And the fact that she doesn't even know it is frustrating to Lucky. In his mind, anyone who reacts the way she did -- she forgives Luke, marries him and has a happy life -- is obviously not living in reality and who hadn't dealt with it.
SOM: Does Lucky realize that Laura didn't consider it rape?
JJ: Yes, but Luke said it was, and that's what she told the police when it happened. Luke had that whole long scene explaining what it was, which just proved to Lucky that his mother is living in a fairy tale. Even Luke admits it. Lucky knows what Laura said in the past, and all of a sudden she's denying it. It's scary to him, watching her lie over and over again and seeing how his mom is completely different than he thought she was.
SOM: Don't you think that Lucky had an extraordinary relationship with his parents up to now?
JJ: Recently, Genie (Francis, Laura) asked me if I was comfortable with the extreme reaction Lucky was having. I said that I, personally, wouldn't react like that, but looking at the character, I could see how he would. Lucky never had a chance to be grounded in a home, so he was always moving around, and he was always with his parents. They were basically his best friends, his everything. When you're that close, it can be unhealthy in a way, because the reaction to something like this becomes that much worse.
SOM: I think you pinpointed it when you said their relationship was beyond parent-child, that it was more like buddies, which can be unhealthy.
JJ: I think the extreme of Lucky not having a life separate from his parents has caused some of the reaction. He's finally having separation, and now that he has what he does with Elizabeth, he's gone to the extreme of not wanting anything to do with his parents. Everything he was and did before had to do with them, so now he's gone in the complete opposite direction.
SOM: The scene in which Lucky saw his mother for the first time at the club and told her he couldn't even look at her anymore was brutal to watch. Was it difficult to play?
JJ: I made a decision before the scenes not to get emotional, which was really very difficult. Usually actors fight to get emotion, but I felt the words were so potent themselves that if Lucky had been emotional, it would have taken away from the impact.
SOM: It seems that Lucky has dealt a lot with his anger and has a lot of disdain, but we haven't really gotten to see much of his pain.
JJ: I think one of the good things about the episode in which he confronted Laura for the first time is that you got to see him react after he was away from his mother, with Elizabeth. The choice I made was, at this point, Lucky would struggle as hard as he could not to show his emotions in front of his mom. When he's with Elizabeth, that's a safe place for him to come out with what he's really feeling. Also, that his reaction is so extreme proves how painful it is for him.
SOM: This is the first time Lucky has ever felt close to anyone besides his parents. The writers could have written him a best male friend, but now Lucky is not only going through the newness of feeling close to someone other than his parents, but it is also his first romantic interest.
JJ: From the very minute Elizabeth's rape happened, his relationship with Elizabeth has been unique. I think something outside of himself threw him into this connection with her. It almost wasn't a choice. It wasn't something he thought about intellectually, it just happened.
SOM: What is going to change the relationship between Lucky and his parents?
JJ: There were some recent scenes where Luke tells Lucky that he and Laura have ironed out some things and that they both decided it was rape. I think for Lucky that's progress, because at least they're confronting it. His feelings about their having lied to him are a separate issue. At least they're dealing with the situation. But I don't know exactly what it's going to take to work things out.
SOM: You've basically grown up with Lucky. Are you enjoying his changes and how he is now asserting himself and becoming a man with opinions?
JJ: Definitely. I like having a completely different direction than I had a year or two ago. The show has done a great job of keeping me moving, and I'm having a great time with the stuff with Becky (Herbst, Elizabeth). It's very different from what I did during my first three years on the show.

How Will GH Recover from the Exits of Marcil and Jackson? Soap Opera Magazine 8-11-98     As recently reported, GH is set to lose two of its most popular actors: double Emmy winner Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) and two-time Emmy nominee Vanessa Marcil (Brenda).    While luring back popular actors from the past is an option, GH won't be luring back Emmy winner Rena Sofer (ex-Lois). It's been rumored that Lois would return to GH, but sources now say Sofer is in final negotiations to join Melrose Place as a regular. The role she's up for is an old high school cheerleader pas of Amanda (Heather Locklear). The character arrives at Melrose Place after doing time in jail following the death of a football player. Sofer came to the attention of MP executives after she landed a role in a pilot for Spelling that failed to receive a series pickup.
    Sofer hinted to a group of fans at the recent GH fan weekend in Los Angeles that an announcement would be forthcoming. "I can't talk about it yet, but something's happening," hinted Sofer. "The contracts haven't been signed, but it will be very exciting when the news comes out."
    The actress confirmed to her fans that she was not returning to daytime. "If I were going to go back to daytime, I wouldn't go anywhere but General Hospital," pledged Sofer. "It's been two years since I left the show, and it means a lot to me that so many of you are still behind Lois and Ned."
    Wally Kurth (Ned), Sofer's real-life husband, added, "As an actor, I miss her.... But as (Rena's) husband, I'm a bit reticent to bring her back because I want her to do other things, too."
    Sofer smiled, "Now that Brenda's leaving, I'll still listen to how Lois needs to come back for Ned, but she doesn't need to come back for Brenda. She doesn't need me -- she's going to be in Beverly Hills," said Sofer, referring to Marcil's recent announcement that she'll be joining the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210.
    As Brenda's exit draws closer, many speculate that GH may have Maurice Benard (ex-Sonny) return so that Brenda can be written out with Sonny. And given Jax's appeal, he shouldn't be single for too long. One possible love interest is V Ardanowski, played by fan favorite Lisa Cerasoli.
    Although Jackson and the show are still trying to work out an agreement whereby his shooting schedule would be organized around his college classes, the actor's departure would leave another significant hole on the GH landscape. Anthony Geary (Luke) has been quoted in the past as saying that it might be better if Lucky were killed off if Jackson were to leave, given his association with the role. But Lucky has been rather disenchanted with both of his parents lately, so having his character leave town to go to school would be a logical option. Recasting is another. A third would be to cast an actor in another role that would help fill the void left by Lucky. Rick Webber Jr., Laura's sibling and Lucky's uncle, is even younger than Lucky. However, Rick Jr. and Liz Webber share blood ties, so a romance between the two wouldn't be feasible.
    If Jackson stays on a recurring basis, another option is to move back-burner characters to the forefront. A.J. has had little to do since Billy Warlock assumed the role last year -- but that may change after Sarah Brown's (Carly) maternity leave. The Ned/Alexis romance is also a story that could use more airtime.

Comings and Goings Soap Opera Magazine 8-11-98 At present, Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) is neither confirming nor denying the news that he is preparing to leave the role he originated five years ago. However, he is making it clear that he is at some sort of crossroads. "It's really a personal choice of how big a chunk of my life I want to have on this show," Jackson says. "I've really loved the years I've been on, and I feel very blessed to have had them. But there's a point in life where you have to make transitions, and you need to change -- otherwise, you're going to stagnate."
At the moment, Jackson is trying to figure out how he might be able to attend college and still continue an acting career, explaining that getting an education is far too important to give up. He agrees that the stability of daytime work and the flexibility of a show's writers and producers are probably a lot more conducive to his continuing education than other potential acting jobs, yet he points out that schedule demands can be intense. "A lot of different things enter into a decision such as this one," Jackson adds. "And it's not one that I take lightly."