Guest Author - Lynn McMonigal
When she first came to Port Charles ten years ago, Elizabeth Webber was a bit of a rebel. Always in the shadow of her “perfect” older sister, Sarah, Liz acted out to get attention. She wasn’t dangerous or hurtful. She just wanted to have the spotlight on her for a while, wanted people to notice her. Some of the schemes she hatched showed that Liz had a selfish side. She knew what she wanted, and she was willing—and often able—to get it.
Then came that fateful Valentine’s Day when everything changed. Liz was forced to grow up after she was raped. The love of Lucky and Liz blossomed, as did friendship between Liz and Emily, as she learned to live her life in the aftermath of the tragedy. When Lucky was presumed dead in a fire, Liz suddenly became less self-centered. She wanted to “do the right thing” as a way of honoring her beau’s memory.
Still, there was that thing with Jason. Their friendship began when Lucky was thought to be dead. Liz tended to Jason’s wound after he was shot. The friendship likely would have turned into love, had Jason not fallen for his sister-in-law, Courtney. Just as well. Jason’s dangerous life as a mob enforcer didn’t fit in with the straight and narrow path Liz was on. Eventually, Liz became a nurse, a mother, and a well-loved, much respected member of the Port Charles community.
Yet the thing with Jason never went away. He married and divorced Courtney, then fell in love with Sam. She had Zander’s child and married Lucky. But the attraction was still there. They didn’t act on their feelings, not until they learned their lovers were unfaithful. Both rationalized their moment of weakness as just one night when friends needed comfort from one another.
Liz’s recent actions, though, show that the spoiled little girl is still in there. She’s known through most of her recent pregnancy that Jason fathered her child. She kept this truth from everyone—including Jason—until the night of the Metro Court hostage crisis. Her reasoning this time was Lucky’s drug addiction. He’d gotten help for the problem, was clean and sober now, and they were trying to rebuild their life together. If he knew that he wasn’t the baby’s father, Lucky might go back to pills.
I don’t buy it, though. Little Jacob Martin is Jason’s son, and the only reason no one knows is that Liz wants to protect her reputation. She had a child with Zander Smith, who was killed as a result of his involvement in mob activities. She married Ric Lansing, who is, to say the least, a corrupt public official. Liz has already been through enough hard times. It is easier to let Lucky think he is the father than to allow others to know she has more than a mere fondness for another criminal. I don’t believe she is looking out for what is best for the child. She is doing what is best for Liz, no matter that it is breaking Jason’s heart.
My respect for this character is completely gone now. So much so that I would not really have cared had she not survived the baby’s birth.
