This Kid Never Had a Chance with Nature OR Nurture

My love for Patrick Drake, neurosurgeon extraordinaire, is well documented.  Patrick embodies everything that I look for in a male soap character - - he is great looking, charming, funny, and intelligent (note: I didn't say "violent killer" anywhere in that description). 

 

Dr. Drake also started out as an arrogant jerk who was ultimately tempered by the love of a good woman - - classic soapy goodness.   Patrick's professional prowess is nothing to sneeze at either  - - after all, he is the genius who performed miraculous experimental brain surgery on both Michael Corinthos III and Jason Morgan (I have to try very hard not to hold these travesties against him).  Unfortunately, in spite of his brilliance, sometimes the writers come up with some really dumb-ass stuff for him to say.

 

As evidence, an excerpt from his conversation with Sonny regarding Michael on Friday:

 

Patrick: I went over this with Carly and I wanted to touch base with you about it {you know, since you signed away all parental rights to the minor child and are now nothing more than a violence-prone onlooker in his life} - - Michael has had a few emotional outbursts, which are a sign of poor impulse control.

Sonny: The kid's got a lot to be angry about. {what with being given a miraculous second chance at life and all}

Patrick: I understand that, but it's not provoked, - it's not rational, which means it's a sign of the brain trauma. {Ed.Note: Seriously, Patrick?  Because the kid had great impulse control before the shooting???}

Sonny: Okay, let me ask you this. How long is this anger going to last?  {I don't know Sonny, are you over the whole Deak-thing yet, or are you still using that as an excuse for your criminal behavior three decades later?}

Patrick: It's hard to tell, Sonny. {I'm a miracle-worker, not a psychic, damnit!}

Sonny: I mean, you know, he's going off on his mother. She's got this condition. She has dizzy spells. She's almost fainted - what, a couple a times? If she has a blood clot and dies or if she loses the baby because of something Michael did when he was angry, it's going to destroy the kid. {He'll feel just awful if he shoots her in the head while she's in labor, trust me - I know}

 

My question for Patrick - - how can you tell that these outbursts are brain-trauma-related and not just the normal adolescent behavior of a boy who was raised by mobsters (or more damagingly, Carly)?

 

Let's take a moment to review the stellar examples of impulse-control by which Michael has been shaped by both biologically and rearing-wise:

 

Carly:

* Shot Tony Jones in open court

* Drove her car off a cliff

* Set fire to Ric's apartment

* Switched Spencer's paternity results

* Married Sonny Corinthos (four times)

 

AJ:

* Drove drunk and crashed his brother into a tree

* Kidnapped Michael

* Shot Alan

* Torched Sonny and Jason's warehouse

* Tried to sell Morgan and Kristina on the blackmarket {talk about lousy judgement, why didn't he try to sell Michael first?)

 

Sonny & Jason:

* Um, how much time do I have?

 

 

Seriously, the writers want to act like Michael running off at the mouth and generally being a snot-nosed brat with crappy judgement is something new, something to be concerned about?  Were they not paying attention last year when Michael stole a handgun, hid it under his bed in a shoebox, listened to rap-music, shot Kate, and then stowed away on a freighter?

 

I wish my own attention-span was that short.  Honestly, it would make my life a heck of a lot easier if it was. 

 

It would make blogging simpler too, I could just be like "I am outraged about the misogyny, the violence, and the lack of romance on General Hospital, Bob Guza and Brian Frons should be tarred and feathered and hung by their genitals in the town squa - -

 

 . . . . . . . . oh look, something shiny.

Comments

[ckn]

It's hard for me to blame Patrick for his observations because he really didn't know Chucky or have a lot of interaction with the kid (2 scenes that I can remember off the top of my head), but every time I hear Patrick talk about Michael's poor impulse control and how that's some how related to his injury, I find myself wishing Patrick would get a clue.

It's so typical of the writers to rewrite characters and that's what bugs me the most. Michael has always been this obnoxious bratty selfish daddy worshiping boy that we see on our screen now. Nothing has changed accept we have a older actor playing the kid.