Posts Tagged ‘Stefan Cassadine’

Okay, I’m going to say this like it or not….I’m so glad Stephen is back on our screens in a role that is ‘tucker’ made for his talents. When it was announced back in 2006 that Stephen would be returning to daytime in the role he made famous back in 1985, Steven Earl “Patch” Johson, to say that I was overjoyed would be an understatement. Ever since his departure from DAYS OF OUR LIVES back in 1991, fans clamoured for his return to his iconic one-eyed anti-hero. With all that fulfilled in 2006 when Steve came back to Salem as the amnesiac Nick Stockton, fans of the character were aglow with the anticipation of Steve finally seeing his ‘Sweetness’ and having their golden couple reunited after that coffin switch so long ago. Some decade later and another soapus interruptus in Stephen’s character of the Dark Prince Stefan Cassadine on GH, fans wanted something that would give Stephen what they knew he could do. Unfortunately, after a botched reunion and the introduction of the whacky Ava Vitali (Emmy Award Winner Tamara Braun), Steve and Kayla just faded from the Salem landscape and Stephen Nichols was once again relegated to that soap hinterland called unemployment.

After a guest spot on the STARZ TV hit series CRASH starring Dennis Hopper and a few directorial projects under his belt, it was announced that Stephen was taking over the newly created role of Tucker McCall, uber-tycoon to rival even The Great Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). And in only three appearances, Stephen has shown why he’s the ‘go to’ guy when it comes to complex roles. Taking over for veteran actor William Russ (“Boy Meets World”, “Deadwood”, “Boston Legal”, “Tour of Duty”), Stephen never missed a beat. His first key scenes were with Jess Walton (Jill Abbott) and the Grand Dame of soapdom Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor) and he belted his scenes out of the park. His confrontation of Katherine after his hostile takeover of Chancellor Industries was just this side of sublime.

When Katherine accused Tucker of having a ‘boyish temper tantrum’ then summarily walked away from him as if she were a mother disappointed in her offspring, Stephen under-played the scene. Instead of hystrionics, he showed us some of that vulnerable child that might just be one of the reasons Tucker targeted Katherine’s holdings. Only someone with Stephen’s training and accumen could have carried off that scene. Shown us just some of the hurt that is locked within Tucker’s soul at being the ‘mistake’ Katherine made him into. His subsequent scenes with Michael Muhney (Adam Newman) and Joshua Morrow (Nick Newman) were equally as exciting, but his triumph was with Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott. How he commanded the scene as Jack tried to make a deal to ensure the return of Jabot Cosmetics to Abbott Family hands, only to have his proposal handed back to him in the form of a torn piece of paper to be stuffed inside his coat, Stephen gave only a hint of what is to come for Tucker and his motivations. However, to this viewer, I’m feeling something else in there. Something that Stephen is showing us a small fragment of, but not giving away too much. And that takes skill.

With all that Stephen’s arrival at THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS had generated in both printo media but moreso on the web in terms of the abruptness of the replacement, no one is doubting that William Russ couldn’t have done a good job at showing us those things Stephen has. I am a fan of Russ’s work, having seen him first on an episode of the CBS Vietnam drama series TOUR OF DUTY, the first season episode The War Lover as Sgt. Earl Ray Michaels, a soldier who was attached to BRAVO Company to blow up a bridge to stop NVA ammunition and troop movements to South Vietnam, and as Molly Parker’s nefarious father Otis Russell on the HBO series “Deadwood”, he’s a very good actor. The refrain I’ve most read on the various message boards and blogs have stated that Russ better suited the role than Stephen Nichols does. That Russ was ‘the one and only Tucker McCall’. But with Russ having only signed onto the Y&R in late November, did he truly have enough time to actually cement his mark on the character? Debateable to me. Of course, I am a Stephen Nichols fan, and glad he’s back. Some other comments I’ve read about Stephen being ‘too soapy looking’ I think are diminishing what Stephen has to offer to the show. I think he has a rougher look to him than Russ did, Stephen’s not so finely hewn he doesn’t have any character to him. I think to the contrary. He has more than enough naturalism to him so as to warrant his own personality. Given too he’s created two other very different roles in Steve Johnson and Stefan Cassadine, Stephen’s talents are not just two-dimensional.

In summation, there is something I’m seeing in Stephen’s performance that sort of hints at something I picked up on various message boards about who Tucker may really be. And what that is will be the subject of a later post. I think if my hunch plays out as I think it might, Stephen is going to blow some of these nay sayers into his court. I know I’m waiting with bated breath to find out if my suspicions are true. Until then, be safe and keep watching.