Michael Torrance
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- 2017 I think (unless it is 2016)
Despite the drugs explanation I always felt he had this Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde personality. His "normal" Michael Torrance persona and the Carrington heir who had inherited his parents worst genes.
He lost his child to the Atkinsons and his marriage fell apart. When Adam hurts, everybody should hurt.
There was nothing far-fetched about it. He'll always be capable of doing horrible things.
Here is the last scene of the two brothers in season 8, after in fact two years where the two of them have been coming closer together.:
"Adam: Steven, thank you
Steven: I am just glad I was here
Adam: So am I. And so is he. You know, I never thought I needed you. I always thought of us as strangers.
Steven: we are more alike than you realize Adam. You’ve always struggled to belong, and in my own way, so have I.
Adam: Well, things will be different now. What I am trying to say is, when I get custody of my son tomorrow at the courthouse, I want you to be his godfather.
Steven: That’s an honor. But I think it should go to dad.
Adam (laughing): Steven, this is my son, and I want you to be his godfather.
Steven: You know what I admire about you Adam? You are a fighter. You fight for your son. You fight for your position in this family. It’s important to know what you really want. I envy you for that
Adam: Are you talking about me, or about you?
Steven: Maybe about both of us, Adam. Maybe about both of us."
Adam is very relaxed and laid back in this scene, despite the tense situation that has preceded.
Later in the episode, Steven leaves a letter on Blake’s desk and departs.
Now, as soon as Paulsen writes for Adam, he is already a different person--crazy tense and agitated and his lawyer tells him to cut down on the booze, as he gulps down one scotch and instantly asks for another. In the next scene we see him, he is drinking again in the library, and talking to Fallon. Then Dana walks in, and he immediately snaps at her. That kind of instant transformation is exactly what we are making fun of in peach Dynasty, but not what I’d expect from Paulsen. It is just completely lazy, as if he just doesn’t care to earn the transformation and have us see it. It happens off screen, and the compulsive drinking is also Paulsen’s own addition.
So, after all he and Steven have been through, in the next episode, drinking yet again, he finds Steven’s letter, reads it full of sarcasm crying “oh how touching” and call’s it baby brother’s bi-annual bye bye (I do give Paulsen credit for the bi pun). And then he thinks, “maybe this time it will be for good” and decides to burn the letter, because his voodoo skills have improved and burning the letter will keep Steven away? It could have happened in a few more episodes, but Paulsen just did not want to devote time to that story—he wanted Adam as a sidekick for Alexis and against Blake. And moving characters like Deus ex Machina is terrible storytelling. When Gordon Thomson complained, I believe that is what he had in mind. That his character became a cardboard villain. You mentioned the Adam in seasons 3-4, but he was actually written much more complex, even when he was mixing compounds and forging signatures. Sprinkled in there were scenes of him reaching out to his siblings and being rejected, or having to obey Alexis in schemes to keep Steven and Blake apart though he did not want to. This one-note Adam was just a failure of writing. Depite season 9's many good parts, in this area Paulsen just phones it in.
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