♥ Farewell Eileen Davidson! A Retrospective On Kristen's Salem Madness!
The minute John Black (Drake Hogestyn) rescued social worker Kristen Blake (Eileen Davidson) from a gang of muggers, it was apparent that there was a very strong attraction between the two. However, Kristen had an explosive secret that would prevent the two of them ever getting together...or so she thought. Knowing that his relationship with Marlena (Deidre Hall) was over, John and Kristen began expressing their mutual interest in one another, although Kristen was a bit hesitant. Before she ever arrived in Salem, Kristen heard all sorts of tales about the man known as John Black, and discovered that he was not the kind of a man she had thought he would be. Kristen was deeply conflicted.
Although she had very strong feelings for John, she knew the minute she revealed her family connections that any chance of building a relationship would be out of the question. Nevertheless, the attraction was so overwhelming, John and Kristen finally expressed their love for one another. Surely, Kristen thought that the love they were beginning to share would prove stronger than the revelation of her true family ties, and so she decided to come forward with the truth. How wrong she was. The minute Kristen told John that his most hated enemy, the villainous Stefano DiMera (Joe Mascolo), was her adopted father, John was in total shock. How could such beauty and honesty that Kristen embodied, be involved with a man such as Stefano?!
Needless to say, John was furious when he discovered the truth, just as Stefano was when he learned his adopted daughter was growing closer to John Black. Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis) arrived in town as well, and when she told John that she had already promised her hand in marriage to Tony, his heart began to shatter-even though Kristen told John it was him who she loved. Kristen had already proven herself to be the total antithesis of Stefano, and John truly believed that he and Kristen might actually have a chance. Not content with possibly losing the woman he began to have strong feelings for, John vowed to win Kristen's hand from Tony. John took Kristen away to the Horton cabin for a romantic interlude, that soon turned to tragedy when Kristen fell and was hanging from a cliff. Heroic as ever, John saved a grateful Kristen, who promised to reconsider her marriage plans to Tony.
Realizing that Kristen was beginning to grow a bit distant from him, Tony was determined to continue planning their future together. Reluctantly, Kristen felt an obligation to the DiMera family, and had no choice but to go along with his plans. At the mysterious hide-a-way in Aremid, at a place called Maison Blanche, Stefano revealed himself to be alive, much to everyone's chagrin. (OOPS! This is wrong. Maison Blanche is in New Orleans not Aremid.) He captured John and held him in the dungeon, forcing him to watch via closed-circuit television Kristen and Tony consummating their love. John was later rescued from the dungeon, but during a struggle with Stefano, it appeared that Stefano had gone overboard and drowned. Kristen blamed John for the death of her adopted father, and with the help of Tony's manipulations, Kristen exorcised John from her life and finally married Tony.
Shortly thereafter, Tony was informed by Dr. Mike Horton (Roark Critchlow) that he had an illness and wasn't expected to live much longer. He also wasn't too thrilled to learn that Kristen was deeply in love with John. But then luck intervened, when John discovered that at one point in his past, he was a priest, and as a deeply religious person, Kristen could only justify her love for John as being sinful. At first, Tony did not know of John's past vocation, and sensing that Kristen had strong feelings for him, Tony plotted to do away with John.
During that time, Kristen began drifting further away from Tony and for fear of procreating, Kristen lied about not taking birth control pills. Tony was soon wise to Kristen's deception, but instead of confronting her, he secretly replaced her birth control pills with placebos. Finding out what Tony had done made Kristen furious, which finally gave her the excuse to leave him. Not content with losing the woman he loved, and finding out that his time was nearing an end, Tony plotted his own revenge. Tony later killed himself, but he made it appear that John was responsible for murder. Kristen was unable to have total faith in John's innocence, which definitely put a strain on their relationship, and was the catalyst that began bringing John and Marlena closer once more. Kristen wasn't about to lose the man that she loved, especially to Marlena, and was hell-bent on keeping John all to herself. Kristen's kindness and concern for others began wearing thin, and she was becoming more and more like her father.
Yet it was the DiMera curse that was just too strong to fight, as Kristen succumbed to the evil influence she had always tried to deny. Kristen's turning point was the day she discovered that letter from Marlena, in which she declares her love for John Black. (OOPS! This is wrong. The "letter" was written by John before he was sent to the gas chamber. In the letter, he expressed his love for Marlena because he knew that he was about to be put to death and he wanted Marlena to know how he really felt about her. The letter wasn't Marlena's letter and she didn't declare her love for John; it was just him who declared his love for Marlena.) With the loss of her child, Kristen feared that John would leave her, but her love for him was so strong and obsessive, she was reduced to taking drastic measures to keep her man. Kristen made sure that John would never see Marlena's letter. (OOPS! This is wrong. LOL! The letter is John's letter, not Marlena's letter, Oy vey! He wrote that letter when he thought he was going to be executed, he had no idea that his life would be saved at the last minute. Had he known that, he would've never written the letter to begin with. John was worried that his feelings that he had for Marlena, wouldn't be returned by her which is why he tried to locate the letter so he could destroy it before Marlena read it.) While they were in Paris, Kristen miscarried her and John's baby. Panic and desperation set in, and she was terribly fearful that John would leave her. That's when Stefano stepped in with an alternate solution. Although he was helping Kristen keep John, it also served his own purpose of alienating him from Marlena, his own obsession.
Back in Salem, Stefano helped Kristen with her subterfuge which was to fake a pregnancy by finding a pregnant woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Kristen, and who was convinced that her baby would be better off raised by a loving couple like John and Kristen. Susan Banks (also Eileen Davidson) was a quirky character, but with the right accessories, she was made to look like Kristen's exact double. Kristen first came face-to-face with Susan in the doctor's office, where the two switched places and no one was the wiser. When John caught a glimpse of the baby's ultra-sound, he felt truly blessed, and more in love with Kristen than ever. What he didn't know was that during those special moments, it was in fact Susan, who was so enamored of John herself. By the time that Susan went into labor still thinking that she was Kristen, John married her shortly before she gave birth to a baby boy.
Kristen's schemes became more intricate and each lie that was told was compounded with yet another lie. Kristen was sinking deeper and deeper and there was no way that she could win her heart's desires. Susan finally got the courage and turned the tables on Kristen. Having impersonated Kristen to perfection, Susan began to have feelings of love for John, and had no intentions of letting Kristen raise her baby. While Kristen was keeping Marlena a prisoner in the secret room downstairs, Susan managed to trap Kristen in there as well, and continued her charade as John's wife and the mother of his child. Eventually, the truth reared its ugly head, and John finally learned of Kristen's evil doings and vowed never to have anything to do with her again!
Towards the end, even Stefano began to turn against Kristen. It was a battle of wills, and Kristen's desire to raise Susan's baby as her own, was not part of Stefano's master plan. Little by little, Kristen kept sinking further and further into the depths of madness. Fueled by her love for John and for Susan's baby, Kristen did the unthinkable - she kidnapped Susan's twin, Sister Mary Moira (again Eileen Davidson). Her plan was to have Susan give her the baby in exchange for Sister Mary's freedom. While Kristen plotted to steal Susan's baby, Susan had fallen in love with Edmund back in England where she was living, and found the courage to stand up to Kristen's evil demands. It was the last encounter they were to have.
Then the tragic end came, as Kristen's body was found floating face down in the Blake swimming pool; an apparent suicide victim. Sister Mary Moira was set free by Roman (Josh Taylor) and Abe (James Reynolds) while Susan was getting ready to head back to England. However, it soon became apparent that Susan was more unusual then before, and with good reason. Kristen was now impersonating Susan. Although Kristen believed that it was Susan who was found dead in the Blake pool, it was later revealed that Susan was taken prisoner by the turban man, and held hostage in a foreign country. Susan had no clue what was going on, and Kristen, disguised as Susan, had to contend with Edmond's affections, and longed for the day that she would be reunited with the baby she truly believed was hers! Imagine Kristen's surprise when she learned that Susan was indeed alive and well, and the ultimate confrontation between Kristen and all those who loathed her cheered when Kristen's reign of terror was finally over!
Jeffrey S. Pearlstein, EVERYTHING DAYS OF OUR LIVES, DAYTIME DIGEST, 9/98
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