Theresa, Ethan, and Fox: An Analysis
Rating: PG, for a somewhat disturbing premise
Genre: General, I guess. An essay
Disclaimer: I don't own Passions, or any of the characters, and am just having fun trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with them. This essay is purely for fun, as I am not Dr. Eve and therefore am not authorized to practice psychiatry. In fact, I have never even taken a short psych class, although I'm familiar enough with the idea of the Oedipal complex to see the parallels in Harmony's newest love triangle.
Ever since the recent arrival of the highly entertaining Nicholas Foxworthy Crane, a rapidly increasing number of fans are clamoring for a Fox/Theresa hook-up. And with good reason, too. Fox is just the kind of charming, witty young ne'er-do-well that the series has been lacking, a welcome break from the oh-so-earnest, honorable, dimwitted males currently populating the town of Harmony. It is only natural to suspect that he may prove the rascally Rhett to the scheming Scarlett that Theresa has time and again shown herself to be, and reveal Ethan as merely an Ashley.
As intriguing as this new triangle (a quadrangle if one factors in Ethan's new wife Gwen), is, though, there exists a disturbing side to this conflict, for this is not the first rivalry in which the half-brothers have taken part. No, much bitterness has passed between these two on account of another woman: their mother, Ivy Winthrop Crane.
Although a rivalry in name, there was never much of a contest for this woman's affections. Ethan's special position in Ivy's heart was predestined from the moment that he was conceived. Sam Bennett's son would always take priority, no matter what, and Fox never had much of a chance. One can easily imagine a young Fox, seeking motherly attention at first through affection and achievement, and then through deliberate acts of mischief. Finally, he would adopt a cynical, cocky attitude and never admit, not even to himself, just how much Ivy's neglect had hurt him. Of course, he would direct a great deal of resentment towards his half-brother, whom he perceives as responsible for taking everything that he might have had from him, and Ethan would come to dislike Fox for his irresponsible approach to work, duty, and, as now is the case, women.
Even the most ardent Ivy fans (of whom this author most definitely is one) will have to admit that the woman is a consummate, often diabolical, schemer, willing to wreck lives left and right, justifying her actions with her oft-professed love for both Sam and Ethan. Her hated enemy (well, one of them, at any rate), Theresa, is not much different. Although at first portrayed as a Cinderella Jr., the poor girl (albeit always clothed in designer labels) who would win her Prince Charming through her loveable innocence and optimism, she has since proved that a far more accurate depiction would be Ivy: The Next Generation.
Theresa's lies and manipulations have often been excused as misguided, though well-intended blunders, as when she flew to Bermuda to help Ethan and ended up instead as the pregnant Mrs. Julian Crane, but they often have a much darker agenda. We must not forget that she has locked Gwen in a closet, scanned the notorious "paternity papers" into her computer and only destroyed them once she had secured Ethan's marriage proposal, made a deal with who she thought was the Devil in order to win Ethan back, used her influence as Vice President of Crane Industries to prevent Ethan from finding another job, and too many more crimes to list here. She has also been shown, in scenes strongly reminiscent of Ivy, gleefully spending as much of Julian's money as she possibly could, blackmailing people, threatening employees, and using the Crane name in order to intimidate townspeople. As if that were not enough, Theresa has acted in a vindictive, vengeful manner, going against everything her mother taught her just because she can. Whenever Theresa is given the opportunity to act like the bigger person, she instead sinks right down to Ivy's level. When Ethan was prepared to propose to her, she could not resist gloating, even sabotaging Ivy's wheelchair even though the woman was no longer any threat to her. None of this even takes into account Theresa's vehement insistence that Ivy be thrown out of the mansion into a raging blizzard, which contains enough ironic Ivy/Theresa parallels to fill another essay. Fox himself has even commented that Theresa was "more a Crane than anyone here," and that she and his mother, despite their mutual hostility, are extremely alike.
Just why did Ethan fall for Theresa in the first place, when he had had a loving relationship with Gwen for well over a decade and was comfortably planning to marry her? It most certainly could be her indomitable spirit, her inexhaustible energy, her almost delusional optimism. Ethan, however, is a "Mama's Boy" until the very end, and has maintained a strong relationship with her, despite short periods of estrangement, regardless of the many lies directed at him that she has been caught in. Long before the striking similarity between Ivy and Theresa became evident to the viewer, it had been mentioned on Passions, with the pre-Theresa hatred Ivy often remarking how much Theresa reminded her of herself. Could it then be possible that at least a small part of Ethan's love for Theresa stems from an unconscious recognition of her resemblance to Ivy? That would explain his continued attraction to her, for just as Ethan will forgive Ivy for nearly anything, he ultimately does the same for Theresa, and indeed Gwen's pregnancy is the only reason that the two are not married now. It is as if he craves the same kind of treatment from his lover that his mother has always given him.
On the other hand, Fox, by his own frequent commentary, undeniably takes notice of Theresa's similarity to his mother. While Fox does not like Ivy very much, he seems to admire Theresa the most whenever she is acting the most like his mother. Apart from personality, the two women share another important aspect: an obsessive, possessive love of Ethan. Theresa, then, now married to his father, whom it is implied he would not mind seeing dead (lest we forget the possibly unintentional and yet nonetheless present Oedipal allusion), comes to represent his mother, albeit in an attainable form, one which he could lawfully (well, except for the fact that she is currently married) enter into a romantic relationship with.
Fox, in all likelihood, hopes to one day supercede Ethan in his "Stepmommy's" affections, thereby symbolically defeating his half-brother in the heart of this metaphorical mother. And Ethan, perhaps also seeing Theresa as a mother substitute, perhaps not, nevertheless resents his younger brother attempting to move onto "his" turf. He, after all, has always been favored over Fox by everyone: his mother, Julian, Alistair, Theresa, even his "Aunt" Sheridan likes Ethan better. Any attempt by Fox to woo Theresa represents an extremely unsettling threat to what for Ethan constitutes the natural order of things. He may be married to Gwen, but Theresa's continued devotion, like Ivy's, is something he naturally assumes will always be there for him, and he is certainly not about to let his troublemaking younger brother change that.
So there we have it; Fox and Ethan are locked into a disconcerting sibling rivalry, with Theresa fulfilling the role of a displaced mother figure. As fun as this storyline looks like it will be (and it does promise to be one of the highlights of the series), once these twisted mother issues are brought to attention, it becomes difficult to ignore them. We can enjoy the triangle, and even root for a Fox/Theresa hook-up, but a disturbing subtext nevertheless remains. Whatever happens, it seems evident that whether we will ultimately see a Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane Winthrop or a Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane Crane, one of Ivy's boys will, in Fox's own words, get himself some "motherly love."
(A/N: I realize that what I'm saying here is somewhat disgusting, but it's just too interesting for me to ignore. And, besides, on a show where two sisters may be after their brother, John has romantic feelings for his "cousin" Charity, and a father/son attempt to kill their daughter/sister, is this possibility really so out of line, especially since (barring some ludicrous paternity revelation) neither Fox nor Ethan are related to Theresa, and a relationship with either would be legal and (superficially, at least) healthy in this respect.)