Sins of the Father
By Leigh Russell

            Where to begin?  Who is Sonny Corinthos?  We all know what he's got going for him.  Yes, he's rich, he's brooding, and ladies, we must admit, that billowy coat, king of pain look is most attractive.  That must have been what attracted Karen, Lily, Brenda, Hannah and now Carly.  But what makes this man tick?  Where is his center?  His heart?   Take a poll of everyone from Sonny's nearest and dearest few though they are, to his enemies, and all of them are likely to have moments when they aren't sure Sonny has a heart at all.   

            But the same can't be said for the ladies in Sonny's life. He had a great love for Brenda Barrett, who returned it just as passionately, but when she found a different love with someone else, she referred to Sonny's love as sick and twisted.  Whether you agree or not, we can certainly see why Brenda would feel that way.  Sonny left her at the altar.  But he did it to save her. So why did he let her go all the way to the church, knowing he would never show up?  To take apart and analyze Sonny and Brenda's relationship would be a spotlight focus all its own.  So we move on to a relationship that is as passionate as Sonny and Brenda's was, but with so much more anger surrounding it, one wonders if it can even be called a relationship at all.  Caroline Benson-Quartermaine-Corinthos is the first woman since Brenda, that Sonny has felt so much for.  He is inches from falling completely for her, and by her own admission, he already has her heart.  Sonny and Carly came together in an explosive display of emotions, and the ramifications of that evening still surround them.  So passionate are they about each other, they truly have the power to lift each other to incredible highs, and devastating lows.  They could destroy one another, which makes the attraction between them all the more palpable. 

            So to answer my earlier question, where is Sonny's center, his driving force?  Could it be the love he has for Carly, and that he had for all the women in his life?  It's obvious that his pain goes back to his childhood, and it's not the love of his mother, or Brenda, or Carly, or any of the others that drives Sonny to be the man that he is.  It is the desire inside of him to move beyond and become better than his past. And that's something he will never be able to achieve.  It doesn't keep him, however, from trying.  His life is a cycle of pain, heartache, and disappointment, sprinkled with some of the best love anyone will ever know.  So why can't the cycle stop?  Why can't Sonny Corinthos have the one thing he wants, love and happiness?  Because he looks for it in other people, that's why.  Yes, Mike was wrong for being the kind of father he was.  It seems Mike sadly hasn't learned from his mistakes where Sonny is concerned.  To Sonny's mind, betrayal is the proverbial straw for that camel's back. With Brenda, Sonny could never get past her betrayal with the FBI, in which she wore the wire.  Hannah herself was an FBI agent.  And then there was Carly, who "betrayed" Sonny when she didn't tell him about Mike's gambling debts.  All of these could be viewed as betrayals, but Sonny doesn't see them as betrayals against the relationship, he sees them as betrayals to him, and none of these people, even Mike, set out to break Sonny's heart.  Lily herself betrayed Sonny by dying, carrying his unborn child.  Now of course, Lily can't be blamed for what happened to her, Sonny blames himself.  Still she's gone, she left him and his life has been severely lacking, since. 

            Knowing all of this, knowing how Sonny loves, is there hope for him, or is he doomed to destroy all the good surrounding him, and hold on for dear life, to the mistakes of the past?  There is only one thing that can save Sonny Corinthos, and that is himself.  But losing his mother, losing Brenda, losing Lily, getting Karen involved in dancing and drugs, and coming as close as he ever wants to get to losing Carly, what is it going to take for Sonny Corinthos to stand up and take notice?  I have the answer. The one thing that forces all of us to grow up, and move beyond the past--our children.  Sonny Corinthos is a lot of things, he breaks the law for a living, but if there's one thing that defines him, it's his need, something seemingly out of reach, to be a father.  With Lily, Sonny was going to give up his great love with Brenda, to be a father.  And that child's death haunts him still. With Carly he had a second chance, and watched heartbroken as that child's heartbeat faded on the monitor.  Moments of light, these children were, in Sonny's life.  Clarification they were.  Sonny is determined not to repeat the mistakes of Mike, and stepfather Deke.  He wants desperately to be a father and his love for little Michael, Carly's son, is the one thing that keeps Sonny grounded. 

            Sonny Corinthos has another chance, he's going to have a relationship with wife, Carly, that's going to be in the soap opera history books for years to come.  He has the opportunity to have children and a life, and a love the depths of which are limitless.  Let's hope this time he takes full advantage.

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