Blasts from the Past

by HVLong on July 01, 2009

One of the great things about soap operas is that the ongoing story line format allows characters to come and go. Beloved favorites who leave the show can come back for brief stints either to attend a wedding or a funeral, just like real family and friends do.  On One Life to Live for example, Nathan Fillion reprised his role as Joey for brief guest appearance at his grandfather Asa’s funeral.  Over on As the World Turns, family and friends visit all the time and the same can be said for All My Children when Eden Riegel brought Bianca back to town for several visits between her contract stints.

Family Focus

Soap operas are all about the family focus, so when family members go missing for years on shows, it gets noticed. On AMC, for example, the Martin son who goes up to the attic to get his skis and never comes back down.On the Young and the Restless,  Patty Williams who leaves town, never to be heard from again, despite the fact that her father dies on the show and that her brother Paul has been married multiple times and suffered other traumas. Occasionally her name came up, mostly as fans speculated about where she was and what she was doing.  You see, years ago when Terry Lester played Jack Abbott, Patty Williams fell in love with him.  Her father Carl, a tough as nails police detective, forbid his daughter from seeing the playboy.  Jill Abbott (Jack’s step-mother) told Patty that she and Jack were having an affair. Jack fired Jill and married Patty.

Patty was deliciously happy, until she caught Jack having an affair with Diane. She rushed away, falling and miscarrying their child. She then overheard Jack say he was going to get a vasectomy because he only married Patty to secure his place with his father. Heartsick, Patty went to Jack’s office to shoot herself in front of him to punish him for breaking her heart. Jack begged her not to do it and apologized for all the cruel, terrible things he did. Then he asked her to shoot him rather than herself.

So she did.

Three times.

Jack eventually recovered and Patty blocked out the memory, but her father was convinced Jill shot Jack. Jack protected Patty and when it was revealed that she did it, he insisted that no charges be pressed. Patty left town soon after and was never heard from again—until now.  Mary Jane Benson is working for Jack to improve his image, little does he know that Mary Jane Benson is his ex-wife Patty and she’s still crazy in love with Jack.

See, aren’t blasts from the past delicious?

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