The whole point is to make people angry, and to get people talking. We don't often get a chance to do that on soaps. 7 Mental cruelty governs this show, which deliberately chooses far-out and unusual kinds of brutality to separate its lovers. When SB writes itself into a corner, their way out is to kill the offending character in a bizarre manner. Out of such a need the Carnation Killer was born, the SB earthquake occurred, and beloved Mary McCormack was brained by the letter C from the collapsing sign above the Capwell Hotel.
Daily violence is the rule.
Whether its Hayley or Eden getting raped or Mason being kidnapped, you can be sure someone is going to be in danger whenever you tune in. In SB's favor, not everyone is in trouble at the same time, usually. But, because the characters fell in love and eventually married, GH had to call it something. The actors who portrayed Luke and Laura, Tony Geary and Genie Francis, found themselves in the position of having to defend their characters - in a controversy that still incites anger in people today. In the aftermath, she appeared on a talk show to describe the horror of what she had been through.