In Print
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Above: On the cover of the June 26, 2007 issue of Soap Opera Digest.
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HIT
Zach's tough love on AMC
Soap Opera Weekly
by JG, Published September 18, 2007
All My Children's Kendall, mother of two ailing children, has been suffering a malady herself: post-traumatic tunnel vision. But finally, Zach provided the cure fans had been waiting for.
With eyes only for Spike, Kendall left poor preemie Ian to fend for himself. Fans wondered for weeks if she even remembered she had another son. They weren't alone -- Zach's frustration grew daily. With Kendall MIA, Zach was forced to make a critical decision to send Ian in for brain surgery. So when she returned, he let her have it.
"While y ou were gone, our little boy could have died!" And he wasn't buying her claims of ignorance, either. "Our son was in trouble from the moment he was born. He's going to be in trouble for months to come."
Even Ryan weighed in, when he found Kendall on a secret mission. "Spike is not the one that needs help." Not that anyone is blaming the woman for wanting to help her deaf son, but fans welcomed Zach's point -- it might have been prudent to let someone know where she was while her baby hovered near death.
Even more effective than the harsh realities spoken by Zach and Ryan were Zach's actions. At the moment when he'd usually cave and forgive his always-sobbing wife, Zach walked out on her. Even when he came back, he refused to grant her the absolution she craved. "You want me to tell you that what you did was okay?" he asked. "I can't do that." The very next day, Kendall (after a good deal of persuasion) allowed Ryan to take Spike home, giving her the ability to focus her time and energy on her other, sick son.
By voicing what fans had been thinking, Zach made sure Kendall remembered to love all her children.