The Evolution of Patch
When Patch came to
Patch evolved, slowly, from a bad guy, someone who bragged
that he was capable of murder, to a man who was kind and saved several people
in
We didn’t even know Patch’s name until Bo said it. Hope had arrested him and said, “Well, now we know your real name.” But she didn’t tell the audience what it was. It wasn’t until Bo said his name that we knew there was a connection to Steve Johnson and Bo…and the revenge Steve had out for Bo would be what would change his character.
Patch softened up a tiny bit by Christmas of 1985, but he was still angry, bitter and in the game for only himself. He softened a little more when Britta returned to his life, but she just reminded him of how he was betrayed by his best friends. He was still angry and bitter. And when Britta left him it seemed to etch in
him that he was incapable of love.
Then one day Emma Marshall had a dastardly plan to kidnap the baby of Kimberly Brady, and the rest was history for Steve Johnson. Being paid by Emma and eventually by Victor, he stalked Kayla Brady. And before he knew it, he fell for her. And that was what made Patch more human.
Steve was evolving from Patch to Steve Johnson, from a thug to a human who stood up for what he believed. Thanks to Kayla.
It didn’t happen overnight, and it wasn’t an easy transformation. But it took Kayla seeing in him something nobody else had ever seen before, a good man with a big heart and some vulnerability. That became evident when Steve’s sister and mother showed up and forced Steve to face his past and to face his anger at his family. Kayla had never seen him more vulnerable then when he had to deal with those feelings and finally learn to accept his family.
It would seem that for the first while only Kayla (and the audience) got to see the soft, vulnerable and kind side of Patch. And it was because Kayla refused to believe he could be all bad that he wasn’t. Steve went from bad guy to super hero in just over a year, and the thing that sealed his hero status was Adrienne’s rape. Steve risked everything, his life and a future with Kayla, to save his sister from the pain of what their father did to them. Why? He knew Adrienne just a couple of months. He had to bond to her. Why would he risk all that he had to save her? Because he was finally our hero. He had proven himself to Kayla and to us that he was not a bad guy, even when he put up the front.
Though the transition seemed to happen almost too fast after Steve and Kayla were married. And once Steve became the “law abiding cop” he lost his depth and dimension. Though we still loved him because of the gentle side he showed toward Kayla and the willingness to do, if necessary, anything to protect her and his daughter.
Fast forward 20 years and Steve is back…more Patch like then ever. He’s angry. He’s mean and he seems intent on doing whatever he has to for himself. But, like he was years before, the thing that intrigues us so much is we see that glimpse of Steve in there. We see that man who loves his Sweetness and would do anything to protect her, even push her away yet again for her safety. So in some ways Steve Johnson has come full circle, back to being the bad guy. But in other ways he’s evolved to yet another dimension we aren’t familiar with. The side of a man who is so in love that he would risk is own happiness and his own life to save her, even if it meant having to live without her. This is why we love Steve. He’s the hero, he’s the villain, he’s the lover, and he’s the fighter. He’s a father, a son, a brother. He’s someone we love, and at times someone we hate. And he’s not a whole person without Kayla. This is why we can’t live without him.
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