May 3, 1969 or Sophia's false death

May 3, 1969 or Sophia's false death

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After the birth of Ted, the youngest, in 1966, Sophia Capwell is a happy woman. She lives in a dream villa in Santa Barbara, near a devoted and loving man. Sophia is perhaps then the happiest woman in the city. She shares her free time between the education of her five children, Channing Junior, Eden, Kelly and Ted, and Mason (the son of Pamela, C.C.'s first wife ), and the unlimited support that she offers to the man she loves, Channing Creighton Capwell. The dreams of glory and the spotlight she had known years earlier, when she was a rising actress in Hollywood, are forgotten. Her dreams of eternal love that she had believed to live with her lover Lionel Lockridge are also forgotten. At C.C. Capwell's arm, Sophia fulfils herself and realizes herself better than she could have done on movie sets.

However, Sophia ends up understanding that she cannot spend her life in C.C. Capwell's shadow. She is a woman, a full-fledged woman full of dreams and hopes. And unfortunately for her, these last ones seem to crumble with time, now that C.C. has fully taken over the direction of Capwell Enterprises. More and more often, C.C. is absent. And Sophia misses him. Of course, she takes care of her children, but Sophia is not only a mother, she is also a woman who dreams of love, surprises, tenderness. Of all these exceptional moments that C.C. gave her, she now only keeps memories. And the more time passes, the more Sophia languishes...

The chances of life make that one day Sophia's path crosses again Lionel Lockridge's. Totally different from C.C., Lionel brings her, as at the time of their affair, a certain frivolity, a spontaneous and natural joy of life, which C.C.lacks of. And very quickly, Sophia lets herself be carried away by this whirlwind of life... Again seduced, Sophia ends up succumbing to Lionel's advances. Sophia, as in the past, is trapped : she is in love with these two diametrically opposed men and, which does not help anything, are the worst enemies. Years earlier, madly in love with Lionel, Sophia had allowed herself to be conquered by C.C. by revenge. Today, in love with her children's father, Sophia allowed herself to be seduced by Lionel's spontaneity. While C.C. is so busy with his business, Lionel knows how to be so available, so attentive : he puts all the originality that is lacking in the life of the abandoned wife. This is why she hires a lawyer to draft documents for a possible divorce with C.C.. But hesitant, caught in the trap of her feelings, Sophie does not sign them; C.C. ignores everything, of course, of this approach.

If Sophia succumbs very quickly, she blames herself just as quickly to endanger her marriage, but also the future of her children. Sophia has resolved to put an end to her affair, especially since Lionel has no intention of separating from Augusta, his wife.

That is why, on this day of May 3, 1969, Sophia gave an appointment to Lionel on his yacht, taking advantage of a business trip of C.C. to San Francisco. A little earlier in the day, Sophia announced to Kelly that she could not go with her to the zoo, as she had promised her. At the age of 5, the little girl does not understand the reasons for her mother's refusal, especially as she had promised her. Sad, Kelly takes refuge in her room and collapses in tears on her bed, holding her doll tight against her.

On the Lockridge yacht, Sophia prepares to announce the news to Lionel. Without Sophia being aware of it, a little blonde girl who looks strangely like her, observes them from the pier. It is Eden who, by the greatest of mysteries, managed to follow her mother, who was also intrigued by the behavior of her mom. Eden has eyes fixed on the yacht, in the distance, which sails in the Santa Barbara bay.

On the yacht, Sophia announces to Lionel that she wishes to break up to dedicate herself only to her children's father. But Lionel has a different take on it. Immediately, Lionel and Sophia argue and come to blows. During their argument, Lionel hurts his head and collapses unconscious on the bridge, while Sophia falls overboard.

On the quay, Eden helplessly attends the drowning of her mother. She utters a terrible shriek, but nobody around her seems to hear it.

In the water, Sophia drifts. She moves away from the boat which also drifts according to the currents. Having no other solution than to join the beach, Sophia starts to swim. Breaststroke after breaststroke, Sophia approaches the beach. Her will will be the strongest, she must hold, hold for Eden, for Kelly, for Ted and for Channing, her children, those who represent all her life. Slowly during her race, Sophia, wounded, ends up forgetting her past, her name, her life, to the memory of her children, everything that made her life, her daily life. And it is hurt, exhausted, that she collapses on the shore.

Meanwhile, on his yacht, Lionel Lockridge finally regains consciousness. His first word is "Sophia". Reliving the scene, Lionel understands that, by accident, he pushed Sophia out of the boat. He may shout, but he does not see her. Sophia is not there. With horror, Lionel realizes that he just killed the one he loves. Lionel has no other idea than to leave as soon as possible the scene of the drama, knowing very well that no one will ever look for C.C. Capwell's wife on the Lockridge yacht. That day, Lionel goes home and waits.

That same day, on his return from San Francisco, C.C. learns of the disappearance of his wife. For several days, he searches for Sophia. The cruel absence is felt. C.C. discovers solitude, the one which accompanies more faithful than a shadow, the one which embraces the heart at the thought of everyday events. And not to hurt his children any more, C.C. refuses to make Sophia Wayne Capwell recognized dead. Then, to fill her absence and to give himself a reason to move forward, C.C. focuses on his work and his children.

When Sophia sets foot on the mainland, she collapses. She has no strength, no memory. She falls into the sand. Fortunately, Marcello Armonti who, like Eden, had attended the scene, comes to rescue her. As an Italian psychiatrist, he offers her a generous hand, offering her all the help she needs for her condition. At first, he treats her before taking her to Italy, where Sophia undergoes treatment in a sanatorium.

What a strange day this 3rd of May 1969 ! What if this day was the starting point of a part of the troubles that were going to shake Santa Barbara years later ? One by one, the members of the Capwell and Lockridge families will have to base their behaviour on the memory of this day.

First Sophia who, when she recovers memory in Italy, has a distorted vision of this afternoon. In her memories, during the dispute, Lionel deliberately tried to kill her. That is why, during all these years in Italy, Sophia does not stop hating Lionel Lockridge and finding a way to get revenge on him. Thus, when she comes back to Santa Barbara under the features of Dominic, she plots, with the help of Marcello, to kill Lionel. And this is what she believes to do, this day of July 1979, when she shoots Channing Junior, her own son, with a bullet of a revolver in the study of the Capwell villa.

Lionel, then, who, believing himself responsible for the death of the woman he loved, spends most of his time fleeing Santa Barbara. Passionate about art and history of ancient civilizations, Lionel chooses to travel the world, for the sole purpose of fleeing possible suspicions of the police. Curiously, Lionel perhaps owes his freedom to his worst enemy, C.C., since, as this latter did not want to officially declare Sophia dead, Lionel could not be wanted for murder.

C.C. also remains wounded by this day. Since this day of May, he has definitively driven women out of his life. Of course, he allows himself some affairs (one with Megan Richardson), but no other woman crosses the door of the villa, no other woman comes to take the place of Sophia in his heart and in his children's. C.C. keeps this promise until Gina DeMott arrives. And it is to marry her that he is obliged, forced by Mason, to have recognized Sophia officially dead, not knowing that she is alive and that she even returned to Santa Barbara under the name of Countess Armonti.

This day is also one of the detonators to the psychological disorders found in the Capwell children, in particular as regards Kelly and Eden. Of this sad day, Kelly retains in her a deep feeling of guilt. Kelly, at the death of Joe Perkins, plunges into a curious delirium of self-destruction, in which she imagines herself responsible for the death of her mother. Kelly feels unable to protect those she loves and, even worse, she makes herself responsible for their death. And with the death of Joe, this malaise wakes up and plunges Kelly in a daze : she becomes again the little girl of 1969 and she wanders like a poor soul in the corridors of the villa, holding the doll of her childhood close to her. It is only thanks to Marcello Armonti's care that Kelly succeeds in overcoming this disorder.

As for Eden, she did not completely forget the memory of the drama. She pushed it to the depths of her being, and she even invented another personality, Lisa, capable of giving free rein to her resentment towards her mother. Lisa is there, in Eden; it is she who allows her to survive the drowning of her mother, to make her forget her affair with Lionel, to fill the sixteen years of absence. And Lisa will return years later when Eden, too weak, will not be able to face the anger of her double. And it is under the influence of both Lisa and Channing Junior, her deceased brother, that Eden shoots a bullet of revolver on her mother, in the same study where, years earlier, Sophia killed Channing Junior. In the same way, it is Lisa who takes the upper hand on Eden, when C.C. sends her to Paris. At that time, Eden erased herself, leaving the field to Lisa. This latter joins forces with Andre, a high-flying burglar, and both rob luxury hotels in the French capital. Moreover, Eden still lives since this drama with a terrible feeling of abandonment in her heart. Only her father, charismatic C.C. Capwell, appears to her as an anchor in the world. That is why she is openly opposed to Gina in 1984, because this "schemer" comes to steal her father. It is also the reason why, before Cruz, she was never able to give her full confidence to a man, the fear of being abandoned having not left her.

It is also necessary to note that the Capwell sons are also indirectly marked by the memory of this sad day. Channing Junior, first up. Because although he did not witness the drowning of his mother, Channing Junior grew up in solitude, a prison of glass in the distorted image of his mother. He believed her to be an exemplary mother, a faithful wife, and then one day he discovers her as she really is, a woman : a woman who loved a man before his father... By chance, the prodigal son discovered that his mother was having an affair with his father's worst enemy : Lionel Lockridge. And to bear the shock of this news, Channing Junior grew up in hatred : the hatred of this rival, which he summons on the day of his death with the firm intention of destroying him, and the hatred of his mother.

Ted, the youngest heir of the Capwell dynasty, also suffers the consequences of this day. He was only three years old at the time. And since then he has grown up with a huge void to fill. Is it for this reason that he is the only one of his family to welcome Sophia with open arms when she returns in 1984 ? Is it for this reason that he is most often on Mason's side when their father drives him out of the house (during the years Ted's support towards Mason seems more and more strong, Ted even going to leave the Capwell villa to live with him) ? Is it also for this reason that he gives more than once a second chance to Gina ? Ted seems to need, to be fulfilled, to have a family united around him. That is why, while he is dating Laken Lockridge, he is doing everything possible to reunite the two families behind their love. And Ted acts the same during his marriage with Hayley Benson, Gina's niece, the new sworn enemy of the Capwell clan.

Only Mason seems to be the only one not to be touched by the consequences of this day of May 3. It must be said that Mason faces, for several years already, the same drama : the disappearance of his mother, Pamela.

Finally, the last character touched by this day is none other than psychiatrist Marcello Armonti. Because it is him who discovers Sophia inanimate on the sand. It is him who cares and welcomes this woman without past, ignoring everything of her former life. It is him who begins to get attached to her, while he drives her to Italy to be treated in a sanatorium. It is also him who discovers her identity, and who sets up the first stones of the terrible drama that will shake Santa Barbara on July 30, 1984...

Starting point for a series of tragedies, the day of May 3, 1969, is certainly the one that should not be experienced. Sophia bitterly regrets, throughout the show, to have committed the irreparable : to have killed her own son... But, by diving back into the past, we can realize that this day is the one that precipitated the Capwell family in an infernal spiral of dramas... Sophia being, unfortunately for her, the starting point of this storm that blew on her family for years...

Text written for this site by Lilian