This is inspired by Articman, who does such wonderful character analysis.
The subject of this analysis is Eve Russell.

Eve is my favorite character on Passions. I love her to death.

Why?

Because, she is very contradictory. She literally is two people, and the mystery for me is how they both exist in the same person.

The Eve Russell that you see today would barely TALK TO the Eve that knew Julian all those years ago.

What do we know about Eve?

We know that she fell upon some hard times when she was young. And, she made some ‘bad’ choices. That she was at least addicted to drugs, was more than likely a prostitute, and did something illegal that got her arrested. We know that she was a singer, who liked to play Julian’s naughty sex games.

We’ve seen all of that in flashbacks with regards to Eve (except for the Prostitution, but, Alistair has alluded to that, AND that Eve had ‘other’ addictions).

That person is a lowlife. At the bottom of the social ladder, with regards to every kind of status that you can think of: economically, socially, and morally.

Fast forward, to Dr. Eve Russell. Respected Physician. Loving wife and devoted mother, who, in her spare time according to Pilar, donates her time in service to the poor.

These are two entirely different people. Yet, we know that BOTH of them are in the same body. Eve just didn’t turn her life around, she turned EVERYTHING around.

Yet, we don’t know how or WHY she did it.

I think that Passions has done a semi-OK job in bringing out things about Eve’s past, and relating to why she has problems in the present. What they haven’t done is reveal all of what happened for Eve in her past. Even when she met Julian, from the flashbacks, she was already a teenager, if not a full-fledged adult. We don’t know what happened to get her to that jazz club in Boston. But, I guess if you reveal everything about someone, then, there is no story.

I think Eve has layers upon layers, and I’m still holding out that Eve isn’t the name she was given when she was born.

Looking at Eve, I think about the story of Paul. Paul was the greatest sinner that ever was, yet, when he decided to turn his life over to Christ, he became the greatest Christian that ever was. It is the story in the Bible that exemplifies the power of redemption and the power of the Lord. I was always fascinated by Paul, because, you have to wonder, does what he did before he became a Christian, lessen the impact of the deeds that he has performed now that he had taken Christ into his heart. We speak of forgiveness and redemption and absolution, yet, it’s always interesting to hear the ‘testimonials’ o f those who have turned their lives around. Yes, they have sinned but, if we are to accept people as they appear to us, and trust what they say, then we are to believe them when they say that they have changed. And, over time, their ACTIONS will ‘prove’ the veracity of their change.

And, this is the quandry that Eve lives with everyday. She has done actions that are PROVEN: her love and devotion to TC and their daughters; her work as a doctor; her work for those that are ‘less fortunate’. But, Eve fears that all of that is negated by what she did before. Yes, she lied about her past, because she didn’t think anyone could get past it. She lives in constant fear of being exposed, especially since getting entwined in the mess with Ivy. She’s afraid: of losing her marriage, the love of her children, her career, her friends, and the respect that she’s gained in the community. She doesn’t have a lot of faith that people will see her as Pilar did, when, even after she found out about Eve and Julian, told Ivy that she still had a great deal of respect for Eve. She was surprised about Eve and Julian, but, for Pilar, it didn’t negate what Eve had done, and the person she had been to the world since being with TC.

I was talking with someone, who isn’t an Eve fan, and yet, she says that she has been softened towards Eve, because of her actions with Sheridan, Luis and the hypnosis matter. She said that Eve really WAS two different people. The sinner that she was before, who obviously had a LOT of problems. And, the Eve that she has been since being with TC. I believe that we can believe that Eve has lived her life on the straight and narrow for the entire time that she has been married to TC and been raising their children. And, if that is true, what a transformation that is.

The one Huge thing in Eve’s story that the writers have NOT given the audience is WHY. WHY did Eve make the change. Having raised in the church, I am used to hearing ‘testimonials’. And, the one thing that is common in EVERY testimonial, is that there is a certain event that happens. That ONE thing that totally changes the heart of the person, and they decide that they must choose a NEW path for themselves in life. Whether be a vision, a near death experience for themselves, the death of someone that they loved, or feared winding up as that person, SOMETHING happens that makes the sinner believe that THIS is the moment in time that they must begin to change their life.

We don’t know what that turning point for Eve was. If the religious argument bothers you, then, I’ll take on a different level. In every addict’s treatment, when they have BOTTOMED OUT, is when they decide to turn their life around. We still don’t know what Eve’s BOTTOM was.

Then, we have the very dark side of Eve’s personality. The side that would drug and old man; commit arson; be willing to commit attempted murder (on Ivy- Eve wasn’t bluffing. The fact that the gun went off tells that she wasn’t kidding); drugged a teenaged girl and standing by while she got locked in a psychiatric ward. Plus, we don’t know about Orville’s ‘hit and run’. That ‘dark’ Eve exists within the ‘Saint Eve’ that she displays to the world.

What was the reason that Eve did all these dark things? What was she protecting? Fame? Money? Power?

No. Eve did those dark things because she wanted to keep a quiet, boring middle-class existence.

Think about it. Ivy keeps her secret, so that she can have money, power and influence, and so that her son can have it too.

Eve’s done it, so that she can keep a simple, smalltown lifestyle. What is in her past that this lifestyle is her ‘ideal’?

We don’t know that yet.

The loss of her son was a big event in Eve’s life. And, part of the enormous amount of pain that I think this character carries within her everyday. She has the outfit that he was to wear home. She thinks about him everyday. And, there’s no one that she can share those feelings with, so she has to stuff them back down inside, and live with the heartache. The loss of her son made her overly protective of her daughters.

With regards to her daughters, Eve is very clear about how she has raised them. She wants them to be ‘good girls’. She wants them to be strong young women with morals and ethics. And, it shows. Whitney, when she wanted something done about Chad’s apartment building, did the ‘civic’ thing and called the Harmony Building Department. She had no idea that the building would be condemned. She just thought it was the ‘right’ thing to do, because she had been taught by her parents about where to go in ‘The System.’ Simone has definitely learned those lessons, because she is a very strong minded and caring young woman. She isn’t afraid to truly speak her mind with Eve, and has, on several occasions, called Eve on the carpet, most recently, with her ‘bigot’ speech. In it, Simone revealed that they took the girls to church every Sunday, which is also a part of the foundation that she wanted her daughters to follow. There have been other things, like when Eve asked Simone to come help her to pick out clothes to send to the homeless. Wasn’t a big deal, and Simone’s probably done it before.

Giving to the homeless….helping others…..going to church….setting a certain ‘moral’ tone for daughters. This is what Eve has tried to do since she met TC and they began raising a family.

Then, there is the choice of TC as a husband. I think that TC’s underwritten, and doesn’t get ‘his due’, and the ‘Anger Management’ Issue is definitely there. But, that’s not all of who TC is. Eve told Julian when they were looking for the Bird Statue that TC had ‘rescued’ her, and she was very grateful. She looks upon him, with his simple, straight-forward look at life, as HER Knight. The one who helped her ‘see the way’ to a better life. There’s also that other part of TC, the part who nearly brought me to tears when he brought Eve’s lifeless body aboard the ship and begged her not to leave him. THAT is the TC that Eve knows, and I think TC was probably the first man who ever treated her with that kind of love and devotion, and that blew her away. Eve didn’t want to lose TC, so she’s gone along with some very odd practices, namely that ‘shed’. I don’t know about anyone else, but, there’s no way that I would be able to deal with my husband having a place where I wasn’t allowed to be…ever. But, I always thought that Eve allowed TC his ‘space’ in the shed, because she knew that it had to do with his past, and if she encroached upon his past, then he would feel the ‘right’ to do the same to her, and ask about hers. That maybe he would get inquisitive about some of the answers she gave that just don’t add up, if under extended scrutiny. So Eve never rocked the boat about the shed, and quid pro quo, TC was never really to ask about her past in any seriousness.

Next, we have Chad. Now, why does Chad bother Eve so much? Is he a reminder of a boy that she used to know that used her? Is he a reminder of a life that she had hoped was long forgotten? And, if he is a reminder of that, then, he is also a reminder that her own life could evaporate quickly if the past was revealed. Eve was desperate to keep Chad away from her daughters. She had worked hard to provide a certain type of lifestyle for her daughters, and she didn’t want them ‘going backwards’ by getting involved with someone like Chad, who has no money, no family, and nothing to offer them (materially). She had climbed from the gutter, but, didn’t want her own daughters to ‘struggle’ with a young man. I also think that Eve resents Chad, because, even though he possibly is in the same economic circumstances that Eve was in when she was younger, it’s obvious that he is a far better human being than Eve was back then.

Finally, Julian. Yes, she says that she hates him. But, why? What did he do to her? And, does hate him because of what he did to her? Or for what he represents to Eve? Or was it because she gave her heart to him and he stomped on it? Does she hate him because, deep down, she knows that she’s possibly still attracted to Julian, and she can’t even fathom what that would mean about her, or the threat to her present life?

Eve’s choice of profession is also interesting. How and why does a blues singer become a doctor. There is a discipline that is needed to be a doctor. Why a doctor. I think Eve has a lot of issues about self-esteem and self-respect, and I think the choice of doctor was very deliberate on her part. I read a book once called The Ditch Digger’s Daughters . It was the story of a poor African-American father, from the South, who had dreams for his 5 daughters. Though he had no education, he wanted all of them to be Doctors. Why? Because they would always be needed and paid, and more importantly, the ‘respect’ that a doctor received. Having grown up in the Jim Crow South, where nobody respected him, and rarely called him by his name as a sign of that disrespect and his insignificance, he always wanted to see his children treated with respect. And, whether Black or White, ‘Dr. Soing-So’, was always treated with respect, because of the title ‘Dr.’. I think Eve likes the title of Dr. too….remember the first time she and Julian met again at the Bazaar…he called her ‘Eve’, and she said, ‘Dr. Russell to you’, and walked away.
 

Other questions: how did Eve become a doctor? Who paid for it? Where IS her family? Where is her son? What did she do for Crystal? What is that something ‘extra’ that exists between her and Julian, if it’s not their son? (Remember, Eve told Ivy that Julian didn’t know about their child.)

There are far more questions than answers to the character of Eve, which is why I absolutely love her. There are so many possibilities for her, and I hope, when her life falls apart, and I have no doubt that it will, that we will get those answers.

I hope, when Eve rebuilds her life, that though it will be different, it will be one based in honesty, so that she no longer has to live a life of lies. That she can free herself from the prison of lies in which she now resides. I hope that Eve will realize that she’s worth loving just because she’s Eve, because she does look to her role as wife and mother to validate her existence. Losing them both, I predict, will force Eve to finally try and love herself.