Vincent Irizarry
as Scott Clark in

Santa Barbara

1987-1989

Review of Scott on Santa Barbara
by DandEfan

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"Santa Barbara" was known as one of the more quirky, outrageously plotted soap operas. Yet, despite all of this, Vincent's portrayal of Dr. Scott Clark rings consistently true. Vincent wears the character of Scott like a second skin and all of the reactions that he has seem extraordinarily real. The dialog never sounds forced or rehearsed, not ever. Whatever else I accomplish here, I hope that I manage to convey some of the brilliance I saw in Vincent's acting. Beautiful touches that he brings to a scene, so characteristic in his portrayal as David on AMC, are here as well. So who is this character? You'll see early on in reading this that I haven't seen all of "Santa Barbara," and in fact haven't seen all of Vincent's scenes, much as I'd like to have. He brings a level of intensity to each scene that is quite wonderful to watch--fire, gentleness, fury, tears in his eyes in many scenes.

I've been looking this pastiche of scenes featuring Scott as something of a puzzle, working over the last while on figuring out how these shadow people around him (aside from the love interests who are prominently featured in the tape) fit into the overall Scott Clark story. Some of what follows is conjecture, because I wasn't able to glean it from the tapes or to find it on a "Santa Barbara" site. Any information that follows that is inaccurate I would welcome to hear about to correct later. Meanwhile, if it's vague, it's because I just don't know but am guessing.

Scott is the son of Ben Clark, an oil rigger, who works on the Capwell oil wells. As far as I can tell, the Capwells are the main movers and shakers in Santa Barbara, at least in soap Santa Barbara, with C.C. Capwell at the helm, and most of the stories revolve around a member of the Capwell family at one time or another. In fact, Vincent's first "leading lady" is an ex-Capwell by marriage--Gina (who had been married to C.C.). She apparently has done outrageous things to other people, but when Scott meets her she has just recently become blind through an accident, and Scott is her doctor. She's older than he is and feels extraordinarily vulnerable because of this, and because of her blindness and helplessness. Scott, meantime, a first year resident at the hospital, treats her, helps her to cope with her blindness, and they fall in love. He has refused to listen to nasty things about her, feeling that he knows a different Gina from the one everyone else is only too familiar with. They have some lovely scenes together, but ultimately Gina's sight is starting to come back. At Christmas, Scott touchingly says that the best present he could give her is her sight back. Gina demurs on his giving her an eye exam, and when he finally forces the issue a few weeks later, he knows she's been able to see for weeks. He feels completely betrayed. Very different Scott here from the sweet doctor of before. She tries to explain that she was terrified, that if the basic reason he fell in love with her is gone because she is no longer blind and helpless, he wouldn't love her anymore. Scott refuses to listen, screaming instead that she lied to him. "I hate what you've done to us," he says. And that is the end of Scott and Gina.

The next love interest, Heather Donnelly, brings out an entirely different dimension in Scott. Here, we have two doctors, both residents, but she's a psychiatrist with a specialty in hypnotherapy. Both are often exhausted from being on call for days on end and tempers flare easily. Their story begins with a conflict over treatment of one of Scott's patients. Heather wants to try hypnosis on young Josh to help him accept his chemotherapy treatments. Scott pooh-poohs psychiatry and hypnosis, calling it "hocus pocus and mumbo jumbo." But later, after seeing the dramatic difference in Josh for himself, he retracts his words and apologizes.

The especially interesting part of the Scott/Heather relationship for me is the unearthing of Scott's past that comes out over their time together. By far the most powerful scenes are those where Heather has hypnotized Scott, so that he can learn what happened the night his Uncle Hal disappeared. Heather first takes him to age 16 and Scott relives the night of his junior prom, meeting his date. His face reflects a variety of emotions that he recounts--relief at seeing Susie at the door rather than her mother, nervousness at the thought of pinning the corsage on her and outright horror at discovering that her dress had no straps. Then, Heather takes him back to age 5, and the night of his Uncle Hal's disappearance. Instantly, Vincent is a 5-year old. "I'm in my Uncle Hal's nice big car," he says grinning. He's hiding from his uncle, but the car is in an accident and Scott hits his head. His uncle orders Scott to stay in the car and leaves. It's a very stormy night, the car windows are foggy and Scott becomes more and more frightened.

"I don't like the lightning," he cries, and he disobeys and goes out into the storm. He sees a light and runs toward it--the boathouse. Then he's hiding. Scott sees someone fighting with his uncle and witnesses his uncle falling to the floor. He tries to help his uncle, then scurries back into hiding as someone returns to the room. He sees "a lady in a big dress" find a gun and shoot his uncle. Vincent's acting is a tour de force here. Every emotion this little boy is feeling is palpable. His chest is heaving, he's screaming, "I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do." Electrifying scenes!

Through Heather, we also learn that his mother sold herself to get more money for the family. This comes out in a scene at Christmastime. Scott, feeling hemmed in by the snow and not wanting to talk to Heather about what is bothering him, goes out for a walk. There, he meets himself as an embittered, alone old man in a take on "It's a Wonderful Life." He comes back inside and unburdens himself to Heather, explaining that his father threw his mother out after he discovered that she was selling herself for extra spending money. He'd been begging for a new bike that year, and got it, but also knew the cost. "I hated that bike," he says. Even more gripping, though, is a really moving scene, where Scott goes back to the house that he grew up in. Here, adult Scott is walking around furniture covered over with sheets, watching himself as a child. He goes to the piano and sees himself reluctantly practicing with his mother sitting next to him, fiercely telling him that the piano is one of the things that makes him special. "No matter what it takes, you're going to have your chance," she says. The culmination is a scene where young Scott is sitting on the stairs at Christmas time and sees the furious argument that leads to his mother being thrown out of the house. Scott looks at his younger self and yells, "Why didn't you run and hide your head in the pillows? Go on, run!" Then he addresses his parents with tears in his eyes. "Didn't you know that I heard the whole thing? Didn't you know what a fight like this does to a little boy? How do you think it feels to hear your father call your mother a whore?"

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