Why Harpies Can't Be Leads: The Case of Tea Delgado

Okay, let's be clear. The following rant has nothing to do with Florencia Lozano. I like her a lot. I think she's a good actress who does her job well. I think she seems extremely likable as a human being. In other words, I really like FL.

But, as this latest stint on GH shows, her character does not have mass appeal.  Tea Delgado has been shown to be a wailing harpy with few likable, redeemable qualities.  It's time someone in control realizes it.  Tea cannot carry a show, even a little. Nimnuts has to let it go.  Tea cannot be a lead and needs to fade into the background as soon as possible...if that hasn't happened already.

I'm starting to think this sentiment is making it's way to the head office.  Supposedly there was a scene with John and Tea that was cut last week.  It was even mentioned by Easton in an interview they say. If that's true, then it was done on purpose and makes me wonder.  Has Tea been cut from the "future" of GH? Is she, finally, out of our hair?

Now I admit to being an out of the closet Todd and Blair fangurl. I've never denied that.  But I am also not one who blindly hates Tea for that reason. I don't hate Tea but I hate what she has become.  She's a steaming ball of anger and resentment and she's shrieking in every scene. Even when she's not yelling, she's gritting her teeth or being smug. That may work for the character but I don't want to see it.  If she is to be a permanent member of Team Hater against Todd, then she needs to be seen less, not more.

In other words, less is more here.  She needs to be more of a Marty or Nora.  They were women who were victimized by Todd and will always hate him but don't have major stories with him.  They show up once in a while, sneer, and the move on to their own story.

I think FL gets that Tea is a hothead in a stereotypical Latina way.  She does it well. However, she plays Tea as an enabler with certain interesting ideas about sex. She seems to be more than a little sado-masochistic and her relationship with Victor worked well in that regard. But as interesting as characters are with these proclivities, they cannot carry a show.  Like David, they need to pepper the show once in a while to give it some quirkiness.  They cannot be the heart and soul of a program.  They're too twisted.

Victor was as demented as she was and that's why he wouldn't work long term after Todd returned.  The reason he maintained as long as he did, IMO, is because he had the "Todd" label to him.  People thought he was in a twisted moment with Tea but would eventually go back to the Todd we knew.  That was true to some extent.  Todd came back as we knew him.  But this guy wasn't Todd.  I have no doubt that if it had lasted, SNV would have been the foil to Todd, a supporting player at best, and Todd would again step into the lead role.

You see, as twisted as Todd is, and Blair to some extent, underneath the unusual moral code, they are both very traditional characters.  They are devoted to one another, their family, and can do so in a surprisingly normal fashion.  There's yelling and fighting but there's so much tendernesss. Tea can be tender but her tendency to be over the top is out of control.  The image of Howarth covering his ears twice when she was on GH is emblematic of that.  She's too much.

Leads need to be lower key and quieter.  The audience can't take the screeching all the time. A little kick is good but they can't see it constantly. In some ways, we want hints that our couples are freaky in the bedroom but we don't necessarily want to see it.  We know that Nora and Bo are rockin' it.  We know that Clint makes Viki's earth move.  We know Todd's majorly into voyeurism and God knows what else, and that Blair is all good with that.  But I'm fine with only Araby, the horse, seeing it that night in the stables. I don't really want to.

We saw too much with Tea and SNV, IMO, and some may think it's hot, but I think it's kink.  And a bit sick. Deep down, soap fans want romance, not kinky S&M hijinx.  Tea's passionate and I can appreciate that.  But she's not just passionate.  She's a freak.  And, although I find that amusing, I'm not going to sympathize with that.  Freaks are fun for a minute. Not a lifetime.

So maybe Tea wore out her welcome when the GH fans held their ears and the majorty of OLTL fans didn't join in.  Maybe Frank learned the Gary Tomlin lesson.  TNT aren't it.  Even a little.  The first "T" works.  The second, well, is second for good reason.  She's supporting at best.  And, even then, less is more.

I hear she may abscond with Sam's baby.  That's a good idea.  She can do it all off screen. We all need a long break from the wailing. And, once she hears she's losing that baby, the yells will be deafening.  I hope Howarth is fitted for earplugs. It looks like he can't take it.