Vincent Clarkson

Casting and creation

Phillip Jeanmarie originally auditioned for the part of a peeping tom unaware that the role would be expanded into the character of Vincent Clarkson. Jeanmarie praised James E. Reilly for taking a risk by creating an intersex villain while also staying true to his "tongue-in-cheek approach to his storytelling". Jeanmarie stated that he enjoyed playing "the bad guy" and felt that Vincent was "surprising and challenging" to portray given the twists in his narrative. Reilly, and the show's writers, did not inform Jeanmarie of their plans for Vincent's storylines until the read-through and the shooting of the scenes. Jeanmarie said this decision prevented him from overthinking the character and allowed him to act on his instinct. He equated his time on the soap opera to acting school. Daphnée Duplaix stated she was unaware that Valerie was Vincent's split personality; she said the cast did not know their future storylines: "until [they] ha[d] the script in [their] hand[s]". From January 20, 2007 to March 29, 2007, Siena Goines temporarily played the part during Duplaix's maternity leave.

Characterization and cast response

Jeanmarie stated that he portrayed Vincent as a character in constant pursuit of love. He called his character "horribly scarred" from the abuse by his grandfather Alistair Crane and opined that his criminal and immoral behavior was meant to cover up his desire for acceptance. Jeanmarie commented that he was glad to have been part of the taboo-breaking story.

Other Passions cast members had a more negative perception of the character. Tracey Ross, who played Russell family matriarch Eve Russell, reacted negatively to Vincent's involvement in Eve's storylines. She said that Vincent giving birth to his father's child made her "physically nauseous" and she could only complete the birth scenes after the show's acting coach, Maria O'Brien, convinced her of "[their] comedic possibilities". Vincent's manipulation of Eve to incorrectly reattach Julian's penis was criticized by co-star McKenzie Westmore ("This has got to be the worst storyline ever done, what are they doing?"), who cited it as a reason for the show's cancellation. Kim Johnston Ulrich, who played Ivy Winthrop, said she was confused by Vincent and never fully understood his storyline.

2001: Hidden Passions: Secrets from the Diaries of Tabitha Lenox

The 2001 novel Hidden Passions: Secrets from the Diaries of Tabitha Lenox was published by HarperEntertainment as a tie-innovelization to expand the backstories of prominent characters from the show, such as revealing more information regarding Eve Russell's child with Julian Crane. It was promoted as being written by the character Tabitha Lenox (it was in reality composed by writers Alice Alfonsi and James E. Reilly) and was heavily featured on the show. The novel reveals that Vincent was born on Christmas day. It states that Alistair Crane arranged for Vincent's death, but instead the hitman, Jack, placed the baby with social services without his knowledge. The series changed Alistair's involvement in Vincent's life; Alistair abuses and manipulates Vincent as a tool for his plans to maintain power over Harmony. Despite the book's billing as canonical when it was published, the show contradicts much of its information with the most prominent aspect being the alterations to Eve's family.

2004–08: Passions

Vincent first appears in the December 16, 2004 episode as his alter-ego Valerie Davis. While working as an executive assistant to Crane Industries' vice president Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, Valerie is characterized by her connection with the Crane family and past sexual encounter with Chad Harris-Crane. Vincent fabricates a backstory for Valerie; she joined Crane Industries to change its lack of minority employees. Valerie is initially a minor character, appearing to help Ivy Winthrop in her attempts to break up Fox Crane and Kay Bennett and support Chad during work. But she gains more prominence when Eve catches her having sex with Crane Industries' CEO Julian Crane. Valerie engages in a catfight with Eve after she is accused of using sex to climb the corporate ladder. During this time, Whitney Russell suspects that Valerie is having an affair with Chad. Vincent is first seen outside of his split-personality when he introduces himself as a tabloid reporter at Chad and Whitney's wedding on December 26, 2006. Whitney sets up Vincent and Valerie as a couple without knowing they are in fact the same person.

From 2006 to 2007, Vincent adopts the disguise of the "Blackmailer" to rape, murder, and blackmail several of the show's characters. Alistair (who was presumed dead at the time), manipulated Vincent into performing these criminal actions. Daytime Confidential's Jamey Giddens described the storyline as a "reign of terror [that] dominated the last few years of the series" and called Vincent a: "seemingly omnipotent, omnipresent force". Vincent's first act as the "Blackmailer" is to repeatedly rape his paternal half-sister Fancy Crane; he frames Fancy's boyfriend Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald for the rapes by planting his semen inside her. After his maternal half-sister Simone Russell's girlfriend Rae Thomas learns the truth behind Fancy's rapes, he murders her and frames Luis for the crime. As the storyline progresses, Vincent begins to harbor an obsession with Theresa's love interest Ethan Winthrop and blackmails Judge JE Reilly into sentencing Luis to death by lethal injection. Vincent's aunt Sheridan Crane was the only person to identify him as the "Blackmailer"; she keeps his secret on the condition that he bring her niece Pretty Crane back to Harmony to destroy Fancy's relationship with Luis. Vincent convinces Sheridan to kill Theresa with an electric chair, but she is interrupted by Theresa's rival Gwen Hotchkiss.

In February 2007, Vincent is revealed to have been engaging in an incestuous and adulterous affair with Chad (who was simultaneously Vincent's half-uncle, adoptive half-cousin, and half-brother-in-law); the affair was cited as starting prior to the show's storyline in Rome in the summer of 2006. Vincent blackmails Chad with secret videos of their sexual encounters. Furious with Chad for continuing to sleep with Whitney, Vincent engineers a scenario in which Whitney sees Vincent and Chad having sex in the back of a gay bar; Whitney immediately leaves Chad and Chad distances himself from Vincent. Chad informs Valerie of Vincent's infidelity after overhearing the two fight; Chad, as well as the viewer, is unaware that Vincent and Valerie are the same person. As the incest storyline progresses, Vincent reveals to Julian and Eve his secret identities as the "Blackmailer" and their son. For most of the series, Eve and Julian's child is believed to be Chad, who is later shown to be Eve's adoptive sister Liz's child from her rape by Alistair. Despite Julian's insistence that they protect their son and the Crane name, Eve tells the police that Vincent is the "Blackmailer" and Luis is set free moments before his execution. Vincent is arrested and placed in psychiatric care. Alistair helps Vincent to escape, but hires assassin Spike Lester to murder him. Vincent is rescued by Sheridan and they escape Harmony by car while being pursued by Spike. Vincent and Spike fall over the side of a cliff. Sheridan can save only one of the two men and chooses to save Spike after he reveals her son Marty is still alive. Vincent plummets to his (apparent) death on August 30, 2007. A few episodes later, Vincent emerges from the ocean and goes to Valerie's house to attack her off-screen for exposing his secrets. In the show's final episode on NBC on September 7, 2007, Valerie removes her mask to reveal she is in fact Vincent; it is strongly implied that Vincent has dissociative identity disorder.

In November 2007, Vincent runs a blood test on himself after experiencing what appears to be symptoms of morning sickness and discovers he is pregnant. Eve inspects Vincent (who is dressed as Valerie) on November 22, 2007 and discovers his pregnancy and his true gender identity as intersex. Vincent torments Eve out of revenge for her failure to prevent his abduction when he was born and to prevent her from telling anyone that he was still alive and pregnant with Julian's child. After his psychopathic accomplice Viki Chatsworth severs Julian's penis, Vincent plies Eve with drugs and alcohol so she botches her attempt to surgically reattach Julian's penis; she reattaches it upside-down, and an erection might kill him. In May 2008, Eve and Julian assist Vincent with the birth of his son on the Russells' kitchen table after Eve explains everything about Vincent and Valerie to Julian. Eve plans to form a relationship again with Vincent (believing that motherhood has mellowed him), and convinces Julian not to turn him in to the police. During the rehearsal dinner for the joint weddings of Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald and Fancy Crane, Noah Bennett and Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald, Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald and Kay Bennett, and Edna Wallace and Norma Bates, Vincent and Viki kill all the guests with a poison mushroom sauce. Witch Tabitha Lenox gives up her powers and becomes a born again Christian in order to resurrect everyone. Vincent is last seen being arrested by Chief of Police Sam Bennett. Since T. C. Russell, Whitney, and Simone moved to New Orleans in 2007,

Impact and reception

Vincent's sexual relationship with Chad received a mixed response from television critics. The soap opera made daytime history by being the first to represent two men simulating sex. Giddens opined that Chad and Vincent's relationship should have received more media attention in comparison to Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer from the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, and Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis from the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. Soap opera journalist Roger Newcomb of the website We Love Soaps included Vincent in his review of gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters in the history of daytime television. Ross von Metze of Edge Media Network applauded the show for "taking risks where other TV shows have failed" through its inclusion of gay and black characters.

After the show's cancellation, the character was frequently referenced as a prime example of its outrageous storylines. BuzzFeed's community member Top40DJ included Valerie and Vincent on the list - Crazy Ladies of Daytime Soaps. Following James E. Reilly's death on October 12, 2008, Gawker's Kyle Buchanan listed the "insanely convoluted incest storylines" involving Vincent as one of: "the most insane things that have ever happened on television". A writer from Soap Opera Digest included the revelations that Vincent was the blackmailer, Eve and Julian's son, and Valerie on the list of Passions' most shocking secrets. Joel McHale from E!'s weekly television series The Soup turned a scene in which Chad insisted he was "not gay", despite his affair with Vincent, into a running gag by referring to the character as "Not Gay Chad". During the show's season five premiere, Charles Divins (who was the principal actor to play Chad during the storylines focusing on the character's sexuality) made a cameo to explain to McHale that he was not his character and was neither dead nor gay. After Divins leaves the shot, McHale asks: "so your character sleeps with transsexuals?" in reference to the reveal that Vincent was intersex. Alternatively, Mike Perigard of the Boston Herald criticized the storylines involving the rapist as "just vile".

Some critics characterized Chad's storyline with Vincent as being poorly written, and irresponsible in terms of racial and sexual identity. Herndon L. Davis of Windy City Times was critical of the character's development, saying the soap opera "recklessly wrote a down-low storyline which involved an African-American man but eventually turned it into an outrageous intersex serial killer storyline". Perigard criticized the death of lesbian Rae Thomas following the reveal that Vincent was Chad's lover. He believed Thomas' removal from the show was only written to maintain a low quota of gay characters on the show. Viewers were divided over the sexually explicit scenes between Vincent and Chad. Some felt the scenes between Chad and Vincent were "appalling" and inappropriate for daytime television, while one viewer praised the soap opera for "continu[ing] their outstanding jobs as they teach the people of today's world about daily life experiences". A writer from Soaps.com defended the show by pointing out graphic sex scenes between men and women were previously aired without complaint.

Despite the criticism against the character, Jeanmarie and Duplaix's performances received positive critical responses. Giddens praised Jeanmarie's performance for making all of Vincent's storylines believable, writing: "If anyone on that show could have won an Emmy it was him". Josh Robertson of Complex called Duplaix one of the most successful soap actresses, who had been a Playboy Playmate, for her performances as Valerie in thirty-four episodes of Passions, along with her portrayal of Rachel Gannon in ninety-five episodes of One Life to Live.