One on Won (Soap Opera Weekly - September 28, 2004) This week's winner of a coveted sit-down with WEEKLY editor Carolyn Hinsey is Soap Opera Digest's All My Children editor Mara Levinsky. Carolyn: Maybe I missed something, but the last time I saw Maggie on All My Children, she was kissing Bianca and confessing she has feelings for her. Now all of a sudden she is telling Bianca she has feelings for Jonathan. Do people really flip-flop that fast? Between the sexes? Mara: Maggie's nascent attraction to Jonathan doesn't undercut or negate her feelings for and attraction to Bianca. And I don't agree that this has happened "all of a sudden." When Maggie told Bianca she loved her, she said she was sure of her feelings but not sure what it all meant. (Was she gay? Bi? Going through a phase?) At that time, Bianca told Maggie that she was in love with and committed to Lena, which wasn't exactly the response Maggie was hoping to get, but one she understood and accepted. Then she walks in on Bianca in bed with her cousin, Babe, and although that scene was staged to provoke JR, Maggie doesn't know that. So she's feeling confused and rejected and she bumps into Jonathan, who shows her a good time and takes her mind off what she's just witnessed. Bianca comes to her and tries to set the record straight, if you will, about what seemingly transpired with Babe, but Maggie cuts her off and says, "Something you should know - I'm attracted to Jonathan." That makes sense to me. If you told someone you loved them and then caught them in bed with someone else, might you not be inclined to conceal your hurt by fronting as though you didn't care, because you've moved on to someone else? Saying it doesn't necessarily make it true. Carolyn: I don't think I'd tel lmy boyfriend I was falling for my girlfriend, mostly because he would be a little too intrigued by that for it to make him jealous. (I'd be more likely to find a tattooed biker with a gun permit, but that's just me.) Back to AMC, my problem with Maggie's flip-flopping between boys and girls is that it smells more to me like AMC copping out on a real lesbian relationship than the character of Maggie genuinely questioning her sexual orientation. I, personally, have never had a friend who broke up with a girl to go out with a boy - or vice versa. Mara: Again, I don't see how Maggie's actions constitues flip-flopping. She's never said she's a lesbian who is strictly attracted to women; she has acknowledged experiencing feelings of attraction to men and to Bianca. Maggie did not break up with Bianca to go out with a boy; it was Bianca who rejected her (as far as she knows, that is; Maggie's thinking, "Bianca chose to cheat on Lena with Babe, but not with me!"). She's on the rebound, and as likely if not likelier to go out with a guy to try to forget Bianca than a girl. (Remember: Maggie knows she's attracted to Bianca, but Bianca is the only girl she's ever been attracted to.) The question of ABC's commitment to this story is another on e altogether, and I am prone to agree with you. They've been baby-stepping with BAM for years - fueling fans with hope, then draining that hope, then refueling it. If anyone's flip-flopping here, it's ABC. That said, no one would be happier than me if the Jonathan character was being used here to make Bianca realize that her feelings for Maggie aren't so platonic after all, that she's not at all psyched about the idea of Maggie dating someone else - be it a man, woman or mineral. And as for you not having bisexual friends, well, lemme tell ya: You're missing out. Carolyn: Maybe I do, but none of them are making passes at me so I just don't know it...I suppose when you position it like Maggie is just using Jonathan to make Bianca jealous it's a little more palatable. But once again, AMC is spending all it's time trying to throw newbie hunks front burner (Zach! Aidan! Bobby! Ethan! Jonathan!) instead of developing a real romance for the one character fans are dying to see happy: Bianca. Mara: I think Maggie is using Jonathan to salve her wounds; I hope the effect is Bianca's jealousy (To the Lianca fans hating me right now, here's what Maggie has going for her than Lena doesn't: Maggie's on the show.) But as for AMC giving its newbie hunks more time and attention than Bianca's love life, I couldn't agree with you more: It's a misstep of the highest order. Now if only we could sway ABC to our side...