Strictly Storyline: Tracey Ross

"Passions'" Tracey Ross (Eve) shares her candid insights into TC's violent behavior.

Soap Opera Weekly

While her character is recovering from Liz's bitchslaps, Passions' Tracey Ross (Eve) feels they pale in comparison to TC's use of Julian as his personal punching bag.

"At some point, there's got to be some consequences for TC, because no matter how miserable a person Julian might have been, he still has a right to go around without getting clobbered all the time," Ross says with a laugh. "For me, I need to see more of the cost to TC for this behavior. Even if it's just humiliation, I feel like it's got to get to a boiling point where then there's consequences. Just because you feel like you have a reason, that's not enough. Because we all have a reason for punching somebody out.

"And some of the beatings have kind of a viciousness to them, that's not funny," Ross continues. "When Julian goes to the hospital with two cracked ribs...I always count on comedy as a thing where nobody gets hurt. When people start to get hurt in a comedy, I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to laugh or not. Because, even in an Eddie Murphy movie, if a cop car gets rammed, I'm thinking about whether those two cops in that car are OK. I mean, they're not even [integral] characters, but I'm worried about them as one person is worried about another. I need to make sure that those cops are OK before I can get back into 'He-he-he.' Whereas with cartoon-type violence, they come right back smelling like roses with a top hat on, so you're like 'Ha-ha-ha. They're fine.'"

Ross is intrigued about one theory about Eve and TC's backstory that's making its rounds on the Internet. "On one of the boards somebody put out the theory that, what if it wasn't Julian who hit TC [with a car, that ended his tennis career]? What if it was Eve? Maybe she was drunk or something, and the reason that Julian never said anything is because he knows it was Eve, and he's protecting her. I thought, 'Wow! What a twist that would be.' Imagine the irony for TC to find out that the person he's been been beating up is the wrong person. I mean, this is why you're not allowed to hit people -- because what if you're wrong," she laughs. "But people think TC's violence is just directed at Julian. But he took a swing at blind Father Lonigan a couple years ago when Eve was in church. He saw Father Lonigan from behind, and just saw Eve talking to a man, and that was enough. Poor Father Lonigan!"

--ROBERT SCHORK