Passions: After Over Nine Years, the Supernatural Soap Ends, part one

After more than a nine year run — eight on NBC and one final year on DirecTV — the campy, supernatural soap known as Passions has come to an exciting conclusion. Episode 2,231 aired on Thursday, August 7, 2008. Here’s what happened…

Theresa (Lindsay Hartley) has been rescued and Juanita’s bomb has been defused. Unfortunately, the wedding of Ethan (Eric Martsolf) and evil Gwen (Liza Huber) has already taken place. Most of the wedding attendees are in the church’s basement — including Fancy (Emily Harper), Luis (Galen Gering), Paloma (Hannia Guillen), Noah (Dylan Fergus ), Ivy (Kim Johnston Ulrich), Sheridan (McKenzie Westmore), Pilar (Eva Tamargo), Antonio (Christopher Douglas), Esme (Erin Cardillo), and Sam (James Hyde).

Theresa begs Ethan to listen to reason and to his heart. Ethan tells her that he still loves her but is now married to Gwen and must honor that commitment. Just as Ethan and Gwen are about to leave on their honeymoon, little Ethan (Colton Shires) is able to repair the broken video camera. They hear a bit of Gwen’s accidentally recorded confession — that she and her mother, Rebecca (Andrea Evans), betrayed Ethan by exposing his paternity to the tabloids. As Gwen urges him not to listen and to leave with her, he fiercely tells her to stay away from him. Gwen, along with everyone else in the room, is stunned.

Upstairs, in the main hall of the church, there’s an even bigger problem. The town’s long dormant volcano is about to erupt and Harmony will be destroyed. Because the forces of darkness have cut off all communication, most people don’t know what’s happening. Eve (Tracey Ross), Julian (Ben Masters), Kay (Heidi Mueller), Miguel (Adrian Bellani), and Tabitha (Juliet Mills) are all trying to figure a way to stop the disaster. Endora (Nicole Cox) has returned from heaven with the answer from Timmy. The only way to stop the destruction is for Tabitha to be baptized. Tabitha is repulsed by the idea and refuses but is finally talked into it because going to heaven is the only way she’d be with Timmy again. Kay is asked to bring Father Lonigan (Bruce French) to them to perform the baptism but she goofs and brings drunken Esme (Erin Cardillo) instead.

Kay tries again and the blind clergyman is disoriented when he appears. When he’s asked to urgently perform the baptism he refuses because he knows that Tabitha is an evil witch. Apparently Alistair Crane told him years earlier but he kept it a secret, believing he would be more effective in fighting her evil if she weren’t aware that he knew. The group tries to convince him of the baptism’s importance but since no one else seems to know about the impending eruption, Father Lonigan thinks they’re possessed by evil and are all trying to trick him.

Tabitha lashes out at the clergyman, saying that his religious ways and talk of forgiveness are a sham. The Father can’t believe that she’s in the church and hasn’t burned up. She angrily tells him that it’s because she’s no longer a witch. Kay backs her up and Esme tells him that she gave up her powers at the rehearsal dinner to save everyone after they’d been poisoned by Vincent and Vicki. Tabitha’s had enough of it all, changes her mind about being baptized, and asks Endora to zap them away.

Kay is able to stop Tabitha from leaving by reminding her that the baptism is what Timmy wanted and that it would save the town and their friends. She’s still disgusted but the Father acquiesces. He apologizes to Tabitha, saying that he had no idea that she’d embraced goodness and sacrificed her powers to save others. She reluctantly accepts the apology. Tabitha’s ready but he still can’t baptize her. He must hear her confession first — likely one of the longest in history.

Downstairs, Gwen and Rebecca are trying to inch their way out the door as Ethan, Theresa and the rest are about to listen to the videotape. Ethan insists that they’re all going to hear the taped confession. Theresa hooks the video camera up to the television and everyone hears the confession in Eve and Rebecca’s own words. They’re shocked and outraged to say the least.

After hearing most of it, Ethan shuts the camera off. He confronts Gwen and Rebecca as do Paloma and Sheridan. All that they’ve done is just too horrible to be believed. Ethan hates Gwen. In desperation, Gwen claims that the tape is a fake, assembled from pieces of other recordings by high-tech genius Little Ethan, Julian, and Theresa. The boy tells them that it’s impossible because the confession is recorded right after the wedding.

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Ethan believes his son and hugs him and Theresa. Sam congratulates the couple and Noah welcomes little Ethan to the family.

Ivy tearfully apologizes to Theresa for not believing her for all these years. It’s obvious that Theresa loves her son more than her own life. Ivy welcomes her to the family with open arms. Theresa promises to be good to Ethan and Ivy truly believes her.

Ethan says they will finally be a family with Little Ethan, Jane and even Jonathan. Ethan angrily tells Gwen that she’s an unfit mother and he will not let her raise their son. Theresa can’t believe that her dream is finally coming true after all these years and Ethan gives her a big kiss.

Not willing to give up, Gwen reminds Ethan that Theresa lied to him about Little Ethan. Theresa defends herself but only Sam and Luis are able to stop Gwen by handcuffing her and her mother. Rebecca doesn’t resist and actually asks for a strip search, saying that she’s entitled to a little fun. Gwen defiantly tells them that she can’t be arrested in the U.S. for something she did in Mexico. Sam assures her that she’s going to be held in custody until the district attorney can look into her involvement in Juanita’s plans to blow up the church and kill everyone in it.

As time is growing short, Endora puts Tabitha on “fast forward” for her lengthy confession. By the time it’s over, there’s steam coming out of Father Lonigan’s ears but he’s ready to perform the baptism. Will it be in time to save the residents of Harmony?

Stay tuned for part two!