Zach Is from Mars, Kendall Is from Venus 

Men and women are different. There’s no question. Zach and Kendall’s conversation on the Fusion roof seemed to demonstrate that.  

I’ve been a bit frustrated of late with Zach’s attention to Dixie when Kendall is just out of a coma and just had a baby – a premature one at that. After watching Zach sequestering himself and Kendall in the hospital room, it didn’t seem to make sense that he was so eager to help Dixie. I blamed the writing, desperately not wanting to blame Zach. It was out of character. Zach wouldn’t do this. Zach loves Kendall. His explanation to Kendall on the roof seemed weak. It didn’t satisfy me, so I didn’t expect it to satisfy Kendall. 

Then I realized that conversation may have been the most real one I’ve seen on any soap in awhile – because Zach has a male perspective and Kendall has female perspective. Sitting next to my husband from Mars while watching this episode brought that home. 

Zach seems to be wondering what all the fuss is about. He loves Kendall. He’s proven that a thousand times and a thousand different ways. He went to pregnancy island to save her. He married her again. He discharged a firearm in a hospital so no one would take her baby because that’s what she wanted. He sat by her bedside in the same suit for what I presume was for weeks (you never can tell how quickly or slowly time passes in a soap.) The audience had no doubt that Zach loves Kendall. In fact, the only person who doubted it when it was all over was Erica.  

And the sweetest scene of the week was when Zach went to see Spike by himself. Without Kendall. That’s showed just how much Zach loves Kendall and Spike.(When are they going to give that child a real name!) Zach is in this for the long-haul. 

So he was a bit befuddled when Kendall asked why he was hiding Dixie and keeping it a secret from her. Before Zach could say it on screen, my husband from Mars was saying it beside me. “She wasn’t talking to him when he met Dixie.” 

This is true, I admit. 

“And then she was in a coma. When were they suppose to talk about it?” my husband from Mars noted.

True again, I cringe. 

And lo and behold, Zach is basically telling Kendall the same thing on screen. “When I met Dixie, the woman I loved wanted nothing to do with me,” he said. Zach loves Kendall, but that doesn’t mean he can’t help another woman, right? Not to mention “like and respect” her. That reasoning comes from Mars. “Why are you helping Dixie now?” Kendall asked. “Because I can,” came the typical male response from Zach.  

Kendall’s problem with all this comes from Venus. And so does mine. 

“But Zach wasn’t there when she woke up from her coma,” I argue. “He shouldn’t have been with Dixie then.” 

Even my husband from Mars had to admit that was bad.  (I still blame that squarely on the writers.) 

And she’s feeling a bit jealous that he’s giving so much attention to another woman. Me too, Kendall. And she knows Zach loves her and how much he’s done for her.  

“What else does he have to do to prove he loves her?” my husband asked.  

We have to remember, however, she was out of it when Zach sat by her bed and tearfully proclaimed his love for her over and over. She doesn’t remember all of it, not yet at least. She just remembers he wasn’t there when she woke up. That’s a conflict between the heart and the mind. Her mind knows Zach adores her, but her heart can’t get past the one time he wasn’t there. Well the two times he wasn’t there. He was talking with Dixie in the park after Kendall testified in court against JR. Sorry Zach, you should have been with Kendall in the hospital then, too. So now Kendall will wonder if Zach is with Dixie every time she doesn’t know where he is.  

Does Zach love Kendall? Absolutely. Is Kendall trying to really understand Zach’s relationship with Dixie? Probably. Will Dixie somehow create conflict for my favorite couple? Without a doubt, albeit unintentionally. And Zach will be completely baffled when that happens because he’s a man from Mars.   

The trouble with all of this is that most soap opera viewers are women – most likely from Venus. We want Zach to give Kendall all of this attention. And Dixie is getting on our nerves in a major way.  

Now don’t get me wrong. The thing I love most about Zach is that he’s such a man. He’s masculine, confident, self-assured and loyal. And I have to acknowledge he learned all of that on Mars.

 By: Sally

With apologies to John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus