u/BelloSimisola0103

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Hello Everyone. Welcome to the final instalment in this four part series. I appreciate you taking time to read my extremely long posts and contributing your thoughts so far.

In Part 3, we saw how Miguel, one of the quieter players in this quadrangle, affected Brenda and Sonny. But while Miguel and Brenda were finding comfort in their shared grief, there was someone else waiting in the wings who represented everything they weren't: Lily Rivera.

You can find Parts 1-3 below:

Part 1 (Sonny)

Part 2 (Brenda)

Part 3 (Miguel)

Lily didn't need to scream or dance to be noticed; she just had to be there for Sonny whenever he was tired of fighting with Brenda. But being the 'safe' choice didn't make her innocent in the fallout, and it certainly didn't save anyone, least of all Lily herself.

LILY'S PART (17%)

The one who arguably got the worst end of the stick. She pushed away the only guy who loved her (even though he didn't understand her totally) despite her flaws, for a guy who understood her but was totally in love with another person. And then died without any of them being truly there for her, losing the future she always wanted.

Lily’s role in the breakdown of these relationships was because there was something that she did consistently right however. Right from the beginning, she knew what she wanted, subconsciously and then later consciously.

Subconsciously because I don't believe that she came with every intention of breaking Sonny and Brenda up, but she was definitely intrigued from the beginning. And when her relationship with Miguel began to fall apart due to circumstances both in and beyond their control, she made a conscious effort to be with the man who she now saw as her anchor: Sonny.

THE ECHO OF CHILDHOOD SECURITY

It's very important to note how Lily's childhood was like. Lily obviously loved her father a lot. But their relationship suffered when she went against his wishes and fell in love with Miguel. I think her attraction to Miguel was because he was so different from what she was used to as a mobster's daughter. But eventually, who did she fall for? A man just like her father.

I remember one of her many arguments with Brenda. Brenda caustically asked her if her idea of a relationship was being passive (something Brenda isn't) and trusting blindly. Lily couldn't answer, and also couldn't say anything when Miguel later on pointed out that she was just like her father. In other words, Lily was more like her father than she realized and in choosing Sonny, she was, in effect, returning to a structure she understood.

THE CRACKS WITH MIGUEL

Like Miguel, Lily wasn't exactly at fault for Sonny and Brenda's many problems, but she did have a more active role than Miguel did. The first problems were the cracks in her and Miguel's relationship, mainly because they had both changed so much and were not aligned anymore. In her own way, she tried to save the relationship, but her methods were a sure way to fail.

First, she insisted on emotional and physical distance because she wanted to avoid past mistakes and Miguel agreed. However, she quickly changed her mind after the trip to PR when they met their son, Juan Santiago. Lily wanted Juan with them while Miguel did not want to disrupt their son's happy and stable life.

So she tried to backpedal on her initial decision which Miguel (rightly) saw as her trying to replace their baby. There was a deeper reason of course; Lily trying to desperately fix what she thought was broken: a relationship that did not fit either of them. When that didn't work out, she tried to force his hand (remember the dancing scene with AJ during Brenda's birthday?) but it backfired spectacularly.

There was also the music video with Brenda. Lily could see that there was a certain emotional ease between Miguel and Brenda, something that she didn't have anymore (which was actually her fault for insisting on distance).

THE SAFETY NET THAT BECAME A TRAP

And all through this period, who did Lily share her issues with? Sonny. Who understood what she was feeling as well according to her? Sonny. There were other people she could have turned to for help and advice, but because of the initial intrigue and her growing (and disturbing) infatuation with Sonny, she turned to him.

So when Lily decided that she was tired of fighting for her and Miguel (because she couldn't get her way), she turned to the person who reminded her of stability: Sonny a.k.a her father's mirror. She broke up with Miguel (messing with him in the process), and started hitching herself to Sonny, who could sense it but allowed it to happen because of his ulterior motives and plans to be mob daddy.

What Lily had that Brenda didn't have was predictability. Sonny knew what he was getting with her, which meant he could control her, something he couldn't do with Brenda. In return, she gave him her loyalty, and out of that loyalty, she went ahead to tell Sonny about the wire without understanding Brenda's reasoning for it, damaging their relationship in the process, as well as the tenuous relationship she had with Miguel.

Eventually, she came to realize that Sonny never loved her the way she wanted. Oh, he cared all right, but sadly care isn't love. And when things were starting to look up a bit, she got blown to bits by the very father who started the whole mess.

In the end, Lily got the security she thought she wanted, but never the love she was actually looking for.

FINAL THOUGHTS: THE 100% TRAGEDY

Now that we’ve looked at all four players, here is how I personally see the "blame" divided:

Sonny (40%): The Architect. His need for control and his inability to be honest about his world made a healthy relationship impossible in the long run.

Brenda (38%): The Catalyst. Her insecurities and mixed signals fed right into Sonny’s worst fears, creating a continuous cycle until it finally broke.

Lily (17%): The Wedge. She provided a safe, "predictable" harbor for Sonny that gave him an 'out', costing Lily her own happiness in the end.

Miguel (5%): The Mirror. He didn't mean to cause any trouble, but his presence reflected everything Sonny lacked and everything Brenda thought she wanted, plus his failed relationship with Lily ended up being the final nail in that coffin.

And in total, we have a 100% heartbreak.

This quadrangle was never about one person being 'bad.' It was a perfect storm of four people with unhealed traumas trying to find love in the wrong ways.

By the end, nobody really won. Sonny lost Brenda. Brenda lost certainty. Miguel lost Lily. And Lily lost everything.

P.S. And with this, we've come to the finale. Once again, thank you all so much for following this series over the last few days!

I’d love to hear your final thoughts, especially on the percentages. Who would you give the most 'blame' to?

Hi again everyone. Once again, I am very grateful to everyone who read my two previous posts and contributed. Your comments meant a lot to me.

In the first two parts of this series, we looked at the fire (Sonny’s control and Brenda’s chaos). But now, it’s time to look at the man who got caught in the middle of their smoke: Miguel.

You can find Parts 1 & 2 here:

Part 1: Sonny

Part 2: Brenda

MIGUEL'S PART (5%)

Now, this might be a controversial take, but I believe this guy had the least active role in sinking the Sonny and Brenda ship. Most fans remember Miguel Morez as the ‘other guy’ or the reason Lily arrived, but in reality, he was more like a passenger on a crashing plane.

He didn't come to Port Charles to break up a home; he came to find his own. He barely had to do anything for his presence to shatter the relationship, simply because he acted as a mirror, reflecting everything Sonny and Brenda were missing.

I’m only giving him 5% of the actual responsibility because he wasn't a saboteur; he was just a stable man in a world of unstable people, and that was enough to trigger Sonny’s worst instincts. Let’s look at why the man with the least amount of blame ended up having the biggest impact on the fallout

THE 'SAFETY' VS 'CONTROL' FACTOR

Right from the start, Miguel was one of the most level-headed and mature characters in the show. And he happened to have the emotional stability and safety that Brenda wanted and Sonny didn't have. Sonny wanted to control everything around him and Miguel was more of a live and let live person. The irony of it all was that he was one of the original shippers of Brenda and Sonny, apart from Lois. Some fans on YouTube claimed Miguel tried to sabotage them because he hated Sonny, but I disagree.

First off, I'd like to point out that Miguel didn't start having issues with Sonny until the latter started exhibiting insecurities and jealousy concerning Brenda. And then of course, the interference into his personal life which brought Lily into the picture and the mob stuff that he had PTSD about. People also tend to forget that he was probably the first person who made Brenda acknowledge that she was in love with Sonny. Once at the Outback, and the other time at the out house studio (both times Brenda denied it).

TRIGGERS & PTSD: THE MUSIC CONTRACT INCIDENT

This scene was where the dynamics between the three began to change. It was just after Miguel had agreed to start singing again. Before that, Sonny's jealousy was already simmering because Brenda constantly was constantly gushing about how great Miguel was.

Lois had just returned from a trip and Brenda, in typical Brenda fashion, was being her usual touchy feely self as Miguel was talking about how free he felt to be singing again. Sonny, in annoyance then told Miguel to keep his hands off Brenda, which is another place where I faulted Sonny. Instead of addressing that with Brenda (Miss 'I cannot keep my hands to myself'), Sonny projected it onto Miguel (who had no idea what was going on) and when Miguel tried to correct the mistaken assumption, Sonny reminded him about how he got back his music contract, which triggered PTSD for Miguel given his background with the whole PR underworld.

From that moment, Sonny stopped being just “Brenda’s boyfriend that helped him” and became a man capable of using power in ways that echoed Miguel's past trauma. The sad part is that, we the viewers knew then that Miguel was still very much in love with Lily and was not interested in Brenda that way. And Sonny with that remark had just shown Miguel that ugly part of him, causing him to start resenting Sonny.

OPERATING UNDER INCOMPLETE INFORMATION

Now remember the scene I mentioned in Brenda's part? When Sonny came in and saw Miguel and Brenda dancing and went berserk? I'm not exactly sure what Miguel was thinking here, because arguably he now knew that Sonny was jealous. I figured Miguel, for his part, often operated under incomplete information. In fact, I would say that Miguel was probably the person who was in the dark the most within that quadrangle. He probably believed the boundaries were clearer than they actually were, not realizing that his 'friendly' dancing with Brenda was a massive flashpoint for a guy like Sonny.

Anyways, I didn't blame Sonny here (that much anyway), but I totally blame Brenda for dancing like that with Miguel. At this point, she knew why Sonny was jealous (Miguel didn't) and she knew about Lily (Sonny didn't). When Brenda eventually made Sonny apologise, Miguel pointed out that he wouldn't forget, and by implication forgive, because he did not sign up to leave one hell for another (as he said when he yelled back at Sonny after the dirty dancing); but he would put it behind for the time being because of Lois and Brenda. The resentment was definitely shimmering under the surface.

LILY IN THE PICTURE

Although after that, he actually made an effort to backpedal a bit with Brenda. But Sonny, in his desperate bid to keep Brenda, decided to go and bring Lily into the picture. And while Miguel was upset at first, he quickly moved on and was focused on his relationship with Lily and his career. Sonny on the other hand, started falling under Lily's subtle influence and giving advice where he should have just kept shut and minded his business. Cases in point; when Lily danced with AJ to get Miguel to react (which he did) and he automatically took her side and also when she broke up with Miguel and he made a comment about how Miguel didn't know how to keep a woman happy. Understandably, Miguel didn't take that well.

GRIEF & VULNERABILITY

Of course, the main thing people remember after the wire fiasco was that Brenda slept with Miguel when Sonny ran off with Lily to PR. However, I think people tend to forget that Miguel was hurting as well. Just imagine: the girl you lost and just found, breaking up with you because you're trying to avoid the same mistakes you made in the past, then running off with the guy who has been giving you PTSD, right back to the evil father who separated the two of you in the first place.

He was just better at hiding his emotions than Brenda was, although he started unraveling just before he went on the tour. Lily going off with Sonny hurt him, and he turned to the one person who was feeling discarded just as he was: Brenda. Afterwards, he still had the presence of mind to ask Brenda to consider it very well if she wanted to continue with what they had started cause their friendship was important to him. And Brenda (who was seriously hurting as well by the way) insisted it was okay.

Another angle I considered that is probably overlooked or not considered at all, is physical intimacy as well. From when he was introduced, Miguel had been emotionally and physically restrained for a long period. When Lily came back, she made him wait as well (something he agreed to after considering her reasons).

Seriously, combined with everything he'd experienced up until then, that restraint he was known for was bound to give way. I'm not surprised that he gave in to Brenda in that moment of vulnerability and connection. Like I mentioned in Brenda's part, they were both a mess and needed comfort, which they found with each other.

Unfortunately, Sonny's eyes had opened then but it was too late.

THE END OF THE FANTASY & THE TRAGEDY OF THE 'ALMOST'

My issue with this hookup was never that it shouldn't have happened; it’s the timing. Looking back, it feels like Brenda and Miguel were two people who were finally pushed to their breaking points at the exact same moment. I’ve always felt that if Sonny hadn't run off, or if Lily hadn't been so 'perfectly' available for him, maybe Brenda and Miguel wouldn't have crossed that line.

But they were both emotionally exhausted. To me, it didn't feel like they were falling in love; it felt like they were just trying to survive the night. It’s that frustrating soap opera 'almost': they were almost strong enough to wait, but they had nothing left to hold onto. They weren't "Sonny’s girl" or "Lily’s man" anymore. They were just two people who had officially run out of options.

By the time they found comfort in each other, they weren't just breaking Sonny’s heart (who deserved it by the way); they were essentially giving up on the versions of themselves that could have stayed loyal. It’s painful to watch because you can see the end coming, and you realize that even though Miguel didn't start the fire, he was the one standing there when the house finally burned down.

CONCLUSION

But if Miguel was the 'safe' choice that Brenda turned to, Lily was the 'silent' choice that Sonny didn't see coming. We've talked about the loud drama (the fights, the dancing, the wire). In the final part we'll talk about the quietest player in this whole drama. The one who didn't need a wire or a dance floor to tear everything apart.

Part 4 is Lily, the final 17%

P.S My question here: Do you think Miguel was the least to blame? Or was he as guilty as Lily?

Hello again everyone.

First of all, thank you for reading my post and contributing your own thoughts and opinions. I appreciate it 😊

In Part 1, we looked at how Sonny’s need for control and how his 'protection through 'silence' created the foundation for disaster. But a relationship is a two-way street, and Sonny wasn't acting in a vacuum. If Sonny was the wall, Brenda was the wrecking ball. While Sonny was hiding the truth to 'protect' her, Brenda was feeding his worst fears by looking for stability in all the wrong places.

This is Part 2: why Brenda’s own insecurities and mixed signals made an impossible situation even worse.

If you missed Part 1, you can read it here:

[Part 1 (Sonny)](https://www.reddit.com/r/SoapNet/s/GI9RkGQmzH)

**BRENDA'S PART(38%)**

**EXPECTATIONS VS REALITY**

Brenda more or less admitted to Lois that she wanted a stable and safe relationship but she was too attracted to what Sonny represented. The danger? The intensity? The unpredictability? That was Sonny. That was what she fell in love with. It was kind of ironic that down the line, she started expecting Sonny’s kind of love to evolve into something he wasn’t capable of sustaining.

**BRENDA'S OWN INSECURITIES**

Brenda also didn't come into the relationship whole. She did not exactly have great past relationships, starting from her father's abandonment. Also remember the older guy she told Miguel about? And Jagger? Her track record wasn't exactly good. There was a pattern of instability already. So when Sonny came along, she held on a little too tightly. *Does he really love me? Is he pulling away from me again?* She wanted that visible reassurance, with epic confessions and emotional reactions.....which is totally not how Sonny loves.

When he did show emotions it was always in the extreme because that's how he was. But consistency? Reassurance? That was never really his language. Brenda didn’t just want to be loved by Sonny, she wanted to feel loved in a specific, visible, emotional way.

**THE MIXED SIGNALS**

And let's not forget the mixed signals, both physical and emotional (which is where Miguel comes in by the way). Brenda’s physical and emotional closeness with Miguel unintentionally reinforced Sonny’s fears, even if that wasn’t her intention.

For the emotional part, whenever it seemed that Sonny was shutting her out, she'd immediately turn to Miguel. And she was always talking about how gorgeous he was and how he was so in touch with his emotions and all that (and his pretty hair of course lol). Of course Sonny didn't take that well (most people wouldn't take that well); it fed into his insecurities that she wanted Miguel whereas that was not the case at all. In a way I don't blame her, Miguel was one of the few people who never judged her and berated her for her choices. The one time he got angry with her was when she told Sonny about Lily and he forgave her in less than a day.

The physical part was also the same. Brenda was always too touchy feely with Miguel. It's hard to find a scene where she wasn't rubbing his arm or chest or holding his hand. There should have been a limit to that. Case in point: that particular scene of Brenda and Miguel dancing in the outhouse studio. And this was after Lois had just pointed out to Brenda that Sonny was jealous of Miguel because of how different they were. Brenda… you don’t start dancing like that with a hot bartender right after realizing your boyfriend is jealous of said bartender.

TL;DR: She was plain reckless with her boundaries. She'd complain that Sonny was shutting her out, then immediately turn to Miguel for the warmth Sonny was withholding. Whether it was the arm-rubbing or that infamous dance at the Outhouse, she was playing with fire. Even if her heart was with Sonny, her actions gave him every reason to believe she’d be happier with a 'stable' guy like Miguel, which only made Sonny retreat further into his shell.

And when she realized that she maybe she should have toned it down, she decided to tell Sonny about Lily, the final nail that ruined everything for her. Sonny, thinking that he'd found the solution to their problems, ran off to bring Lily back in order to keep Brenda and Miguel apart, and instead Lily ended up keeping them apart.

**THE WIRE**

Lastly, the big one: *the wire.* The wire was like the accumulation of both Sonny and Brenda's insecurities. The breaking point so to speak.

This was Brenda at her most desperate. *Sonny is shutting me out. He’s opening up to Lily in ways he won’t with me. He keeps saying he’s protecting me, but from what? From who? I need to know the truth by all means*.... At some point, “trust me” stopped feeling like reassurance and started feeling like exclusion. And Brenda couldn’t take that anymore.

And that’s the key thing. The wire wasn’t just about finding out information. It was about control. For once, Brenda wasn’t waiting, wasn’t guessing, wasn’t begging for emotional scraps. She wanted certainty, even if it meant crossing a line. But in doing that, she walked straight into Sonny’s worst fear.

Because for Sonny, trust wasn’t about openness, it was about loyalty. About believing in him even when he gave nothing to hold on to. And the moment Brenda chose the wire, it confirmed everything he already believed deep down; that she didn’t trust him, that she might turn against him, that letting her in was a risk he should never have taken.

So when he found out, it wasn’t just anger. It was confirmation that she didn't trust him enough. We all knew Brenda wasn't going to give the wire over, but Sonny didn't. And he took it as a betrayal (which it was).

And the tragedy in all of this is that they were both, in their own way, reacting to the same thing: fear. Brenda was afraid of being shut out and replaced. Sonny was afraid of being exposed and betrayed. And instead of meeting in the middle, they both doubled down in opposite directions.

By the time the wire came into play, the relationship wasn’t breaking anymore. It was already broken. The wire just made it undeniable. And once that line was crossed, everything that followed wasn’t surprising, it was inevitable.

**THE FALLOUT**

This one came really fast. Sonny immediately threw her out and ended things and Brenda became an emotional wreck. And who does she turn to again? The same Miguel. And we at this point know something that Brenda doesn't; Miguel is no longer the emotionally stable guy we knew at first. He's going through his own shit courtesy of Lily and Sonny. And with both their emotions running high, they sleep with each other for comfort. And it helps for a while, but when Miguel has to leave, Brenda (and Miguel) are rightly worried about what will happen when he's no longer there to be her anchor. (I kind of wish they'd ended up together though 🫣).

**CONCLUSION**

So while Brenda didn’t destroy the relationship, she didn’t hold it together either. She wasn’t just reacting to Sonny but to her own fears, just as much as he was reacting to his. And despite the love they had for each other, it was never going to be enough to fix what they brought into it. Because by the time they understood each other clearly, everything had already unraveled.

And then there’s Miguel. One of the two people often blamed, as if he was the reason everything fell apart. Except he wasn’t the cause. He was already there, in the middle of a relationship that was unraveling long before anything crossed that line.

And once you really start looking at his role in all of this, it stops being simple.

Part 3 will focus on Miguel Morez

**P.s** My question: Was Brenda actually wrong for turning to Miguel or was she just reacting to a relationship that was already failing? Or was it something else entirely?

Thank you for reading 🙂