One Life to Live writer Ron Carlivati wants to remind viewers that Marty has no memory of the gang rape involving Todd.

Moreover, the scribe insists that the curious relationship between the two couldn't happen under any other circumstance. He elaborated to Soap Opera Digest:

Digest: What do you say to viewers who cringe at the idea of a friendship or something more between these two?
Carlivati: I'm not quite understanding the resistance to exploring their relationship if she didn't know. I think I would want to hear more about it. Some of that is a reaction to just hearing Todd and Marty in the same sentence or seeing them in the first day or the week of the story. I'd be curious to know if they feel that way now.

She doesn't know who he is.... I have yet to meet someone who didn't think the rape story was the one of the best stories that One Life to Live ever did, but if I said, "Hey, I have an idea. Let's have three guys hold down Starr and rape her, what would everyone's reaction be?" They'd say, "No, I don't want to see that."

That doesn't mean that we don't sometimes tell stories that aren't sometimes difficult to watch or shocking. They always have consequences, but I think you can't be afraid to tell a story if it's a good story.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.