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THIS WEEK IN SPOILERS
American Crime: Anne is desperate to save Taylor, who is in jail following the murder at Leyland. Taylor has given up, but Anne teams up with Sebastian and they concoct a plan to get revenge on everyone who hurt Taylor.
Meanwhile, Carl struggles to hold on to his family after Eric’s mother takes off with Eric’s younger brother, blaming Carl for Eric turning out gay. At Leyland, the students react to Wes’s death. And Becca has a stunning revelation for Dan about what happened that fateful night between Taylor and Eric.
EastEnders: Now that Ben has committed to her and the baby Abi claims she is carrying, Abi realizes she has to get herself pregnant quick. The problem is getting Ben to have sex with her, which Ben is avoiding. Ben reveals the reason why he’s avoiding intimacy is because he thinks he’s got an STD from his recent one nighter. Ew.
While Ben sweats out the results of his test, Abi wonders how she’s going to get herself pregnant if the prospective daddy won’t have sex with her. Babe has a shocking suggestion for Abi, but will she go through with it?
After Abi agrees, Babe puts her plan into action. But what does it have to do with Paul’s birthday party?
Emmerdale: Chas is upset that the police have gotten nowhere in the rape charges against Gordon and vandalizes his car. Robert is furious, insisting Chas is only making things worse for Aaron.
The police show up to question Chas about her actions and the entire village finds out about Aaron has accused his father of rape. When Aaron returns from his vacation, he’s angry that everybody knows what happened to him and wants to retract his statement.
Robert makes Aaron realize it’s for the best that the truth is out. Aaron thinks his case is hopeless unless they find his stepmother Sandra. Robert uses his connections to track down Sandra. Upon hearing the news, Robert and Aaron have a heart to heart and Aaron thanks Robert for all he’s done for him.
Things heat up between the ex-lovers and Aaron moves in for a kiss, but Robert pulls away, telling Aaron now isn’t the time for them to be intimate. The two of them have a serious chat about their past, which leaves them both hopeful for a future together.
Aaron and Robert then go to visit Sandra, where Aaron meets his half-sister Liv. Aaron tells Saundra what Gordon has done, but Sandra insists she’s knows nothing and can’t help Aaron.
But Aaron quickly realizes Sandra was aware of the sexual abuse and lashes out at her. Seeing things getting out of control, Robert forces Aaron to leave.
The next day, Aaron and Chas learn that Sandra told the police she doesn’t know anything. Aaron is certain his case is doomed. Aaron gets a surprise when the police show up again, this time to tell Aaron that a second victim has come forward against Gordon.
Hit The Floor: Zero faces the professional ramifications of his stunning decision to come out. Can Zero and Jude’s relationship survive the pressure?
Hollyoaks: Scott continues his efforts to help the Hutch get into the red, but thanks to James’ scheming, Diane finds out just how poorly the restaurant is doing. Diane confronts Tony, but he tells her he was just trying to keep her from worrying. Scott comes up with a new plan to save the business, but James plots against them, using a smitten Scott in his efforts.
Secret Lives: Even though they’re back together, things are still tense between Kalle and Lari because of Kalle’s family woes. Elias encourages Lari to cut Kalle a break. Kalle and Lari have an honest conversation and end up spending the night together.
The next morning, Kalle confesses to Lari that it bothers him that Lari and Elias are spending so much time together, but both Lari and Elias convince Kalle there’s nothing for him to worry about.
Later though, after noticing Elias’ odd behavior, Eva tells Lari that she thinks Elias still has feelings for him.
Shades of Blue: Sap’s death makes a guilty Harlee realize just how vicious Woz is and she goes all in with the FBI scheme to expose her boss. Meanwhile, with the team one man down, Woz looks to bring Loman into the fold.
Shadowhunters: Alec, Jace and Clary team up to find the Mortal Cup now that Clary has remembered where it is. But they quickly find they aren’t the only ones looking for it.
And Alec is shocked when he hears his parents’ plans for his future. Will Alec agree to an arranged marriage to make a peaceful accord between the warring factions in the world of the Shadowhunters?
TEASERS FOR NEXT WEEK
American Crime: Leaked information implicates others in the night of Taylor’s attack — as well as Wes’ shooting.
Emmerdale: Robert’s actions put Aaron’s rape case in jeopardy.
Hit The Floor: Zero throws an unforgettable party.
Hollyoaks: James manipulates Scott.
Shadowhunters: Alec is forced to make a difficult choice.
Shades of Blue: Woz and Donnie’s gay affair is revealed.
That’s it for this edition of Gays of Our Lives. I love to hear from readers so please share your comments on the thoughts and opinions expressed in this week’s column below. You can also tweet me @adlangford or email me at adlangford@sosourcemedia.com
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Being redeemed by love is a soap trope, Cain was redeemed by his love for Moira and in a lot of ways he was worse than Robert. That storyline is in a way more problematic as they killed off her husband to facilitate it. In fact I’m finding nothing different about this storyline than numerous straight couples have had so how it is catering specifically to m/m shippers beyond it being two men is beyond me.
The rape story line has been in the works for over a year so was not introduced to cater to fan girls or specifically to redeem Robert. It was introduced to explain Aaron’s problems and probably to give Danny Miller something juicy to do and yes to win him awards.
I would also appreciate not being spoken to in such a condescending manner. Your opinion is not fact and acting as if the truth has now been spoken and anyone who disagrees is a blind shipper doesn’t make it so.
Robert could have been redeemed in many different ways without turning Robert & Aaron into a love story.
The show is using this Aaron rape storyline to redeem Robert because its desperate to win soap awards – and by giving the m/m shipping fandom what they want, i.e a love-story between then, they’re banking on it being a soap award winner.
Aaron & Robert have become little more than gay fanfiction brought to primetime tv for a show that now reeks of desperation to win awards.
Robert didn’t murder anyone on Emmerdale last year. There was the accidental death of Katie, yes he pushed or more accurately flung her to the floor but who in their right minds thinks the floor will collapse underneath them like that. Apart from that no one else died, so I don’t know who all these people he murdered are. Even the attempted murders were left ambiguous (apart from the Chas one but It was so stupid I think even the show is pretending that didn’t happen)
As for remembering what he did, I also remember that Aaron not 2 months ago beat a man so hard he put him in hospital, but we’re suppose to forget that happened because poor Aaron (he also bottled and could have killed James)
The Robert redemption is on course but what I think a lot of people forget is that Robert is a more important character in the shows history than Aaron. Aaron might be very popular but Robert is a Sugden born on screen. He isn’t being redeemed so he can be with Aaron, he’s being redeemed so he can stay on the show long term.
Stop thinking of him as Aaron’s love interest and instead as as legacy as a character can get and everything will make more sense
For American Crime, I can see the murder charge as an opportunity, even though there are only a few eps left, for Taylor, his defense people to get into court or on record, under oath all of the people from Leyland who have been trying to avoid just that. Felicity H.’s character isn’t going to be able to spin herself or the school out of a murder investigation.
A group of boys beat Taylor up. Wes was one of them so even though it wasn’t self defense per se, he was being aggressively, verbally attacked by someone who had physically attacked him. The shooting had context. Maybe it will fall under a PTSD response that his therapist can testify to. Diminished capacity and all that The rape is still at the root of all this evil.
Since Becca is a dealer, I guess she can tell the truth about how Taylor was drugged. And maybe at the very least the attack on Eric in the car will make him understand that he is indeed a rapist, since part of his excuse was once Taylor said yes at the beginning he couldn’t change his mind.
The scene with Taylor and his mom was heartbreaking.
Its weird reading your commentary on Shadowhunters and you speculating on what will or won’t happen because I’ve read all the books and can’t help smirking or thinking ‘good luck with that’ at certain points.
I don’t think I understand your last point though about their fascination with each other. I think the show did a good job of showing Magnus instant infatuation with Alec based solely on his looks. It didn’t really explain Alec’s infatuation since he’s suppose to be in love with Jace. But I guess it’s natural that a young gay boy would be fascinated by any good looking guy who showed some interest in them and just expects the audience to intuit that.