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THIS WEEK IN SPOILERS
Coronation Street: Maria comes back from her long vacation in Cyprus and Luke is happy to see her. But Maria is clearly hiding something, taking secret phone calls from a man named Paolo. Audrey spies Maria kissing her secret guy and telling him that he has to stay away so nobody finds out about him.
When Maria sneaks off to meet Paolo, Luke follows her. He’s stunned to find out that Paolo is gay and Maria married him so he could be with his boyfriend who lives in the UK. What is it with Maria and the gay dudes? First Marcus and now this. Needless to say, Luke and Maria’s family are upset by her actions.
At first Luke is furious, but eventually forgives her and proposes they get married. But what about Maria’s gay husband?
Meanwhile, Todd is stunned when Sarah asks him to be her baby Harry’s godfather. Todd accepts.
EastEnders: Ben finds out about Abi’s baby lie and exposes her in front of the entire Vic crowd. Abi is humiliated as Ben takes out his rage on her. But Jay reminds Ben that none of this would have happened if he hadn’t of used Abi as a beard to hide the fact that he was gay. Determined not to deny who he is anymore, Ben invites Paul out for a romantic dinner.
Ben apologizes to Paul for the way he’s treated him and tells him he’s ready for them to be in an open relationship, if Paul still wants him.
Elsewhere the Carter family get a shock when Johnny comes home after over a year travelling with his boyfriend Luca. Johnny upsets his family when he reveals he’s only in town for a few days and admits that he and Luca broke up.
But Johnny gets a bigger secret from his mom when she tells him that Dean raped her and all the drama surrounding that. Johnny is devastated to learn all the angst his family has suffered during his absence and resolves to fix the recent conflict between Nancy and Mick before Nancy leaves town for good.
Throughout all of this, Johnny realizes that his family needs him and maybe he should change his plans to leave town again.
Emmerdale: Looking to cause trouble between Andy and Chrissie, Robert warns him that Chrissie will get bored with him quickly, but Andy counters by letting Robert know that Chrissie has invited him to move in. Elsewhere, Lawrence gets out of the hospital but isn’t happy to hear that Andy is now living at Home Farm.
Later, after Chrissie finds a leak at the mansion, she calls Ronnie Hale as he’s a plumber, hoping to find out if he’s her bio-dad. Once he arrives, Chrissie gleans information from the man and resolves to get to know him better to get at the truth.
The rape trial is underway and Robert is hurt when Aaron tells him to stay away from the courtroom. Aaron is first to testify and doesn’t do well under pressure from the defense’s brutal questioning. Saundra and Liv turn up for the trial and follow with their testimony. But things really look dark when Gordon takes the stand and tells vicious lies about Aaron. Aaron worries the jury will believe his father and not him.
After everyone has testified and the lawyers give their closing statements, Robert comes to see Aaron and vows to stand by him no matter what, hoping the two of them can finally plan for a future. The next day, Aaron hears from the court. The verdict is in.
Hollyoaks: Harry and Ste have been staying at Trevor and Grace’s place, but they get thrown out after they are thoughtless as usual and nearly kill Trevor’s pet fish. They then break back into Trevor and Grace’s and try and convince Grace she needs a maid and a personal trainer, but for some reason Grace doesn’t cotton to them sketchy behavior and they’re back on the streets again. Next the couple break into the Hutch, but James catches them. James threatens to tell Tony unless he does what they want. And what does James want with them? Hmmm….
Nashville: Will finds himself working with Kevin again. Will sparks fly? Do the two of them have a future?
Neighbours: Nate is upset to learn that Aaron was dating Tom while Nate was out of town. Aaron informs Nate that he thought he was over between them and that led to his brief relationship with Tom.
Meanwhile Tom is still missing following the explosion. Was he hurt or is he in hiding because he played a role in the blast? Now that he’s back, Nate resolves to return to the life he had before he left, but that could all change when Aaron makes a shocking confession.
Secret Lives: Kalle wonders if there’s more to Lari’s decision to quit working with Elias, but decides to put the past behind him and devote himself to he and Lari’s relationship.
Meanwhile, an upset Elias tells Lari about Kalle’s cheating. Lari accuses of jealous Elias of lying. However, reflecting on Kalle’s strange behavior as of late, Lari confronts Kalle with the truth. The question is Kalle will keep lying or finally fess up.
TEASERS FOR NEXT WEEK
EastEnders: Johnny makes a big decision about his future.
Hollyoaks: Ste stirs up trouble as Leela tries to start a new business.
Neighbors: Worried about Aaron, Nate tries to get him his job with Sonya back.
River City: Robbie comes to a turning point in his life that could lead him out of town forever.
Secret Lives: Will the truth about Kalle’s cheating bring Elias and Lari closer?
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
The Aaron crap was simply one of the most ridiculously dumb storylines ever. A guy with cancer comes back to reconcile with his mental son and terrible ex-wife only to be railroaded by his self-loathing, manipulative, spiteful, insecure, whiny, rat-faced, putrid children with no evidence of the crime but plenty of shenanigans on the part of the accuser, his podunk family and his murderous sleazeball “boyfriend”. No wonder the rosy resolution was him becoming a full-blown Dingle. Yeah because that’s a badge of honor.
And just as I called it, Aaron fully admitted after the verdict that he won’t ever be forgetting these long-repressed “memories” of this
supposed abuse because IT IS NOT AND NEVER WAS THE TRUE CAUSE OF HIS CHARACTER’S PROBLEMS. So yes, Miller yet again gets his way about being a non-practicing messed-up “gay” – now with a brand new perpetual fear of intimacy! Anyone who praises this character in any way is out of their medicine. I really hope they kill him off or recast the role.
The Magicians on Syfy is over for season one but may be of interest to you, Anthony.
Shadowhunters will always be hampered to varying degrees by the source materials. In my opinion, the further the show strays from the books the better it gets. The whole Malec arc was completely reshaped by the show producer and writers (to the horror of the purist book fans). They were supposed to be dating on the down low (and barely mentioned) in the earlier books. Also, Alec weren’t supposed to come out by kissing Malec in public until much later (no wedding involved) and the father was homophobic in the books. The show has updated the materials to be more poignant and refreshing for the fans. While the rest of the show often lacked finesse, the way it handled the same-sex relationship as a front-burner story deserves praise.
Thanks for sharing my interest in Lawrence. I find him one of the more interesting characters in Emmerdale, especially with his backstory. He has so much potential that the writers either can’t see or don’t want to acknowledge. I hope these letters are the start of a prominent story line for him. Apparently there is a funeral planned for Edna in the near future (the actress who played her passed away recently), and this could be a catalyst for more Lawrence development.
Add me to the list of viewers excited to see Johnny return to EastEnders. He could pair nicely with Paul as they have a similar temperament and are both out, leading to a nice soapy love triangle with Ben.
I enjoyed the Abi and Louise fight. Abi’s more interesting when she drops the self-pity and acknowledges what she wants. I’m also glad that the baby drama is almost done. I’m glad to see Johnny come back. It’s no surprise that his relationship with Luca lasted as long as Aaron and Ed’s. It will be interesting seeing him react to the drama that has happened since he left. Finally, do you mean a public relationship rather than open relationship?
I didn’t have a problem with a softer Robert showing up for a while. He doesn’t need to twirl his moustache 24/7. However, I was glad to see his ruthless side show up again. Anyone who thought that he had changed was fooling themselves. I’m looking forward to seeing the trial. I expect a lot of good acting.
I’m not sure whether Shadowhunters can fix its Clary problem because a lot of the problem is in the writing. The show doesn’t seem to see Clary’s self-absorbed recklessness as a bad thing. Without that, they can’t fix her character either by pushing her to the side as a character who messes up the rest of the main’s plans or by having her character develop and learn that she needs to consider the needs and desires of others.
I hadn’t realized you continued here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and spoilers for the gays in soaps!