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In this edition of Gays of Our Lives, Iolo and Tyler are at odds on People of the Valley, Henry and James have a day at the beach on A Place To Call Home and John Paul learns about James’ painful past on Hollyoaks.
And next week, is there a new gay coming to Neighbours? Takaya Honda (left, above) joins the cast as Dr. David Tanaka. nd David, along with his fraternal twin brother Leo, played by Tim Kano (right), come to town with a couple of secrets.
One is that David is struggling with his sexuality and devotes himself to his career rather than deal with what he really wants. I’m guessing Aaron will be the one to help David figure out he likes guys. Another coming out story. In 2016. Sigh.
And the other secret? David and Leo have come for a mysterious reason and start digging into the pasts of the town’s most prominent citizens. My guess is they are related to somebody in town. Let’s hope it’s not Aaron. Though that would be different than the usual gay drama.
On with this week’s column….
PICKS AND PANS
A Place To Call Home (Australia)
I literally laughed out loud when the hunky swimmer talking to James put on his priest’s collar. It was an over the top moment, but I loved what the show was saying. I’ve always appreciated that this show has told us that not only did gay people exist back then but they lived everyday lives and fell in love and had romances, even if they had to do it in secret. I enjoyed James and Henry’s scenes, but for some reason I get such a Dynasty Season 4 feel from them. Folks might know that Season 4 was when Steven accepted that he was gay and fell in love with sweet, beautiful Luke Fuller.
Steven, like James, still had plenty of conflict about his sexuality and was still tied to his marriage and child. And like Luke Fuller, Henry is the understanding boyfriend, yet has little patience for dealing with James’ issues. Eventually though Steven came around and committed to a life with Luke. But let’s pray it doesn’t end for James and Henry like it did for Luke and Steven though. No Moldavian Massacres please!
I’m glad that Jack and Carolyn are putting her rape behind them and planning their wedding. I love them together. I really, really hated that plot point from last season. If only they didn’t have to deal with that scuzzy Richard. I have a feeling though that he’s being set up to be murdered by somebody before the season is over.
Poor Olivia is clearly being used. I bet she never sees Lloyd again. He’s gonna take her money and run. And I’d bet it’s not the first time he’s taken advantage of a lonely wealthy woman.
I appreciated seeing very little of Gino. I’ve honestly never cared for the character. He’s always been kind of a drag on Anna and I don’t think he understands her. I think Anna needs to meet some hunky fellow writer to challenge her in terms of her talent and it would lead to more of course.
Eva is such a blabbermouth. There was no reason to tell Billy about what Sean almost did. Some friend. I do feel sorry for Sean. He’s never been my favorite, but he didn’t deserve to get cheated on, dumped and then accused of trying to destroy Billy and Todd’s relationship.
I didn’t expect Billy and Todd to exchange ILY’s. That was a nice scene. But, it’s obvious Todd is the one who made that call and he’s kind of manipulating Billy into leaving the church to make it easier for them to be together. It’s classic scheming Todd. It’s awful behavior. And I don’t think Billy will forgive him for it when he finds out.
As for the other storyline, that really progressed quickly. It was way too easy for Todd to finally figure out that Phelan was up to no good after months of trying to get dirt on him. But I didn’t expect the twist of Phelan asking Todd to go in with him. Of course Todd will do it or there’s no story. But is he doing it to trick Phelan or for the money?
Other Scenes
Phelan’s Questioned By The Police For Fraud
Days of Our Lives (U.S.)
So I guess these three villains are going to run around rampant in this small town for months terrorizing everybody and not get caught? Okay.
They thought Orpheus was dead for all these years but instead he was in a local jail under an assumed name? Umm… sure.
The scenes at the wedding were silly with Orpheus letting everybody go knowing they’d call the cops. And to be honest, I’m not sure if bringing back a villain from 30 years ago is something current viewers would be interested in. Guess we’ll see.
Why would Orpheus take Paul hostage instead of Brady who is also John’s son? If revenge against John was the idea, he failed at that plan. He just let Brady walk out!
I’m sorry but I do not feel sorry for Theresa at all and I have trouble seeing Xander as the villian. She sent Xander (who was no saint) to jail on a phony rape charge just so she could get Brady for herself. He has legit reason to hate her. She’s gotta pay for that. Has to.
Sonny is clearly in love with Paul and Paul still has feelings for Sonny. So why aren’t they together? What is keeping them apart? Nothing really. I know were to believe that Sonny is still ‘grieving’ Will. But we’re not actually seeing that and Will has been dead for over a year. And Will and Sonny weren’t even together and weren’t going to reunite before Will died. Time to move on. This would work so much better if Paul was involved with someone else and that was the conflict between them. This way it just all seems silly.
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Oh, I agree. For once Todd could have been more than just “the bad guy”. It infuriates me that this brilliant character is reduced to just a boring soap baddie. It’s especially annoying considering how much he had improved over the last few months. He was getting less selfish and he actually cared about other people, like Billy, Sean, Eileen, Jason, even Tracy. It was nice seeing that softer side. I think viewers really warmed up to him. Making him go bad again is repetitive and boring. It’s like the progress he made was all for nothing. I don’t agree with this direction at all. I could have accepted him using his manipulative streak for good, but to have him actually call the bishop under a fake name to make a complaint? That is low, even for Todd. Actually I’d say it’s the worst Todd has even done because Jason and Eileen deserved what Todd did to them. Billy did nothing wrong, and is a victim in all of this.
Anthony, you’re wrong when you say “There was no reason to tell Billy about what Sean almost did.” He DID in fact cancel their hotel room. It was Eva who made him rebook it.
I was conflicted about Robert possibly getting caught. On one hand, it was at least his fourth attempt at murder since he came back. At some point, he needs to pay a price for those crimes. On the other hand, Chrissie has been so over the top in response to Andy cheating on her that for the first time I wouldn’t be sorry if one of Robert’s attempts succeeded.
With Ste’s track record, I’m surprised he made it to his own opening event. His last two first days involved getting sick because he was taking drugs and sending his boyfriend to fill in for him. I’m also annoyed about the talk of Leah having multiple parents. I don’t recall if they have said how long Amy and Ryan have been together, but Ste has had so many partners in the past few years that he shouldn’t be having his kids treat them like parents when they will probably be broken up a year from now based on his history.
None of Robert’s stories during Ryan’s time in the role have ever been his own. He’s always a plot device for other characters. For all the criticism his current material gets here, it’s the closest they’ve managed to come to any balance for him. Last year just became a bad joke and the abuse story made me queasy in how they romanticized him.
But the thing with “domesticated” Robert taking care of Liv is…he didn’t actually take care of Liv at all, unless you mean one scene where he asked her to do her homework? What else was there? He was busy plotting, with Adam and Chas doing the poor attempts to supervise her. I get confused when I hear that the relationship has led to too much of a tame Robert, because Robert is more involved in his usual dumb schemes now than he has been since last year, when he was so OTT that he couldn’t stay on the show unless they made real changes. Surely this is preferable to the icky treacly offensive writing during Aaron’s abuse story, where Robert gushed about “my everything” when he wasn’t doubting that Aaron had even been abused?
I get why people don’t like Liv, but in terms of what she is supposed to do to the “Robron” relationship, I don’t really see it. They are just an awkward couple because for the most part that’s all Emmerdale ever does with m/m relationships. The actors also seem unsure of how to play an affectionate Aaron and Robert. It’s gotten somewhat better recently, but I don’t think it’s ever going to be what it was during the affair. That disappoints me, but then when I think of how horribly written and dispiriting the m/m couples on Corrie and Hollyoaks and Eastenders are, I realize I don’t even care that much. Equality in kissing doesn’t really add up to anything when it always goes straight to the toilet.
Corrie seem determined to show us why we shouldn’t care about the Todd/Billy relationship and should only see Todd as a destructive loser. I’m reminded of why I so often avoid watching the show in recent years. Rinse and repeat.
I do think I read that Sabrina’s exit will mean not seeing Felix for awhile (if ever) again. No surprise.
I get the same impression about Marnie. I’m looking forward to Linda Gray joining the cast. So many times, British soaps add actors who are only well-known in the UK, but I’m American and don’t get to appreciate their work the same way.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Marnie knew about the abuse and looked the other way so she wouldn’t lose the man she’s obsessed with. It also might explain why James is her favorite, far more than her other children. She gives him more love and attention as she felt he needed it because of the abuse. I wonder if it’ll all come out when her mom (played by Dallas’ Linda Gray) comes for a visit?
It’s rare that I get to say this about a soap character, but I would have done exactly what Tyler did in that situation – except I would not have hidden the fact that I called the police. This story might be salvaged if the point is that Iolo’s OCD is manageable when it involves arranging the silverware in the drawer, but now he’s letting it put him in danger. Anyone who cares about him would want to stop him. Mel’s partner in crime is Tom, the guy that Iolo met on Volcano. Tyler could recognize him because he was checking out Tom’s profile before Iolo went out with him.
James is the most interesting character in any of these shows at the moment. I was relieved that the abuse story will be about physical abuse and not sexual abuse. Those stories tend to ruin characters, but this one has me interested in seeing more. Something tells me Marnie won’t come out of this smelling like roses. James and JP are a good match for each other and make a really handsome couple.
Robert is more interesting (Liv notwithstanding) when Aaron is away. It reminds us that he actually had a life and his own stories before Aaron’s abuse story changed his direction. I’m anxious to see what happens this week when he tries to sabotage Chrissie.
Meanwhile, on “General Hospital”, the hospital serial killer storyline is heating up and Julian’s trial has begun and Lucas and Brad…are nowhere to be seen! Ugh. And since his only on-screen reason to exist is dead, I assume Felix will mosey on out of town soon.
Oh, but Mel’s now claiming to be a closeted lesbian to really work Iolo. And even if she is, I don’t care. Iolo is just being an idiot in service to a dramatic storyline that will keep him and Tyler at odds just because.