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Gays of Our Lives: Odds and Evens

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People of the Valley  (Wales)vlcsnap-2016-12-05-10h36m00s816

Iolo better be careful. Gwyneth does not play nice.  He should remember she killed someone who got in her way.  I don’t know if she’d go that far with Iolo, but she’ll do something despicable to get what she wants.  Anybody who’d fake a mental disorder to manipulate people is capable of just about anything.  I just don’t think he should be so smug.

I liked that conversation between Tyler and Colin about kids.  It would made sense that Tyler would know about teenagers.  He’s a teacher.  I wish that Tyler (and Iolo) had a storyline though.  They haven’t really done anything since the wedding.  Thing is, on this show you can go months (or years) without a storyline.  Iolo certainly has before.vlcsnap-2016-12-05-11h06m28s595

I gotta mention a couple of the other stories.  I never thought they would back Kevin, especially with how they wrote him out.  That rape storyline was awful and so out of character.  But it would make sense a guy like him would be ashamed and embarrassed for what he did and want to make amends.  While it’ll be interesting to see where they go with this, I’ll hate to see folks condemning Kevin.  Lots of people in the village have gotten away with their crimes.  Kevin is one of the few who went to jail and did his time.  He deserves a second chance.

I guess we’re supposed to feel sorry for Chester, believe he’s just a troubled kid lashing out, but he’s hurting inside.  I guess that creates a more complex character, but at the end of the day, Chester spends most of his life making those around him miserable.  And that’s not fun to watch.

 


Rownd a Rownd  (Wales)vlcsnap-2016-12-05-11h54m48s854

These were nice scenes and the final scene between Rhys and David was interesting and just a little bit hot, but I need to know why Rhys would be interested a closet case like David.  Sure, David is a good looking guy, but there’s lots of attractive guys who are out of the closet and doesn’t come with the associated grief.  This is a question I always ask myself about gay guys who get involved with closeted men in these stories.  Why is this guy worth all this drama and heartache?  The show hasn’t bothered to answer that question.  And I wonder if they actually will.

 


Skam (Norway)

evenIt takes awhile sometimes for me to get around to watching shows.   Life is just so busy and I have so many shows to cover.   I kept hearing about this Norwegian teen drama Skam and the gay love story between Isak and Evan.  This week I finally got a chance to check out the show.   I only had time to watch the last couple of episodes, but I came away impressed.

***Editor’s Note: SPOILERS AHEAD: If you don’t want to know certain plot twists I’d advice you to stop reading now.***

Mental issues are something not often handled on television and it’s an intriguing twist to have it be the spoiler somewhat in Even and Isak’s relationship.  The guys have terrific chemistry and that love scene was really well done, steamy and romantic.  Can’t remember the last time a soap did a good gay love scene.  The way the scenes were shot and the music used in the background were perfect.   

Just from the bit I saw I find their story to be compelling and sad and very realistic.  No soppy or turgid melodrama or ‘soapy’ moments.   The story beat about Even’s mental condition is fascinating, but painful to watch.  You could feel Isak’s heartbreak by the expression on his face when Even, clearly in the grips of a manic episode, was going on about marriage and the future.  Isak clearly knew there wasn’t something not right with Even in those moments.   This is no hearts and flowers gooey teen romance and it’s all the better for it.

isakI liked the bit about Isak coming out to his mom on a text and her loving response.   Teens do everything, even important moments by text so that was very real to me.  Overall, this is a well done and well told and well acted gay love story full of elements not typically find in the genre.  Kudos to the show and the writers and the actors for giving us what we’ve seen before, but making it refreshingly different.  I’m going to go back and watch all the episodes and I don’t often do that.  I understand why this show has garnered such a legion of fans.

ADDITIONAL SCENE

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Anthony D. Langford
I watch a lot of television, probably too much. But can you really watch too much TV? I've yet to find out. Anyway, I especially love TV when they give us positive portrayals of gays, something that has gotten better but we're still fighting for. I've written about gays in television for many years first at the much missed After Elton, then New Now Next and now at TV Source. It's kind of a passion of mine and I look forward to sharing it with you.

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16 Comments

  1. YESSSS re. Skam!!! I’m fully obsessed.

    You must go back and watch all of season 3. The acting is beautiful, along with subtle and brilliant use of music. The drip feed via the website of clips, social media updates and texts is so so clever. Currently awaiting an update and can’t stop checking the site!!

  2. That was a change made by the editor not me. My stance remains the same.

  3. I dunno… i found those scenes with Oliver and the paramedic to be kind of weird. Oliver’s mother just died and the paramedic is clearly hitting on him at the scene. And then, hours later, with Oliver’s sister in the hospital having emergency surgery, Oliver sees the guy and they flirt and make a date? I’m like, really? Will they have their first kiss at Mom’s funeral? LOL….

  4. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2fUjgXqU1aKY2xScWM1QTJWTFE
    Google Drive of clips and episodes with English subtitles^
    They’re usually pretty quick and consistent with the uploads. If you have trouble (because the site sometimes gets overwhelmed with all the sudden traffic) ..if you have a Google Drive account, i.e a Google account, you can just right click the file and copy it, then play it. Hope this helps .. if you have Twitter, there’s a community of much smarter people than me.
    https://twitter.com/ISAKxEVEN

    Happy Skamming and Enjoy!

  5. How are you watching Skam? I’m having a difficult time finding all of the episodes with Eng Subs.

  6. Regarding Casualty – Dylan has been on the show for a while (he even left and came back a couple of years ago if I remember correctly) and there hasn’t really been a focus on his love-life for a long while. When he was first on the show he was revealed to have been previously married to another one of the (female) doctors (Sam, who left a couple of years ago after marrying Tom Kent) but they didn’t get back together and since then I don’t think he’s been involved romantically with anyone at all. So if the show does go there then it won’t be totally unbelievable but maybe a bit unexpected! I think it actually be quite interesting, as Dylan’s storylines have focused more on his mental health (he has OCD).

    I really get the impression with the character of Seb that it was written with a younger actor in mind? I know that medical students don’t all have to be in their early 20’s but Seb’s issues with his father and the crush on his mentor seem a bit ‘young’. Rik Makarem is quite hunky though, so I shouldn’t be complaining!

    Oh and speaking of the cute Iranian refugee that Jamie left with – well the actor has been in Eastenders for a year or two now, playing Kush, and he is looking extra beefy this days I must say :D haha.

  7. *snaps fingers* .. I knew I recognized that guy from Causality from somewhere. Emmerdale. I completely agree, they had some nice chemistry brewing. I wouldn’t be at all upset if the older doctor was uncomfortable due to some attraction for the younger guy.

    Speaking of Emmerdale, I’m happy they’re telling such diverse gay inclined stories, but with Lawrence, I just end up feeling bad for Ronnie. While I don’t know what their life was like back in the “olden days” .. I can’t imagine that Lawrence lives up to some rose-colored glasses version of whatever they had previously, but then again, maybe he was always awful and Ronnie likes that about him.
    It kind of reads like an different version of Aaron and Robert’s story .. you know you’re probably not great together, but there are only so many gays out there…so …Eh, you’ll put up with whatever.

    But Anthony, I’m glad you finally drank the Skam Kool-aid. lol. Welcome on board, we’re glad to have you.

    Now that you have that out of the way, you can get caught up on “Merli”. The main ones to watch are season 1, episode 9; season 2, episodes 4 and 10. The rest is interesting, but can be seen as filler and fallout. All in all, it’s good, if you like philosophy.
    http://www.dailymotion.com/RK_Fanvidder.

    (Just a suggestion for when things die down. I know you have a full plate).

    Anywho, have a great rest of the week and take care of yourself!

  8. Once again I agree with you about how awful the Sonny and Paul story is I’m about to fast forward them with those god awful teens. I also ageee that Helen and kamila are morons on eyewitness. And even though I love Robron even I was like oh please when Robert said Lachlan should go down for gunning down Lawrence. Keep up the good work. It’s always a highlight for me to read your column.

  9. Oh, it’s changed. I think it’s better to whet the appetite of readers like it does now. Especially if it’s meant as a positive review also for people who haven’t already watched these shows

  10. Ridiculous, isn’t it? And it’s only going to get worse, unfortunately.

  11. Is the theme of the week guys so scared of being honest with their partners that they’d rather risk going to jail?

  12. I haven’t read your other reviews, but I know that reviews in general are vague about the details while still getting across the themes that a show or movie are about. You’re just blurting out the biggest revelation that the season spent 8 episodes building up towards.

  13. By your statement, every review in this column (and every column I’ve written for the past 10 years) is ‘ruining’ the show as many folks haven’t watched the shows discussed here. I can’t control when people watch whatever they watch. I only saw it myself last week and went in knowing the story, which has been playing out for weeks. If i don’t discuss what happens on the shows as they air in detail and with specifics, then I’m not doing my job. But I appreciate your thoughts.

  14. Call it what you want, you’re ruining the show for those who haven’t seen it, but will soon

  15. It’s not considered a spoiler if it’s already aired.

  16. Here’s hoping that people who have yet to watch Skam doesn’t read this article only to get half the build up of the plot spoiled.

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