Gays of our Lives: Jack (Finally) Gets His Man on ‘Shortland Street’

Shortland Street  (New Zealand)

First, the important thing: Cam was way hotter with the longer hair he had last year.

I’ve watched a few gay storylines on this show over the years and they’ve all been pretty awful.  The Henry/Seth storyline and the Joe/Alex plot were absolutely dreadful.   And frankly so has most of the stories with Jack.  His coming out story was terrible (and mostly off screen) and his very brief romance with Edwin was cute, but the writers weren’t all that interested in it and it ended quickly.

I hated when Jack got a crush on older guy Cam last year and the show played ‘will they or won’t they’ for awhile only for Cam to sleep with several women, because not only did Jack stay sexless and pining after Cam, they’d already done that plot device with Jack and Kane.    When I read the spoilers that had Jack and Cam in each other’s orbits again, I wondered why they were teasing a plot I thought they’d never follow through on.  But to my shock, Jack and Cam have embarked on a full fleshed romance.  However like most of this show’s stories though, it pretty much came out of nowhere.

Up until now Jack and Cam have had little to do with each other for months.   So while I wonder why Cam suddenly has romantic feelings for Jack, the story works for me because Jack and Cam have always had sexual chemistry and their scenes have always come with an undercurrent of romantic tension.  Also, last year when Jack kissed Cam and Cam gently rejected him, Cam never said he was straight.  In fact, IIRC, the question was left unanswered and folks were just left to assume Cam was straight because he was so into Kylie at the time.

I like that Cam doesn’t have any hangups about his sexuality and doesn’t want to put labels on himself.  He just leapt right into things with no guilt or shame.  My favorite part was during the sweet and sexy afterglow scene Cam admitted held only kissed guys before and Jack was surprised saying ‘you seemed to know what you’re doing’.  LOL…  I’m also glad that they remembered that Jack was a virgin.  I also liked the brotherly scene with Cam and Drew after Drew found out.

Now while Jack has always had a thing for Cam, he certainly seemed to push aside the ugliness involving Curtis awfully quickly.  I mean on Tuesday’s show Jack literally said he’d never forgive Cam, but by Thursday’s show they were sleeping together.  Like I said, this story seems like it came out of nowhere. But it’s well told so far, and there is enough conflict to keep the drama going for awhile.

Now this is Shortland Street and most relationships end very badly so I don’t expect a happy ending for Cam and Jack.  I suspect that Cam will probably cheat on Jack with a woman and break poor Jack’s heart.

I LOL when Leanne said to Jack ‘Don’t get caught on a lift with a lesbian.’ in reference to the bisexual love triangle also playing out on the show.

That first kiss was kind of awkward, though, mostly because Jack is somewhat taller than Cam and you could practically see Cam standing on his tip toes to make the first move. Rueben Miller has gotten better as an actor.  He does some decent work here.

While I don’t always love this show’s plots, at least they do keep the gays, lesbians and transgendered characters on the canvas and in story.  Now more than ever, we need that.

Does Kylie sleep with all the new guys in town?  Seems like it.  Not mad at her though.  The new stud Frank is hot.

Shadowhunters (U.S.)

I guess the death of Clary’s mother is a departure from the books.  That’s not a bad thing.  The TV show doesn’t have to always follow the novels.  It gives the show some creative license and a chance to go in it’s own direction.  Besides, if someone had to die, Clary’s mother is the most dispensable character.  I’m just glad it wasn’t Lydia.  They need to give her more to do.

However, I think that Alec seems to accept what he did awfully quickly.  Sure he was possessed by a demon, but you’d think he’d feel guilty, that watching him murder Jocelyn would be tough to watch.   But there was little emotion shown on either Clary or Alec’s part in that scene.  I’m gonna say that’s probably the acting (or lack there of) though.   Given that, I’m not looking forward to watching Clary ‘mourn’ her mother.  And the demon was dispatched awfully easily.  Talk about anti-climatic.

That was a nice scene between Alec and Magnus where they try and make another date.  I still think that Matthew Daddario isn’t much of an actor, but he and Harry Shum Jr. make up for it with some nice chemistry.  And that Daddario is super hot helps.

I’d be okay if we never saw Camille again.  She was never that an intriguing of a character to me.  I’m glad Magnus healed Raphael’s pretty, pretty face.

The Halcyon  (U.K.)

Aww!  Poor Adil had his feelings hurt.  Though ‘befriending’ the boss’ son probably really isn’t a good idea.  If things went badly, Adil would be the one to suffer.  But this is an indication it’s not just the gay thing that’s a problem, it’s the difference in their stations.  And I also think Toby isn’t ready to deal with his feelings for men.  This relationship is doomed I think.

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