By 
In this week’s edition of Gays of Our Lives:
- Jack and Charlie embark on a relationship on Shortland Street, but is Jack ready to move on after being hurt by Cam?
- A new gay comes to Hollyoaks when Nancy’s ex-boyfriend Kyle comes to town. He’s got connections in town, but with who?
- David and Rhys continue their secret affair on Rownd a Rownd, but Rhys overhears something that makes him question he and David’s future.
- Dom is reunited with his ex-fiancee on Holby City, which has an effect on his troubled relationship with Isaac.
- David finally comes out on Neighbours. And that might finally mean a future for he and Aaron. Or maybe not.
All this and more!
PICKS AND PANS
I’m not sure what the point of this story was but the only thing I could think is that it could never be told in this country. Jez is a bisexual who basically will sleep with anything (we saw on Holby City that he was ready to have a threesome with Dom and Isaac), but there is no moral judgement of his behavior. In fact, the show seems to find his slutty behavior cute and funny. Jez learned nothing and was already onto his next piece of tail by episode’s end. I did like the bit about Jez clinging to the pipe outside of Kalen’s window, but Elle didn’t hear the huge crash when Jez fell or see the pipe on the ground?
Elle wasn’t upset that her son was gay or sleeping with a grown man, nor did anyone else seemed to be shocked or appalled by it an adult having sex with a 17 year old. Yes, the age of consent is 16 in the UK, but in this country the crux of the story would be the age difference you can bet. I wonder if we’ll see any more of this story. But I doubt it. It seemed very much ‘a day in the life’.
I know a lot of viewers were put off by the fact that Jez is a bisexual who sluts around as if that plays into some sort of stereotype. But I guess I don’t see it that way. Jez is a good looking young man who likes lots of sex. If he were straight, no one would bat an eyelash. So why does he have to be monogamous just because he’s bi so people won’t be ‘offended’?
I didn’t watch the week that Paul and Sonny ‘made love’ (which is a ridiculous phrase for two grown men – or anyone to be using, BTW) but I see that Paul and Sonny are as chaste as ever. They finally say ‘I love you’ and there’s no kiss? They only refer to their having sex in passing? Think that would happen to a straight couple? Nope because in this same episode, a teen couple had an on screen love scene. This double standard is really hard to watch. It’s just infuriating. And given the terrible storytelling I don’t think I can watch anymore until the story changes AND these characters are treated fairly. It’s 2017 and I got better things to do. For now, I’m done.
Greenleaf (U.S.)
Interesting that it was Charity who decided on the divorce, rather than her fooling herself into thinking she and her gay husband could make it work. But does Kevin still think he can change? That’s what is unclear. I do think that they’ll try and have an amicable split, but once her parents get involved, that will be where the real problems start. I bet they try to keep him away from his son.
Holby City (U.K.)
So Isaac has been abusing Dom (off screen) all this time and we just didn’t know about it? I never liked the show’s decision to turn this from emotional to physical abuse, though I guess the show sees it as more dramatic. I kinda thought it was lazy. Oh well. Overall, it was a well done story and Marc Elliot was excellent as Isaac. I did think he and Dom had great chemistry, but that wasn’t the point of the story, I guess. I’m sure Dom will have a new boyfriend eventually. He never stays single for long. Let’s hope he has better luck next time. Ironic that an injury Isaac didn’t cause made Dom go to the police and report Isaac.
I did like Dom going to see Arthur’s grave at the end. I guess that was the show’s way of saying Dom was looking for someone after Arthur’s death (and Isaac was Arthur’s replacement at the hospital) and he thought he found it in Isaac. It was a sad moment (and I miss Arthur), but a nice coda to the story. And I loved the bit where we found out it was Hanssen who put the flyer in Dom’s locker. And yet, how did Kyle notice Dom was wearing makeup when no one else did?
Speaking of which, Kyle certainly has… changed since the last time we saw him, hasn’t he?
MORE ON THE NEXT PAGE
There’s a lot of potential for a Kyle and James story, so I hope your suspicion is correct. I’m keen to follow it as long as it doesn’t involve meddling mothers.
The teaser for EastEnders sounds encouraging. The show is telling some pretty good stories at the moment, and Johnny deserves to have one.
I kind of wish there’d been more build up with Jack/Charlie too because the chemistry really isn’t there at the minute. The actor isn’t great either and I feel like Reuben (who has improved a lot from his early days) regresses. Their interaction is just kind of wooden. BTW, Cam won’t be back any time soon. Last we heard he’d be staying longer in Wellington (for 6 months Vinnie told Jack) so I don’t think there will be any triangle – at least not yet.
Meanwhile, on “General Hospital”, Brad and Lucas decided to buy a condo! Except Lucas was completely off-screen, as will their new home most likely. The show also continues using Brad to engineer sympathy for Michael Easton’s latest character, which…booo.