Gays of Our Lives: Arresting Desires

Shortland Street  (New Zealand)

I said last week that television needs more femme gays like Jason because they do exist in the real world.  But Jason being a creeper stalking and terrorizing one of the show’s straight characters is the kind of homophobic storytelling that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  I don’t mind gay villains but this just reeks of stereotypes we don’t need to be reminded of.    Is it fair to accuse this show of homophobia given they have told stories of gays, lesbians, trangendered and asexuals in a positive light?  In this case, yes.  Or maybe it just bad taste.  Either way, this story is wrongheaded to say the least.

It’s also badly told.  For example, these supposedly smart people can’t figure out that Jason is the stalker?  It’s so obvious given the borderline insane things he’s said to Finn’s face and the fact that they knew Jason was mentally unstable after his ranting when he was turned down in getting all the plastic surgery he wants.  And why hasn’t anyone called the police?  Finn knows Darryl personally because of  the body snatching plot so why isn’t he involved at all in this story?  It makes no sense the police haven’t been brought in.

As for the other storyline with Jack, Charlie and Darryl, what is the point?  Is it finally going to bring Jack and Darryl together?   I don’t think it’s to get Jack and Charlie reunited, though I’ve always liked Charlie so it wouldn’t bother me.   I’d love it if Jack helped Charlie get out of this mess and they got back together.  But the show has been teasing this romance with Jack and Darryl for months so it’s long past time for something to happen.  Though if I’m honest, I wonder why Darryl would be interested in Jack to begin with.  I think he could do better!   However, if Jack and Darryl are going to date, could it last for more than a few weeks?  Jack deserves a boyfriend of at least a couple of months!

The Man in the Orange Shirt (Part 2) (U.K.)

I really, really didn’t like this second part of the mini-series.   I mean really.  First of all, I didn’t like the lead character.  The actor was beautiful and the camera loved his pretty face.  But the character was awful.  I don’t mind promiscuous men.  But he was a jerk on top of it.  Given that, I had no clue why Steve would be interested in Adam, much less end a long term relationship to be with him. And that was the second thing: I didn’t buy Adam and Steve’s relationship for a second.  They really barely had any screen time together before they were in love and Steve was leaving his ex to move in with Adam.  Hell, Steve’s breakup with his older lover had more emotion and feeling than any of Steve and Adam’s scenes.

Then there was the weird bit about Steve’s ex attending Steve and Adam’s housewarming party without a trace of awkwardness.  Did he even know Adam other than the very brief meeting at the start of the episode?  Are we to assume they got to know each other, just like we’re to assume Steve and Adam somehow, somewhere fell in love?  Then the ending twist about Steve finding out Adam was using the hookup app.  Adam swore he’d never cheated on Steve, but why would Steve believe him given he knows that Adam slept around a lot?   Why did Adam put the app back on his phone after taking it off anyway?   And why did Steve take Adam back at the end?  What did Adam say or do to prove he loved Steve and had changed?  The show never bothers to explain any of it.

But what I found really strange about this movie is that Adam has several explicit full on sex scenes with more than one man in this movie, but we get no love scenes with Adam and Steve.  A couple of kisses and that’s it.  No romantic love scene between the leads?  Weird.  Don’t get it.  I’d like to know the reasoning behind it.

Overall, this just made me wish I got a two hour exploration of Micheal and Thomas’ love story, even though they didn’t get a happy ending.  Because that was the real love story that I actually cared about and was invested in.

Unter Uns  (Germany)

Man, Finn and Easy’s love scene was hot and romantic.  The German soaps always do these things better than anybody.  It helps that the actors don’t hold back and have major chemistry.  It’s too bad that Finn is only here to help Easy realize he’s gay.  I’d like to see a full on romance between them.  But I’m guessing the show is going to pair him with Ringo.

I’m still bugged by the show’s insistence that Easy has to be gay.  With this character’s history it makes no sense.   After he has sex with Finn and says ‘I guess I’m really gay’, I just shook my head.  No, writers, no.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  It shouldn’t, especially as the show already has a bisexual character.

BTW, the actor that plays Finn has a terrific butt.  Thanks to the show for showing it to us.

CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS AND TEASERS!