LANGFORD'S PICKS AND PANS
Hotel Cæsar
I really hope that Måne comes out soon because he’s really become unlikeable in his determination to hide his sexuality. He made quite the fool of himself railing that the fashion designer wasn’t gay and his comments to the man himself were rather mean-spirited.
I liked that the guy cut right through Måne’s nonsense and tried to help him, even if he doesn't deserve it. I still don’t think when Måne finally does come out that it’ll be a big deal. His father is open-minded and non-judgmental as is his grandmother. I think they’ll be fine with it and will prove to be Måne’s biggest supporters.
I do like Måne’s father and his attempts to be a parent to Måne after neglecting him is rather sweet. Måne needs parental guidance to be sure, if only to do something about that nasty attitude of his. I think his father is right in that Måne needs to focus more on school and being a kid than running around the hotel and trying to be a corporate tycoon or something. Hopefully that might change in the future as well.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the next arc of the story plays out now that Måne is having sexual fantasies about Rock Young, who is due to become involved in the storyline. I think what I found most interesting is that Rock is somewhat older than Måne and is a far different type than Stellan, Måne’s previous boyfriend.
I can’t imagine anything romantic or sexual would happen between them since the guy seems old enough to be Måne’s father (though Måne did have sex with a much older woman in a previous story arc), but spoilers indicate that Måne meeting Rock will finally lead to his coming out.
And that can’t happen fast enough.
Neighbours
I was really disappointed with how they ended the storyline regarding Aidan’s problem at work. After all this time and all this drama, they wrapped it up with a quick off screen meeting and a short scene from Aidan explaining that it had been resolved. But I do wish Chris would stop being a whiny baby about how Aidan didn’t rush to let him help with the situation. It’s finished. Chris should just let it go and accept that he and Aidan handle problems differently.
Stop whining, Chris!
The Christmas party was kind of fun but it’s a dullish way to wrap up the season for Chris, whose story didn’t end on a cliffhanger. I do wonder what’s ahead for Chris in the new season with all the changes due on the show and the rumored exit of Bob Morely, who plays Aidan. I hope that with the coming and goings in the cast Chris doesn’t get lost and find himself spending all his time advising his new straight pals about their lives.
Hollyoaks
There was a time when I loved Brendan and Mitzeee’s scenes, especially back when Brendan and Mitzeee were pretending to be a couple. But now I can’t imagine that these two would even be speaking, much less friends. I seem to recall that it was Brendan who turned Mitzeee in to the police when Mitzeee was going to go on the run for stabbing Mercedes. He claimed he did it for her own good, but because of that Mitzeee spent months in jail and endured a lot of beatings and torture for a crime she didn’t commit.
I have a hard time believing that Mitzeee would ever forgive Brendan for that. But then I felt it was implausible that Brendan would turn Mitzeee in given their history and that he himself had been accused of and went to jail for a crime that he was innocent of. But another issue I have with the revival of this moribund friendship is Riley’s death and Brendan's role in that.
I know no one ever accused Brendan for being in part at fault for Riley’s being killed but that’s only because the writers don’t want to ever truly hold Brendan responsible for the things he does. Yes, Riley’s death was an accident, but it never would have happened if not for Brendan’s lies.
I wondered how the show was going to write Mercedes out of the mess she’d gotten herself into. After all, she’s one of the show’s lead bad girls and most popular characters and they couldn’t leave her in jail. I knew whatever they would do would be a mishmash of bad writing and implausible plot points and I was right. It’s just ludicrous that Mercedes and later Dr. Browning would be allowed to go on the stand and say what they did.
Most, if not all of their testimony would be hearsay and considered inadmissible in any courtroom. To accuse Riley, who is dead, of all the crimes that they are accused of without a shred of proof and have it be allowed as evidence is just throwing any sort of realistic courtroom procedure out of the window. Furthermore, would a jury really buy such convenient testimony? I mean, seriously.
Mercedes gets away with it… again.
And with Riley being blamed for Lynsey’s death, it’s pretty obvious that Dr. Browning will soon be on the loose. To be honest, I loved the character and I loved he and Mercedes scheming and plotting together. But when you’ve gone as far as they have, it’s just hard to not want to see them punished for their crimes and sent away for awhile. At least they are presented as villains and the show isn’t trying to shove some nonsense about them changing down our throats, unlike a certain mobster.
And there’s that bipolar Ste again. Last week, he was so over his marriage and was mooning over Brendan. This week, he’s all in on his marriage again without a thought to Brendan. Sigh. But I did like the scenes with Doug and Ste and how they handled the situation with Leah and her confusion about family. It was very sweet and it makes me wonder why the show bothers to spend time on such family moments when they have every intention of breaking up Ste and Doug and having Ste go back to his abuser.
Not only that, what teacher living in the UK in the year 2012 would tell Leah that she got it wrong regarding how she depicted her family in that picture? Ste and Doug should have been furious at such obvious bigotry and marched down to the school and given the teacher a peace of their mind.
Ste and Doug cannot catch a break though, can they? The show simply refuses to give them one moment's peace or respite with Doug’s parents coming and dropping their bomb. Of course this will finally bring about the end of Ste and Doug’s relationship as it's clear that Doug will be going to the States alone and Ste will go back to Brendan. I will not be looking forward to the next few weeks of this show. It’s going to be tough to watch.
Secret Lives
Okay, let me get the shallow stuff out of the way. Lari, the character is a total jerk, but the actor who plays him is uber hot and the more scenes he does with his shirt off the better I like it. And the scene where Elias rests his head on Lari’s perfect chest while they languish in bed after having sex? Yummy!
I’m glad this story, which not only moves like a snail’s pace, but seems to get less and less airtime each week, is finally going somewhere. Though it’ll probably be another month before we see the characters again. But given that Lari has made it clear he wants to be with Elias and they are both being so reckless, their relationship will be outed sooner rather than later, I think. I did like the scene where Lari admitted that as much as he was afraid of losing everything important to him, he couldn’t stay away from Elias.
I also liked the scene where, after finding out that Elias was on a date with another guy, Lari showed up at the restaurant and ruined Lari’s evening. And it was really cute how when they were walking together in the park, Lari reached for Elias hand to hold it. However, I wish Elias wasn’t such a wimp when it came to Lari. All Lari has to do was throw a few sweet words his way, and all is forgiven and Elias jumps into the sack with him.
Holding hands in public with your secret lover is never a good idea…
And I was also disappointed that Elias agreed to have a secret relationship with Lari. Given that they have such a small circle of friends and Elias and Lari supposedly hate each other, which Elias pointed out, how is that going to work? They’ve already been caught together on three separate occasions that I can remember. That idea just seems doomed to failure. I hope it happens soon though. It’s time their relationship was out in the open.
It’s too bad we don’t get to see more of Kalle’s storyline…
BTW, for those wondering, it seems that Kalle, the character we saw with Elias in his final scene is another gay character on the show. Apparently he was on the soap many years ago in the show’s first coming out drama and he’s recently returned. And in his own storyline separate from Elias and Lari’s romance, Kalle was just raped by a former boyfriend. It’s too bad that storyline isn’t available online to US and non-Finnish speaking viewers. I like this storyline fine but at the end of the day it’s just another coming out drama. I find Kalle’s story to be much more interesting, not to mention groundbreaking. And kudos to the show for telling both stories at the same time.
Thanks to Monpensiers88 for the clips!
General Hospital
I’m glad that General Hospital has finally added a gay character. To be honest, I’m surprised it took head writer Ron Carlivati this long. But then maybe the network wouldn’t let him or he was still uneasy about doing it after how badly the gay storyline on One Life To Live wound up — even though it was widely acclaimed and fans loved the story and the characters. But as much as I'm glad to see more gays on soaps, there are a few things bothering me and it’s the same thing that bothered me about Kyle and Oliver when they were on OLTL.
Like those characters, Felix isn’t tied to anyone on the canvas other than Sabrina, who is a new character with no ties to anyone herself. The show could have easily brought him in as a member of the Quartermaines’, who have African-American family members or at least made him a relative of Epiphany, a black character who has been on the show for years. To be fair though he does share the same last name as Toussaint Dubois who appeared on General Hospital: Night Shifta few years ago. So perhaps there is a connection there. I just think stronger ties to the canvas would signal a commitment to the character and his future.
However, since the actor is on contract and not recurring, I’ll try and have faith that Carlivati has story in mind for the character. And since Carlivati is using so much of the show’s history for other stories and characters, I hope he uses this chance to bring back Lucas Jones, who came out of the closet a few years ago, but hasn’t been seen since. He could be a love interest for Felix.
Lucas is related to many of the show’s core players, including Luke Spencer and Carly Jax. Lucas’ mother Bobbie, while not currently on the show could be brought back to re-introduce Lucas to the canvas. With Bobbie being a nurse and his deceased father Tony a doctor, it would make sense if Lucas were in the medical profession himself and therefore a co-worker/potential boyfriend for Felix.
As for the character himself, I am more than delighted that he is nothing like what daytime has given us before. I am so very tired of closeted twinky teenagers struggling with their identity. No matter how well their stories are told it’s hard for me to get interested in them because I’ve seen it so many times.
I’m glad that not only is Felix openly gay and has no issues about his sexuality, he’s also a person of color, another rare thing in daytime television. It’s just too bad that there are so many people, including gays themselves who have taken issue with this attempt at diversifying daytime television.
Lucas Jones, last played by Ben Hogestyn was GH’s only regular gay character….
I wish I could say I was shocked at the response to Felix, but I wasn’t. I’ve been around long enough to know that far too many people only seem to want certain types of gays on television, young, white, skinny and straight acting and appearing. I still see the pages and pages of nasty comments about Days of Our Lives'Freddie Smith, who many seem to think is fat. Those people by the way needs to get their eyes checked or have their televisions adjusted as they couldn’t be more wrong about Mr. Smith.
I actually hadn’t seen the episode with Felix, but had read the reactions online first and from what people were saying, Felix was a screaming queen, lisping and looking to try on Sabrina’s clothes. But when I actually saw Felix for myself, he didn’t strike me as particularly effeminate, In point of fact, he was much like the gay people I see and encounter all the time. But even if he were extremely effeminate, so what? Effeminate gay men do exists, just like black, obese and elderly ones do too. Gays exist in all shapes, sizes and colors and kudos to those who want to bring those various faces to our television screens.
I applaud Mr. Calivati for not trotting down the same cookie cutter path that ever other soap opera has done with gay characters. He did the same with OLTL’s Nick Chavez and the lesbian characters Delphina and Amelia Bennett and it’s wonderful to see him doing it here. His detractors, many of whom are professional journalists and gay themselves, ought to know better and should be ashamed for being so reactionary and judgmental about Felix and Mr. Carlivati’s intentions after only one appearance. I was glad to see him strike back and speak in defense of his character and his writing. It’s just unfortunate that he had to do so to begin with.
Days of Our Lives
I have a lot of problems with this baby storyline. Of course the biggest is that it’s being told in the first place, but barring a miscarriage, which is not going to happen, I’m certain Gabi will give birth and the baby will be the focus of Will (and Sonny’s) story for the foreseeable future. But if it has to be told, I wish the show could make it more entertaining, have it make sense and just have the characters behave in believable ways. Some aspects of the story are just ridiculous. And others simply don’t ring true.
One thing I find ridiculous is the antiquated thinking on the parts of Will, Gabi and Nick. You think these kids are living in the 1950’s instead of the year 2012. Is the only way they can be parents and raise the child together is if they are married and living the same home? They keep yammering on and on about family as if the only thing that is a real family is a man and woman and their kids. That the only thing that is a real family is something that only existed on a Norman Rockwell portrait or old episodes of Ozzie and Harriet. And yet all of them come from families of divorce and multiple marriages and have half-siblings and step-siblings.
Will talks about shuffling from one parent to another and how he doesn’t want that for his child, but Will can’t compare his growing up to how it would be for his child. He seems to forget that the reason why there was such conflict and combativeness when he was growing up is because of the lies, not in spite of them. Will says he was used as a weapon between his parents, but that’s not how it is with he and Gabi. They are actually friends. There are no romantic issues between them — unlike Sami and her dozens of suitors.
There is no reason why they couldn’t have shared custody and raise the child together. That is something that isn’t even considered as if they can’t work out some sort of parental arrangement. Nick says he’d be there for Gabi no matter what (thought I don’t believe it) so that’s no issue. So their decision makes no sense to me. In my mind, they are creating all this drama and angst where there need not be any. It would all be resolved if they joined the current century.
That’s one reason why they have to keep this nonsense a secret because the adults or Sonny would knock some sense into their empty heads and set them straight. Now the show is setting it up that Will can’t tell Sonny because Sonny would break up with him. As I said last week, that is not Sonny as we know him, but even if it were so what? I’m sorry, but Sonny and Will have been dating a few months. The fact that Will is going to be a father outweighs any relationship. Man up and be a father to your child. If you lose your boyfriend, so be it.
I know the show wants me to feel sorry for Will and his plight, but I don’t. To me he’s a coward and a loser who is abandoning his baby. It reminds me of how One Life To Live’s Oliver ignored for months that Sierra Rose was his because he was ‘scared’. I grew to despise the character because of that he never recovered with me. That’s exactly what is going to happen with Will the longer this nonsense plays out.
River City
I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Robbie and Will as a couple, but over time they have started to grow on me and I really enjoyed this past week’s episode that dealt with the aftermath of Will being injured on the job. It was nice to see Will lean on Robbie for a change since Will has always been the take charge one in the relationship and I loved the scene where Robbie told Will that while he would never interfere in Will’s work or try to get him to quit being a cop, Will had to at least give Robbie the right to worry about him. That was a nice moment between the two of them.
But I’m thinking that this is going to be the start of a dark time for Will and Robbie in their new marriage. The doctor telling Will that he would likely have some emotional aftermath following his near death coupled with Will’s anger issues makes me think we’re going to see the resurfacing of the domestic abuse storyline. The show has promised that they would revisit it and it looks like it’s about to come into play. I’m also intrigued by where the storyline with Will's crooked boss is going to go. But, something tells me that it’s going to end very badly for Donald and he’s going to find that consorting with criminals is a lethal idea.
As for the lesbian story arc, in which Robbie played a supporting role, it never ceases to amaze me how gay friendly this show is with both their gay storylines being prominently told. I don’t find the lesbian storyline particularly interesting, but I commend the show for telling it.
SCOOPS AND SPOILERS
Lari’s secret may soon be out…
Secret Lives — As Lari and Elias continue their secret relationship, the two boys try to find a place where they can be alone together. They decide upon a secret rendezvous in the forest and set up a romantic encounter. Elias waits for Lari, but instead Ida shows up with her new boyfriend Janne. Realizing that Elias is meeting someone, Ida wants to know who Elias is dating, but he won’t tell her. Later, Ida shows up at Elias’ apartment, determined to find out who her best friend is romantically involved with. Lari shows up and all too aware that Lari and Elias are supposed to hate each other, Ida wants to know why Lari has dropped by to see Elias.
Will and Sonny better enjoy this quiet moment while they can…
Days of Our Lives — Gabi and Nick’s wedding plans are underway, thanks to Sami, who is acting as Gabi’s wedding planner. As news spreads around town, Chad is furious to hear that Gabi is happy with her impending marriage and child. He is still blaming her for her role in Melanie's kidnapping. Chad continues to spew hate towards Gabi, prompting Sonny to ask him to leave her alone. Instead, swearing Sonny to secrecy because revealing Gabi’s deeds could void the legal agreement he made and send him to jail for beating up Nick, Chad tells Sonny about Gabi’s misdeeds and urges Sonny to keep Will away from her.
Worried about his boyfriend, Sonny drops by to see Gabi and warns her not to hurt Will. Gabi doesn’t understand why Sonny is suddenly so hostile towards her, but eventually realizes that Chad has blabbed to Sonny about her wicked past. Gabi tells Sonny to butt out of her life and vows she won’t let anyone ruin her future with Nick and ‘their’ baby. Meanwhile, when Justin learns that Chad told Sonny about Gabi, he warns Chad that he’s at risk for voiding his contract with Nick and could wind up in jail. Chad presses Sonny not to tell anyone else what he knows, including Will.
Chad tells Sonny the shocking truth about Gabi….
Meanwhile, Will is strong-armed by Sami into being Nick’s best man for the wedding. Will grows more and more uneasy about lying and tells Gabi it’ll be hard for him to attend the wedding knowing that he’s the father of her baby. When Gabi later tells Abigail about the baby and getting married, she accidentally lets it slip that she’s further along than they had originally told everyone. Nick steps in and covers for her, saying they lied about the due date so no one would know they slept together right after meeting a few months back.
As Will has agreed to be Nick’s best man, Sami suggest Sonny be an usher, but Sonny declines. Will wants to know why, and Sonny simply says he doesn’t like Gabi and wants Will to stay away from her. Will says he can’t because Gabi is his friend and needs him to be there for her.
Brendan punches Ste for love…
Hollyoaks — The twisted triangle between Ste, Brendan and Doug gets more twisted — and disturbing this week. Ste and Doug prepare to move to the US with Ste’s kids so Doug can be there for his ill father. But Ste, of course, can’t forget about Brendan. Determined not to leave without trying to get back together with his former lover, Ste goes by to see Brendan, hoping that Brendan will ask him to stay in the village.
Ste moves in to kiss Brendan, but Brendan, certain that Ste is better off without him, punches Ste, reminding him of their abusive past and hoping that will turn Ste off for good. It works (for now) and Ste decides to leave the country with Doug. But something else gets in Ste and Doug’s way when Ste gets a shocking visit from Leah’s biological father Billy, who turns up in the village, looking to be reunited with his daughter. Worse, Billy has every intention of taking Leah away from Ste. Will Ste let her go?
AND ALSO THIS WEEK….
General Hospital — Felix participates in the ongoing plans for the Nurses’ Ball…
NEWSBEAT
One Life To Live could be making a comeback…..
It’s been a few years since they were cancelled, but fans still miss ABC soaps All My Children and One Life To Live. You might remember that after the network axed those soaps, the rights to the shows were bought by Prospect Park, who had planned to continue producing the shows for the web.
Well, those plans fell through and fans had to accept that they’d never see their favorites on those shows again. But it looks like that might be changing. With the creative and ratings resurgence of General Hospital and the fact that their slate of talk shows aren’t doing nearly as well as expected, ABC is looking to consider bringing back one or both of their cancelled shows, at least according to soap blogger Jamey Giddens over at Daytime Confidential.
All My Children could be returning as well…
According to Giddens, ABC tried to buy back the licenses for the soaps from PP at several points over the past year, but were turned down. And when PP wanted to extend their rights to the soaps, Disney, which owns ABC, refused to let them.
One of Giddens’ sources, says: "There's been a lot of brainstorming about bringing those soaps back in some form or fashion; whether it would be as a limited-run summer series, or something for ABC Family. If a new model that makes sense financially can be achieved, ABC might not be out of the soap game just yet."
Furthermore, soap journalist Nelson Branco reports in his latest column that not only will we get AMC and OLTL back in one form or another, but that there should be word on exactly how this is going to happen sooner rather than later.
Here's hoping.
That’s it for another edition of Langford on Soaps. See you next time!
