Gays of our Lives (May 13, 2009)

This week’s GOOL starts with a look at long running Spanish drama The Heart of the City, which features one of the most romantic and well told gay love stories ever presented on television. I’ve also got some great (and not so great) clips in GOOL THEATRE, including a pair from All That Matters that you don’t want to miss. Plus there’s dish on the season finale of Desperate Housewives, insane spoilers and big casting news for As The World Turns, some hot pics of Forbidden Love’s Thore Schölermann – and more!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURE: GETTING TO KNOW...HEART OF THE CITY
GOOL THEATRE
IN MY HUMBLE OPINION (IMHO)
SCOOPS & SPOILERS
GOOL NEWSBEAT
BITS & PIECES
RATINGS & RANKINGS
SNAPSHOTS
SOAP STUD OF THE WEEK
QUESTION OF THE WEEK

This week we bring you a drama hailing all the way from Spain: The Heart of the City (El Cor de la Ciutat), which tells the love story of Max (Bernat Quintana) and Iago (Marc Clotet).

Max is an openly gay student with dreams of someday being a doctor while And Iago is your prerequisite smoldering hot bad boy with a shady past and a cocky attitude. Together they are your classic soap couple with Max being the boy next door and Iago the guy you don’t want to take home to mother. And in classic soap fashion, the two didn’t like each other from the moment they met.

Please be aware there are a few NSFW words here and there.

I think what I like most about this is how tried and true it is, right down to the heated argument that leads to the steamy kiss. This scene has been done so many times in soaps and in movies and yet it still manages to work, especially when you have actors with such chemistry.

That being said, in many ways this story is a cliché with nothing fresh except for the fact that it’s two guys. But that’s also what makes it so special. Even if all of the soaps without gay characters (or with under used ones) would just take some of the classic soap stories and put two guys in them, we’d have something revolutionary.

It isn’t long before Max and Iago get past their differences and become lovers. Iago tries to go on the straight and narrow by getting a job, but it proves to be difficult as both his past and his own foolish mistakes continue to get him in trouble. The fact that Max’s mother, Clara, disapproves of the relationship, even taking steps to end it, doesn’t help. Eventually, Iago runs afoul of a pair of thugs and gets involved in a robbery that costs his mother Berta her life and lands Iago in jail.

*THANKS TO EVAMA1977 FOR THE CLIPS! 

I loved these scenes for a number of reasons. First, the intense love between Max and Iago is so well depicted. Not only is the guys’ love for each other palpable, the scenes in jail where they wanted to touch, but couldn’t, were achingly romantic. That was more powerful than a steamy make-out scene.