Gays of our Lives (June 30, 2009)

Forbidden Love

I suppose we should be grateful that the show spent any time on Christian and Olli’s conflict given the minimal airtime they’ve gotten as of late. But to resolve their very real conflict in such a lame and sloppy way made it all seem much ado about nothing.

To be honest, I’m not sure how it was resolved anyway. Is Christian working at No Limits again? He seems to be. But wasn’t that the problem to begin with — close quarters at work and home causing conflict between them?

So exactly what was the point of the past few episodes if we’re simply back where we started from with no changes? Like I said, much ado about nothing.

*THANKS TO ICHGLOTZUTUBE FOR THE CLIPS!

One Life To Live

There really isn’t much to comment on here, at least in terms of Kyle and Fish’s relationship as they are still in that ‘unease around one another for some mysterious reason’ phase of the storyline. So the best is yet to come in that respect.

But what I am enjoying here is the characterization of Kyle (Brett Claywell), who is an engaging and appealing character and so not what we’re used to seeing in how our gays are depicted. Kyle is not sweet or big hearted. He’s not even all that nice and only thinks of number one.

In other words, I’m loving that he’s basically a slimy weasel — a charming and endearing one, but still a slimy weasel.

It’s going to be great to see how that plays into his relationship with Fish, once that gets underway.

EastEnders

There are so many things that click in this storyline. Syed torn between his feelings for Christian and his religious beliefs is a strong and topical storyline. John Partridge and Marc Elliot are great actors who have terrific chemistry, and they’re actually quite hot together.

However, I can’t ignore the fact that the foundation on which the story is built is shaky. Christian and Syed’s feelings for one another are far too intense for two people who barely know one another, have barely spent anytime together and have had only one kiss. They are playing it as if Syed is denying this great love between them when it should be much more subtle than that at this point.

I know, I know — "subtle" and "soap opera" are not words normally seen together.

The boys are hot… but the story is so much cold water….

And I don’t like Christian’s taunts and tormenting of Syed. he did the same thing last year after Ian’s stepson kissed him, and that resulted in Christian being accused of sexually pursuing a minor. It would be nice if the character would reflect on that and take a few steps back where Syed is concerned, showing not only growth in the character of Christian, but respect for Syed’s faith and how he’s chosen to live his life.

Most of all, the show really should slow things down and focus on forming a relationship between these men so we can really feel the emotional conflict. Unfortunately, it's probably too late for that.