Strolling around the park, Fabith continues their tiresome discussion about her being Christian's beard, how hard it is on Fabian, wah wah wah. Someone posted in the comments that the beard storyline was getting old and I wholeheartedly agree. Definitely time to move on and fortunately the sotry does just that thanks to Axel getting a wee bit more assertive.

Hmm, just what kind of go is Axel really interested in? And with whom

Yes. Yes, it is. I'll be glad once we move past the beard storyline and Christian's coming out to the world. Forbidden Love has handled it relatively well, but I'm really interested in seeing a storyline that is about them as couple without the "gay" stuff being central to the plot. I know it's a soap and there need be conflict, but I think the writers of VL can give us something a bit more original than this.

Finally, I'm leaving you with a picture of Olli gazing adoringly upon Christian just because Olli looks so darn adorable!

You can see today's clip after the break, and as always, thanks to Nanna and The Gays of Daytime for the translations.

You can see today's clip after the break, and as always, thanks to Nanna and The Gays of Daytime for the translations.

Today's Forbidden Love clip pushes the Judith-as-beard story hopefully that much closer to its resolution when blithely sociopathic boxer Axel jumps head-first into Christian's private life. Seriously, what is it with these boxing types being such busybodies? Why are all these macho men so overwhelmed by an all-encompassing need to know where Christian is sowing his oats? It's like Querelle with boxing gloves.

Anyway, Axel goes totally off the rails in this one, which is actually pretty fun. And after the speculation in the comments that Axel might be after more than just sparring practice with Christian, I'll admit that I initially took this line to mean something else entirely:

Is that what the kids are calling it now? After all, "rosebud" is just soooo Citizen Kane...

You can see today's clip after the break, and as always, thanks to Nanna and The Gays of Daytime for the translations.

Hmm ... "Curiously Strong"

Today's Forbidden Love clip continues the beard story (which I hope will run its course soon), as Fabian and Judith's plans for a movie night are ruined when her services are required for another night out as Christian's "girlfriend".

"I'd better hit the ATM first. A jumbo sized tub is ten bucks."

Judith catches Fabian trying to score a movie date with another girl, and is incensed (she shouldn't worry, they were going to go see Mulholland Drive, which means their hands would be busy scratching their heads). Olli and Fabian have a really nice heart to heart about how difficult it is to have to hide your feelings for someone, and Olli (who's just as compassionate and warm hearted as Hollyoaks' resident sensitive soul Kieron), hatches a plan to help out his straight buddy.

"Um, dude ... remind me again who we are?"

While getting ready for their public appearance as "Christian and Judith", she tries to contact Fabian, but is given the brush off. Little does she know that her boyfriend is planning a tropical surprise. But will it be ruined by another intrusive appearance by the sleazy, but hot Axel?

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Insert your own caption here

You can see today's clip (which does feature some NSFW German profanity) after the break, and as always, thanks again to Nanna and The Gays of Daytime for the translations.

In today's Forbidden Love (Verbotene Liebe) clip update, we continue the discussion started in our last update: namely, that Olli thinks Christian should pretend to date Judith in order to throw aggressive boxer Axel off his gay scent.

Christian isn't too hip to the idea, but when Olli tells him that it would kill him to see Christian throw away his career for him, it kinda gets to the guy and he sorta agrees to go along with it.

But not for long! It seems Batboy Fabian isn't too keen on the idea of letting his gal suck face with other guys in public, and Christian realizes that it's not fair to everyone and he should come clean.

Does this happen? Of course not! This is a soap, after all, and Christian does still frequent No Limits, which not only has physics-defying acoustics but also has a gravitational pull that draws only the most inconvenient visitors at precisely the wrong moments.

Seriously, a Starbucks would solve all these boys' problems.

Check out the ep after the jump! There's not much to it, but the early bit with Olli and Christian is at least two-pump skinny iced mocha sweet.

We don't normally post on weekends, but to help soap fans deal with the fact that Van Hansis didn't win an Emmy during Friday night's Emmy awards, I thought I'd post the latest Ollian clip to console you. Oh, who am I kidding? I just wanted to watch it myself so figured I might as well share it with everyone.

Things are sticky for Christian as rumors of his sexuality continue to dog his boxing career. The appropriately named Axel stops by No Limits to inform Christian he doesn't fight queers.

If Axel keeps that attitude up, he just might finding himself a "faggot" whether he likes it or not since Olli isn't going to take his insults lying down. When Olli gets in Axel's face, Axel comments that Christian's "faggot" is getting feisty to which Olli says:

You tell him, Olli! I appreciate that the show isn't dodging the fact that Christian is encountering homophobia in the boxing ring, but aren't making him and Olli passive victims. Plus we get one and a half more Ollian kisses nicely keeping the fact that they are a real gay couple more than just an abstract notion. Too bad U.S. television doesn't do as good a job of dealing with gay sexuality and homophobia as this one German soap.

And Olli continues to show how much he cares about Christian as he's the one who dreams up a way for Christian to shake the gay rumors. Of course, this being a soap opera, Olli's plan just might backfire, but we won't think about that just now.

You can see the clip after the break, and as always, many thanks to Nanna and The Gays Of Daytime for posting and translating!

Cover your ears, because the squee you're about to hear could be loud enough to reach all the way to Düsseldorf...

We're thrilled to announce that we've managed to coerce the adorable actors who play Forbidden Love's gay couple into taking an interview with us. Yes, Christian (Thore Schölermann) and Olli (Jo Weil) are both on board, and we've decided to give you diehard fans a chance to ask the actors your questions.

It's easy: Just leave your questions in the comments (if the Q is specific to one actor or the other, please specify, although questions like, "How many kittens have spontaneously been generated by the sheer power of your perfect smile?!" can of course apply to either) between now and Friday, Noon EDT. We'll select some of the best questions and use them when we interview the fellas, and will share the results with y'all in the coming weeks.

Have fun! 

Folks, we've got something very special for you: we stumbled across what is an apparently deleted scene from fan-fave soap opera Forbidden Love that reveals that the show's gay couple Christian and Olli are waaay more self-aware that we could ever have imagined.

Check it out after the break!

Today's Forbidden Love picks right up where we left off yesterday: with Christian's brother Gregor catching Christian and Olli in flagrante dilecto.

Gregor makes an awkward but mostly silent exit, leaving the fellas on the offensive for the rest of the episode as they attack Gregor for his chilly reaction. Why's Gregor so quiet? Well, let's just say that while he might be upset, it's not exactly for the reasons that Christian and Olli expect.

Is it a particularly fresh twist on the forced coming-out scenario? Not really. But it is sweet, and it is the long-overdue resolution of a pretty major obstacle in the couple's relationship, not to mention Christian's relationship with his only family. Group hug!

You can see the clip after the break, and as always, many thanks to Nanna and The Gays Of Daytime for posting and translating!

Time for another Pop! Quiz, folks!

Given all the goings-on in soapland both at home and abroad, I thought I'd see what people thought about the current crop of gay soap opera characters. Luke and Noah are on the skids, JP and Kieron are about to be third-wheeled by the return of Craig, and Christian and Olli may be in for some trouble now that their secret is out. So why not mix things up a bit by pretending that all our favorite fellas live in the same universe?

Who is your dream soap couple, mashup-style?

Cast your vote below!

It's a pretty big day for Christian and Olli, for several reasons: First, as you can see from the above screencap, Christian decides to stop reading AfterElton.com's coverage of Verbotene Liebe because of my sense of humor.

Gotcha!

No, Christian makes a major decision about his arrangement with homophobic, steroid-happy, and rather clingy boxing promoter Wolle, which gets him thinking about his father, his failures, the fact that he can't come out to his brother, and other things that aren't exactly kittens and rainbows.

Olli is of course there to help him out both emotionally and with what Dr. Marvin Gaye might have prescribed for his condition. That's right ... we're talking "sexual healing".

But as the last episode's previews hinted, the big news of the day is that Christian's brother, Gregor, is finally in on the fellas' secret. Remember how last time Christian tried to come out to his brother Gregor laughed it off as a joke? Let's see him try to laugh off the sight of his brother knockin' boots with his roomate!

You can see the clip after the break, and as always, many thanks to Nanna and The Gays Of Daytime for posting and translating!