"Hollyoaks" Video Update: Just say Noah

When we last saw Brendan and Ste, they were still smarting from their recent breakup. Ste was upset that Brendan not only broke up with him, but is now dating Mitzee, who blackmailed Brendan into acting as her boyfriend or she’ll out him.

When Ste tries to warn Mitzee that she is playing with fire in regards to the very dangerous mobster, Mitzee tells Ste to butt out and focus on his pregnant girlfriend Rae. Mitzee has her own plans for Brendan and is certain she can handle him.

In other news, Doug, who ran drugs for Brendan at one time is back in town. And Warren continues to look for a way to get one over on Brendan.

I really liked the way the show introduced Noah and instantly integrated him with several of the show’s younger male characters. It’s natural and realistic that he would be pals with guys his age, and I like the setup of them all sharing quarters.

Noah is funny, likable and appealing and it’s great that he’s ‘just one of the guys’. I think Ethan, Doug, Riley and Noah make an interesting (and very cute) quartet, and I like the way they relate to one another – boys being boys, joking around and playing dumb jokes on one another.

Noah’s just one of the guys…

But I really like how Noah’s being gay is just not a big deal. Clearly Riley and Ethan, who are old friends of Noah's must know, and the way in which Doug found out was cute and funny.

And I liked Doug’s reaction at the news in that he didn’t have much of one at all. He was just a little surprised, like anyone would be. I just kept thinking that if it was a U.S. made show we’d have a scene where the straight guy would freak out and be all nervous that a gay guy was touching him. Thankfully this show, in this respect, is smarter than that.

It goes without saying that it’s fantastic that Noah is a gay person of color as such characters are far and few between. Hollyoaks hasn’t had a lot of success with minorities as of late. They recently wrote out nearly all of their minority cast members, so they really need some different faces to populate the village. Let’s hope that Noah won’t be the only person of color to show up in town in the near future.

Hollyoaks avoided the usual gay panic when Noah revealed he was gay…