"Hollyoaks" Video Update: “Ste’s Turn To Cry”

Whew! Where shall we start? It was a typically busy week in Hollyoaksfor Brendan and Ste. Warren found Brendan’s drug stash and gleefully told Brendan he’d discovered them. Claiming innocence, Brendan explained that he took them off some kids trying to sell them at the club and was horrified when Warren said he’d flushed them down the toilet. Of course, Warren kept them for himself, planning on making a big payday. Meanwhile, Mitzee found herself growing more jealous of Brendan’s relationship with Ste, wanting her pretend lover to become her real one.

The big news, however, was all about Rae’s pregnancy. Rae decided she wasn’t ready to be a teen mother and after a talk with Cheryl, decided to abort the baby. With Rae on her way to abortion clinic, Cheryl told Brendan of Rae's plans, causing Brendan to fly into a rage before racing out to stop her. Brendan found Ste and together the two of them went to the clinic and prevented Rae from going through with the abortion. However, Rae remained ambivalent about having the baby. Is there anything Brendan can do to change her mind?

Okay, I confess. I am officially in love with Brendan Brady. Each week this character grows more intriguing as the show continues to add new and complex layers to what might be one the best written gay men we’ve seen in soaps.

While it’s amazing that we’re getting this kind of wonderful writing from a fluffy soap like Hollyoaks, there’s no surprise that Emmett Scanlan continues to deliver fantastic performances day in and out. He has chemistry with everyone he shares a scene with. No wonder more and more of the show’s stories are starting to be centered around him. He’s become the show’s leading male character in just the six months he’s been on the show, which is especially cool given that the character is gay.

There were a lot of scenes that stood out for me this past week, but the one that I most remember was Brendan's discussion with Rae about how having the abortion would change her life forever and she’d never be the same. His going on to tell Rae not only about the loss of his first born, but about how his family was destroyed by divorce when he was a child, was a poignant scene. The show is starting to let us see what makes Brendan tick and why he is the way he is, which can only make him more intriguing.

Other nice moments were Ste’s attempt to reach out to Brendan after learning about his past and Rae pointedly telling Brendan that the only person who cares that he’s gay is himself.

Side Note: I have to mention that the show’s worst moment this week came in a non-gay themed storyline, and that would be Silas deciding not to murder a drugged Texas and instead taking her to the hospital and saving her life because he felt sorry for her. What? Serial killers have a conscience? I just found that completely unbelievable, especially given that Silas had already murdered her sister.

Rae was devastated to learn the truth about Brendan…

While there were plenty of tender moments, Hollyoaks is first and foremost a juicy soap opera, and the reveal of Ste and Brendan’s affair to Rae was a great one. But I think what I liked most about the entire sequence was the depiction of the raw passion that exists between Ste and Brendan, passion that led to their being caught.

It’s great that we have fully sexual gay men on television and we get to see that desire on screen. Hollyoaks has already pretty much treated their gay characters the same as straight ones, including love scenes. And that’s certainly the case with Brendan and Ste.

Next page! Some minor quibbles... and some MAJOR spoilers.