Gays Of Our Lives Theater: Brendan’s Darkest Secret Is About to Unravel on "Hollyoaks"

This week marks the debut of a new feature, Gays Of Our Lives Theater. Instead of having separate updates for the soaps we cover, we’ll combine the clips and the reviews in one package. It’s to keep you caught up on the best gay drama in soaps in between the monthly Gays Of Our Lives column. Usually we’ll only have one Theater post per week, though this week look for a second update with the latest clips on Dutch soap Good Times, Bad Times and Welsh drama People of the Valley.

Today we’ll check out the most recent events Hollyoaks and Emmerdale…

When we last saw Brendan and Ste, Ste had given Brendan an ultimatum. He wanted to leave Hollyoakswhere they could start a new life as a couple where no one knew them. Brendan agreed to think about it, but was still uneasy with the idea of living life as an openly gay man.

Meanwhile, Pete Hamill, Brendan’s childhood best friend, was on his way to town to be headmaster at the local school. Brendan’s sister Cheryl was worried about how Brendan would react to Pete’s arrival given the bad blood between the two men.

Last week, like most weeks, Hollyoaks was highly entertaining. but then they have that one thing that puts a bad air over everything else.

First the positive:Brendan and Ste’s messy relationship and the insertion of Pete into their storyline is terrific stuff. It was time for the show to delve into Brendan’s past and Pete looks like a great vehicle to do that. He’s an engaging character and you immediately want to know more about him and the dark secret that binds him and Brendan together.

While Pete might be in a wheelchair, he’s clearly no victim and I suspect he is quite a force to be reckoned with and can give as good as he gets. It's great to see such a strong and dynamic character who just happens to be disabled. I also suspect that Pete might be more of a villain than he appears. I’m hoping he is. That would make the story and the character even more intriguing for me. Pete Mitchell and Emmett Scanlan have great chemistry and their scenes crackle with intensity.

Has Brendan gone too far this time?

As for Brendan and Ste, I know many fans weren’t happy about it, but I’m glad the show hasn’t forgotten about Brendan’s abusive tendencies toward his male lovers. Men like Brendan do not change-- not without a lot of time and therapy-- so there’s no way that he would just stop beating Ste. The show was sending the message that love was a cure for Brendan’s problems. That might please the fans who want to see a more classic soap romance, but it's just not realistic.

I found Ste’s damning Brendan to an unhappy life in the closet to be odd though, since Ste denied he was gay just last week. So is Ste an out gay man now? Probably depends on who wrote the script that day. The show seems to never be certain.