“Emmerdale” Video Update: Code Blue, Code Blue!

We pick up today with Jackson still in a coma and Aaron avoiding a visit the hospital to see his boyfriend…

Today’s scenes were a surprising treat, taking the story and these characters in unexpected directions. The powerful, well written moments between Aaron and Jackson's estranged father Jerry showed just how fleshed out and layered the writing of this show is.

I thought we’d have endless scenes of Jerry and Aaron snarling and snapping at each other, but these writers are clearly much more creative than to go for the cliché. While most shows would have simply dismissed Jerry as a garden variety bigot, here we see him as much more than that.

Yes, he made some mistakes, and yes he did some terrible things in regards to Jackson. But he sees what he did wrong and is ready and willing to change and accept Jackson just the way he is.

Unfortunately, like many times in life, we don’t see these things until it’s nearly too late. No one is excusing what Jerry has done, including Jerry himself, and the writers have in a short time, let us see this character as a real, full-bodied person and not just a walking plot device.

And we also saw some much needed growth in Aaron’s character. Not only is he standing up for himself as a gay man, but as Jackson’s partner he refuses to step aside or be pushed aside. He wants to be there for the man he loves and fight for what they have, even as he’s still unable to say the words.

It was nice, but sad, to hear Aaron talk about the good times they’ve had, especially since that was such a short time in their lives and things aren’t looking so good for the future.

It makes sense that Aaron would be able to gain insight into how Jerry was thinking. At first I thought the scenes were kind of a stretch, but then as they played out I realized that Aaron was the perfect person to see this in Jerry, since Aaron has seen it in himself. As Aaron noted, he and Jerry have more in common than Jerry might think. And of course the acting was as layered and full of depth as the writing itself.

It was a nice beat that Jerry’s attitude was not borne of homophobia in a sense, but of his own guilt and regret at how he’d treated his son and that he might never have the chance to make up for it. This is a great angle for the story to take. It’ll be interesting to see how Jackson reacts and if he wants to let his father back on his life after all that’s happened. It’s been great to learn all this backstory about Jackson, and I’m looking forward to seeing it all play out.

Still, Jackson’s condition is the big question here and the show is taking its sweet time in revealing what exactly is wrong with Jackson. I have a feeling it might be something we’re not quite expecting. I guess we’ll find out in the next update.

Join me next week for more Emmerdale video updates, the first of my Hollyoaks video updates and the return of Gays Of Our Lives.