Langford on Soaps: What’s Ahead For "Hollyoaks" in 2012!

LANGFORD'S PICKS AND PANS

Days of Our Lives

Thank God it’s over. That’s what I thought at the end of last Friday’s episode when the show finally brought the horrible website storyline to a close. And aside from the fact that it’s finished, there’s nothing positive to say about this plot, which was terrible from first scene to last. There were so many things wrong with this storyline, and they were exemplified by this week's episodes. Plot holes and poor characterization abounded. And the acting was painful to watch, with the bit players and the show’s regular performers equally bad. But most of all, there were two things about these episodes that were particularly disturbing.

Sonny and Austin got to play hero in this bad storyline…

One, how all the women stood around and looked helpless and waited for the men to rescue them. It was great to see Sonny get to play hero (though much of the danger happened because of his stupid behavior), but watching the women cower and whimper while the men saved the day was kind of offensive. But Days has always been more than a little misogynistic.

Two, the end scene showed us all the various love complications the show is embroiled in, with every character having one or two love interests, except for the gay characters, of course, who are either not dating for inexplicable reasons (Sonny) or deeply closeted (Will). Not a really good message Days. Not at all. I really don’t want to elaborate on this any further, other than to say this was the worst storyline of any show I watched this year.

Hollyoaks

Can we bring an end to Brendan’s Whispering Tour? I love Brendan and he’s one of my favorite characters, and I think he’s probably one of the best written gay characters to date, but it’s no secret it took me awhile to get used to Emmett Scanlan’s quirky portrayal of the role and there were times I found his acting to be a little hammy. And I’ve been feeling that a lot lately regarding Scanlan’s current acting tic.

I can see the show is writing Brendan as darker and more disturbed following his stint in prison and that makes perfect sense for the character. But for some reason the show and the actor have decided that means Brendan should say everything in a hushed whisper and I’m finding it to be very distracting. I really should be paying attention to what Brendan says, not how he says it. Let’s hope this particular acting quirk is retired very soon.

As for the story, it’s not working as well as it should. One issue: a lot of the plot hinges on Warren and Mitzeee supposedly being in love with each other, creating a lot of the conflict as Brendan works to get Mitzeee on his side. The thing is, I never believed Warren and Mitzeee were a love match.

Turn up the volume, Brendan. Please?

I always felt the only reason Mitzeee got with Warren was because she couldn’t have Brendan. That, and Warren had a few dollars in the bank. It never seemed like anything real to me to me, so these great espousals of love just don’t ring true. Besides, Mitzeee knows so much about Warren’s past that for her to actually even think he might ever change makes the character seem foolish. And Mitzeee has never been a fool.. But at least her putting her head in the sand didn’t last long.