Blades of Glory

Roman Wild and Deniz Öztürk is pair-skating.

I am watching the DeRo, Deniz and Roman, storyline for the first time and there is lots and lots to like. Alles was zählt is a really fun soap to watch with lots of nice characters and interesting storylines. When I read about the Deniz and Roman story and that it was a ice hockey player and a figure skater who fell in love I knew I just had to watch it. I love love love both ice hockey and figure skating. But I can't skate myself...

I just died in your arms tonight...

As I told you before, the DeRo story ended when Roman died in his big love Deniz's arms. In the ice rink. Beautifully tragic! I am not there yet, but at least I have seen the end of the great figure-skating career of Roman. Roman Wild actually won bronze in both European and World championships. I read somewhere that the actor Dennis Grabosch actually never did any figure-skating before AWZ, and that he started training it just for the part. Well done! I guess that is it's the same for Igor Dolgatschew that plays Deniz. It certainly looks so. But don't get me wrong! The both do a really good job! But as a figure-skating-nerd I just have to be disturbed about stuff watching it. I mean in the EC final where Roman takes the bronze medal and Diana Sommer wins the gold, they had lyrics in the music. That's not allowed. And Diana competed several times in pants. That's not allowed. And really, you can't go from a hockey player to a figure skater and be rather good at in in just a couple of months. That is simply not possible! Not even in a soap opera! But I love it anyway. And the try-out's for the Gay Games in episode 812 was among the most beautiful things I've ever seen on ice! We need more same sex couples in figure skating!

Will Ferrell and Jon Heder in Blades of Glory from 2007.

When I watched the DeRo figure skating phase I got to think of the movie Blades of Glory. Deniz and Roman aren't anything like Chazz and Jimmy in the movie, but in a strange way you get to think of them when you see them anyway. It is something about males lifting each other. Chazz and Jimmy are not gay, but they are same sex. And they are skating together. Not quite as beautiful, but they have their charm. If you haven't seen the movie - do.

I think that it's a innovative and brave thing to let to male characters do pair-skating, and the writers of AWZ really provoked the gender roles and norms with this storyline. I want more of that. Some times I wish I lived in Germany. The Swedes are to dull to think up of such a thing. The Swedes need more same sex pairs in everyting. Dancing, figure skating, love duets etc. When Anton Hysén competed in Let's Dance (Dancing with the stars) I wanted him to get to dance with a man instead. I mean, wouldn't that be nice? And beautiful? I mean, what's not to like in this picture?

Snogging

Larias snogging.

Finally we got some Larias snogging! I have been waiting. Love the word snogging. Much better than the swedish word: hångel. I read on the Larias discussion board on Gaydaytime a post about how the storyline is porely written because Elias is not a cheating guy. Well maybe he aint but this is matter of love. I am convinced that Elias really loves Lari and not Miska when push comes to shove. It's obvious. And it's a soap and it's a matter of true Larias-love and then everything is allowed. I know that Elias will turn Lari down but I claim that a door has been opened. There will be a Larias reunion. And once again, Miska is a great guy but he is so god damn boring! I mean, Lari is a hockey player. Just such a thing. More snogging for Larias!

I've borrowed the picture from the wonderful simonexoxlouise on Instagram.

Spoiler alert: OMG Chrolli!

Thore Schölermann as Christian Mann and Jo Weil as Oliver Sabel

Here i one of my absolute favourite couples: Chrolli. Christian Mann and Oliver Sabel started their beautiful love story in 2007 in Verbotene Liebe and it has been magical since then. And now I've red that the couple will split up. Outrageous. Well, Christian and Oliver has had their ups-and-downs and their on-and-offs of course, but a more beautiful and interacting couple is very hard to find. I will tell you a little bit about their beauty.

Jo Weil.

Oliver "Olli" Sabel first appeared in Verbotene Liebe in 1999 and played a supporting roll until he hooked up with Tom Seifert in 2001. They had a (according to me) quite boring love story that ended in 2002 and Olli also left the series. My opinion is that the love story between Tom and Ulli had more of a spark. But in 2007 Olli returned because the writers had found him a new love interest. That is Christian Mann.

Thore Schölermann.

Thore Schölermann had since 2006 played the character of Christian Mann, the boxing younger brother of Gregor Mann who is a great character that we miss very much. Christian were straight and only had girlfriends before and Olli are bisexual, but in the later years of Verbotene Liebe, he only swung the manly way. Anyway, Oliver fell in love with Christian, and Christian had to fight it a lot until he allowed himself to confess that he had fallen in love with a man. And what a man he fell for! When he at last admited to Olli that he had fallen in love, I think one of the most, if not even the absolutley most beautiful love scenes were took place for the TV-viewers. The tenderness in the acting and the dialog combined with Sia's Breathe Me is just pure magic and beauty. If you haven't seen it, just take time for it. You will not regret it. The scene starts 2.15 in to the clip.

I love love love that scene! And I just never becomes tired of it.

The love story then continues with a lot of hiding, a big coming out, some gay bashing, severe illness, jealousy, AIDS-fright, a wedding, a foster child, infidelity, divorce, a heart attack, another wedding, a long distance relationship, more infedility, more long distance and now finally; a break up. And that will happen in may. But let's rewind the tape a bit and dwell upon this a bit:

Christian and Olli at their first wedding.

The first wedding was amazing. In a church, with a gay priest and all of their friends present. But the happiness weren't that long. Christian slept with Jessica and everything was ruined. But the couple managed to repair their relationship when Christian almost died by a heart attack. Here was also one of the most beautifel scenes when Olli realized that Christian weren't dead and proclaimed his love for Christian at the hospital. Not just Christian sighed with relief back then, all of the Chrolli fans did.

Olli's and Christian's big reunion.

But it was never really the same again. After that, it felt like the guys never got to kiss again. And we want to see the kisses. No other couple kiss with such a feeling. The storylines were quite boring and the spark was gone. Then Christian got a dream job in London and moved there in indefinitely time. At first, we were told it was just for some months, but then he never came back again. And we feared that Christian never would come back again. But then in September in 2013 he came back, and he did it with a bang!

Christian Mann as a police.

He does it with a striptease. It is really hilarious. Christian and Oliver has their magical moments and we can see the spark again. But the happiness is short and we are told that Christian cheated again. And again with a woman! In Christian's and Oliver's relationship Christian had sex with three women and snogged with two. Oliver also snogged with an woman, and had a younger male lover, but anyway, I think this is a quite clear indication that Christian really is straight, but his biggest love is a man. And what a man! But anyway again, now it will end. We all suspected that it would come to an end. I mean, how long can a relationship go on when they never meet? But did it have to happen like this? Thore Schölermann wrote on facebook that both he and Jo Weil really do want a Chrolli reunion but he is not willing to return to the series without an interesting storyline for his character. I understand that. You don't want to become a supporting role when you deserve to be the leading lady! Even Oliver has become supporting role in periods, but that character has another charisma and survives that. Christian is actually quite boring without Olli. But I love them both. And I am really mouring right now. I have to admit that after the last leave I haven't watched the show. I really like it, there are lots of interesting characters that is easy to love like Andi, Jessica, Ricardo, Dana among others, but without any boy-on-boy action I have to prioritize watching other shows. I mean, the day only has 24 hours and I work in some of them. But I will watch all the Olli scenes in my vacation. I have eight weeks. And I think, I really think that when Jo Weil leaves the series, I mean, he has to some time (or they will cancel it), I really think that there will be a Chrolli reunion. The actors seem to like each other so much that they will make it happen. Let Olli have som fun and to finally get some sex before the most popular gay supercouple of all times finally end up together!

Nordic gays

I have told you before that we don't really have much to be proud about in the Swedish gay soap scene. So what about the other Nordic countries?

Ronny Roslöf as Lari Väänänen and Petteri Paavola as Elias Vikstedt.

We have the Larias storyline from the Finnish soap opera Salatut Elämät of course. But right now there isn't any Larias, rather a Miskias because Elias is together with Miska right now. But I don't like that. Neither the name or the pairing. Lari and Elias, played by Ronny Roslöf and Petteri Paavola, has had a rough story. From the beginning there was a very much wardrobed Lari and a Elias that not even liked Lari because he was bullying Elias. Classical homophobic homosexual in denial. Lari also had to put his hockey career on the shelf and he also got disowned by his very very very much homophobic father. They also broke up a couple of times. And Lari was sent to an anti-gay camp. Elias followed him there but left without Lari when Lari kind of wanted to stay there because he didn't want to be a gay and Elias hopped in the sack with Miska. And he the stayed with Miska instead of trying once more with Lari, even though Lari begged him. Why oh why?

Juska Reiman as Miska Koistinen and Elias.

Don't get me wrong, Miska is a really nice guy that several times has showed that he has a big heart. And the truth is, he probably is a better and more honest guy for Elias, but that is not how it should be! Lari and Elias had so many on-and-offs and so much drama that they just have to end together. I mean, it is a soap opera isn't it? Right now it has been a little mor interaction between Lari and Elias than for a long time, but the spoilers told me that Elias will turn lari down and he will go gay clubbing with Kalle who is a fourth gay character in Salatut Elämät that was in the original cast from 1999 when the series started.

Pete Lattu as Kalle Laitela.

Kalle Laitela was in Salatut Elämät between 1999-2002 and then came back in 2012. He made big lines when kissing a man and the channel also got lots and lots of complaints about it. But that was then. The Larias storyline is very popular worldwide. The Kalle storyline can be found in youtube, but just the beginning of it because there are just DVD-boxes with the first few hundered episodes. What a shame because I liked the storyline. The current storyline is unfortunately not to be found on youtube as the Larias story that Missfinlandia88 is uploading. And that is really a shame because I really like Kalle. What I know is that he is a doctor, he dated Katariina fore a while and he once got raped by his ex boyfriend. I am so looking forward to Kalle stepping in to the Larias storyline. Hopefully there will be some snogging!

Andreas Kvisgaard as Stellan and Mathias Ambjør as Måne.

After ploughing the Larias storyline this autumn I needed a new gay storyline, and that fast. I found the Norwegian Måne storyline from the soap Hotel Caesar. The series has been running since 1998 and first in 2012 the first gay character appeared. Quite embarrassing. Måne Lillevik (Mathias Ambjør) was the teen in the Anker-Hansen family that got some snogging and a brief relationship with Stellan, played by Andreas Kvisgaard. The interaction between them was very cute and tender, but it ended to early. And afterwards Måne only cared about the family business and how to scheme family members. Quite a boring end.

Pelle Hvenegaard as Jens-Erik von Bech and Martin Hestbæck as Thomas Wallin.

After watching this storyline a wanted a Danish one. And there was one! In the TV-series 2900 Happiness there was Jens-Erik von Bech and Thomas Wallin. Two more middle-aged men that met and fell in love, even though Jens-Erik only had been with women before. A classical theme. The two characters got really serious really quick and even got married. But Jens-Erik got greedy for power and to crush his father who never believed in him. Jens-Erik got slapped and Thomas went to China. But it was told that the couple got reunited later on. Cute and nice to se a muture couple among the teenagers. A fun fact: Pelle Hvenegaard was actually playing Pelle in the movie Pelle Eroberen/Erövrararen from 1987.

After seeing this storyline an Icelandic one was in it's place. But there was no one to find. A disapointment. Don't you have any soap operas on Iceland? I assume you have gays. And I really hope for a Larias reunion, a comback from Måne and a reunion of him and Stellan and I hope for more Danish gays. And Icelandic ones of course. The more the merrier!

Gay-bashing

Kai, Joscha and Nick.

In mondays episode of Alles was zählt Joscha was brutally gay-bashed. Yesterday we learned that it is so serious that he had to be operated and that they have to drill a whole in his scull to ease the pressure. Unpleasant indeed. But I have also read som spoilers that tell that Joscha will be alright. Today I also was reached by the news that both Joscha and Kai (and also Joschas brother Lukas and his father David) will leave the series in May. That is such a shame and I am upset! But I hope that it will be the happy ending we all are hoping for with a profi-Vontrag und ein neues jobb. My tip is that the guy to the right has something to do with the bashing...

Tom and Ulli.

But gay-bashing is not a new pehonomenon in the soap operas around the world. In Germany it has happened more than once before. Back in the year 2000 Tom and Ulli from Verbotene Liebe was attacked by two homophobes on their way to the cinema. Tom had a punch in the stomach and Ulli almost got beaten when his brother Nick came to the rescue. No serious enjurys that time.

Olli and Christian in the hospital.

It was worse for Olli some years later when Christians extremely homophobic boxing club pals, Axel, got hold of him. After the big outing in the boxing ring Axel just had to beat Olli almost to death. It is interesting how you can be so provoked by mutual love that is not directed to you. Olli was relatively alright that time, but later on it was discovered that he had cot brain injurys and he almost died. Unpleasant indeed.

Ringo and Yannick in a tense moment.

Also in Unter Uns there has been som gay-bashing, but this time, Yannick was gay-bashed by another gay, that is Ringo, his kind of boyfriend. The only homophobe I have seen in Unter Uns is Ringo. Stop beating Yannick almost to death. Their relationship ended after that. Surprise!

Syed and Christian after the bashing.

There ha salso been som gay-bashing in Great Britain. In 2009 Christian Clarke was brutally gay-bashed by a man he brought home from the pub after som flirting. He was expecting sex but got bashed instead. Well it is simple, if you don't want to have sex with the person, don't follow him/her home! I can't understand what is so provoking with what gays do in their bedroom? Though, this led to a very cute moment when Syed forced Christian to go to the police and waited outside the whole time and the invited himself home to Christian and they had sex for the second time. I think.

There are a lot of more examples of gay-bashing in soaps, but these are the ones that comes to mind right now. It is understandable that gay-bashing is a important and dramatic subject to illuminate. But I think that it is important also to show the utopia of a world where there is no gay-bashing and where gays are naturally accepted and to. There is a lot of homophobia in this world and soap operas are sometimes realistic and sometimes not, and that's why I think it is important to prescribe a world where it is OK to be gay. Because it is. I hope there will be a world where you don't have to "come out" you can just tell everyone that you are in love. And that soon. Both in soaps and in the real world.

Gegen Homophobie

On the day of the big coming out it was also the release of a photo action against homophobia. The Joschka facebook page presented a youtube video with pictures taken by the fans with rainbow colours, all as an protest against homophobia. It is a delight to se these kind of actions!

The BIG coming out!

Yesterday on the 14th of March finally it was the big day. The day of Joscha coming out. And it was beautiful!

Joscha and Kai's first kiss in public.

The episode 1892 of Alles was zählt figured around the indoor football tournament at the Steinkamp centre and the episode both contained an "Ich liebe dich", two nice kisses, and circuling camera and Tammy Wynette. Bra skit. The storyline will take an unpleasant path, but for now just enjoy!

Alexander Gier as Kai and Carlo Degen as Joscha.

The actors Carlo Degen and Alexander Gier are really doing a good job being convincing as a couple in love. The are having this kind of panting, heavily breathing passionate dialogs that I like. And lots of deep looks. They are both good looking and it's not a minus that Carlo Degen has a bit of a unibrow. Unibrows are characteristic.

What has the future for Joscha and Kai?

Hopefully Joscha and Kai will be a long lasting couple. Both characters are really likeable and Alles was zählt really need a gay couple. It has been way to long since Roman and Deniz! But it is a soap, and we can imagine it will be a bumby road to happiness. Right now I wonder what will happen to Raquel now that Joscha revealed that he is gay and people will know that the marriage is a sham? And will there be any truth in the theories that David is not only Joschas and Lukas father, but also Kai's? Will Kai loose his job and what will Can think of the Killer's boyfriend! The tension thickens!

Looking

The last episode has been aired and it didn't leave me dissatisfied. And it will be a second season! Thank you HBO! There is lot's and lot's to like about the show. It is not censored like gay love often is on TV. This show is in fact about three gay men, so it would be a scandal if it was censored... But Looking feels really realistic without sugary cuteness and dramaqueers. It's quite ordinary but very sexy.

Murray Bartlett, Jonathan Groff and Frankie J. Alvarez.

Looking is about the three friends Dom Basaluzzo (Murray Bartlett), Patrick Murray(Jonathan Groff) and Agustín Lanuez (Frankie J. Alvarez) who are more or less unsuccessful in love and work. Sometimes they get laid, and sometimes not. I'm sure they have slept together in lost times as well. They are quite ordinary and it's refreshing to see some gay characters who are adults.

Patrick and Kevin.

For me the character of Patrick is the most interesting and the others works as supporting rolls in his storyline in a way. I hope that the second season will let us get to know Dom and Augustin better. Eight episodes are really not that much. I especially like the interaction between Patrick and his boss Kevin played bu Russell Tovey. Richie (Patricks boyfriend) is a nice guy, but Kevin is the shit! He is handsome, British and has big ears, what's not to like? For me he is the obvious choice för Patrick. I really need to see Glee now... To bad it's a whole year until the next season... We need more gays on TV and we need lots of Looking!

Chryed

Christian and Syed.

Today I would like to present Christian Clarke and Syed Masood from the long-running british show Eastenders. Their love story started in 2009 when they started working together in a catering business. There were early sparks but Syed was in bit denial since he was a muslim and also had a girlfriend. He solved that by getting married to her. Christian on his hand had the longest patience in history and fought so hard for his love and didn't get much appreciation back.

Christian has been gay bashed.

This is a couple with lots and lots of on-and-offs and they really had a lot to fight against. Christian was gay bashed once, almost killed by Syeds father in law, he was bullied by Syeds parents and njot even his sister stood behind him when he wanted to fight for his love at first. Syed on his hand had to have sex with a woman against his will, he was disowned by his parents sveral times, he was unemployed, he had a child without knowing it and he was not accepted by his mosque. But he also cheated Christian, lied a lot and swindled his family on a lot of money. For the second time! But I love the story anyways! Some parts are a bit boring and in the clips you can se on youtube there are a lot of the Masood family drama that is not really that interesting. Syeds mother is quite a moody woman. And in a way, I have hard to take the actress Nina Wadia seriously because I saw her Goodness gracious me with the same accent! So her scenes are a litte bit like a scetch comedys. And for the way she treats Syed you can't really like her. Even though she becames good in the end.

Marc Elliott and John Partridge.

The actors John Partridge and Marc Elliott is portraiting the charcters of Christian and Syed very well, and it is really nice to see a couple of grown up men falling in love for once. The most common thing in soap operas is that there are teenagers or guys in the early twenties that get to fall in love. And the couple is a quite ill-matched couple that match really well together in a way. The story almost ended bad when Syed almost fucked everything up but he choose the right way and married Christian and the left Walford with him, and it has been told that Christian and Syed still are together and has a good relationship with their doughter Yasmine. Happy endings do exist, even thou there was a bumby ride there.

Another beautiful music video

I've discovered another beautiful music video that I just can't get enough of! Eli Lieb is a really good singer and I just love the way he pronounce the word "night". This song could really be a great fanvid. I kind of see Larias before me. Or maybe Fervid...

Swedish gays

My home country is Sweden so of course I have to blog about gays in Swedish soaps. In Sweden we are relatively modern and have come quite far with LGBT rights. In Sweden same sex couples can marry, even in church, since 2009, and it is possible for same sex couples to adopt. It is possible for same sex couples to walk hand in hand in the street and make out in public and Pride festivals are being held in 12 different cities. You should think that there is a lot of gay characters in Swedish soap operas as well. I am sorry to make you disapointed.


Rederiet 1992-2002
In 1996 the character of Micki Sandell was introduced in Rederiet. It was told right from the start that he was gay and in episode 107 Micki finally got some snogging!

Micki and Patrik in Rederiet.

That's supposed to be the first gay kiss in swedish television. In 1996! We were quite slow started. The gay kiss between Micki and Patrik was really innocent but it got a lot of attention in media and the Swedish people actually raged about it. They even had a hotline you could call if you were afraid of being mentally damaged after seeing the gay kiss, or "bögkyssen" as it was called in the newspaper Aftonbladet. I was at the time 12 years old and remember that the boys in my school ranted about them almost puking when they saw it, and that was just OK back then. A lot has happened since then, fortunately. 

Patrik turned out to be an unfaithful bastard, and as I recall it, Micki didn't get any more action after that fling. But I was wong. Micki actually had two more boyfriends. Nikolaj, who swung both ways, and Stefan who he actually married. 

Ola Forssmed and Rikard Bergqvist as
Micki Sandell and Stefan Holmberg.

The actor Ola Forssmed didn't only perform the first gay kiss, if I haven't gotten it wrong, he was also part of the first gay wedding in Swedish television. But all of this I can't remember. Either did I stop watching it, or maybe was it to boring to remember. I think it was the first of the two options. I have actually started watching the Micki storyline again, but it doesn't move along so fast because I have other more interesting storylines to watch. But I will see it! If you want to see a Swedish soap opera with a gay storyline you can see it on SVT's open archive.


Skilda världar 1996-2002
Also in the everyday soap Skilda världar there was a gay character. Lukas Strandberg played by Joachim Persson was the boyfriend of the main character Sandra who fell in love with her twin brother, but she didn't know he was her brother of course. Does it sound familiar? Yes, Skilda världar is a remake of the australian soap Sons and Daughters, just as the German Verbotene Liebe.

Joachim Persson as Lukas Strandberg in Skilda världar.

Lukas had a fling with a guy called Sebastian and I remember that the first kiss kind of took us by surprise. At least I did not suspect that Lukas was gay at all. I remember that I rushed home from school just to see the first kiss between Lukas and Sebastian once more in the rerun the day after it was first broadcasted. Yes I was a faghag even back then. But unfortunately I missed the kiss. And the fling between Lukas and Sebastian ended badly, as I recall it and I can't remember Lukas getting any more action before he left the series in 1998. To bad for him. The story of Lukas and Sebastian is really forgotten, and you can't find anything about it on the web. But Skilda världar is released on DVD so it is possible to see.


Andra Avenyn 2007-2010
In the late 90's and early 00's there was a lot of swedish soap operas like Tre Kronor, Nya tider, Vänner och fiender, Vita lögner etc, but as far as I know not a single gay character in any of them. Tre Kronor had a lesbian, but no gays. All of these soap operas took place in the Stockholm area, but in 2007 Göteborg started a new soap opera called Andra Avenyn. By this time soap operas was quite out of fashion in Sweden, but Sveriges Television took the chance and tried it anyway. There were three seasons of Andra Avenyn and 185 episodes. It never became a big success but at least the series had a bisexual character! Kim Dahlberg played by Jonas Bane.

Jonas Bane and Simon Gavik.

At this time I had stopped watching soap operas a long time ago so I never actually saw it. But the storyline between Kim and Adam is to be found on youtube, even with english subtitles. And the storyline between them is actually well worth watching. The couple is really cute and the actors, especially Jonas Bane, is really doing a great job! It is clear that this storyline is taken place in the late 00's, that is the story is not as woody as the ones from the 90's. And I can't remember any rages from the Swedish people in the late 00's. Unfortunately Kims and Adams story didn't end like I wanted it to, when Adam moved to Spain with some older guy and left Kim behind. But it is told that Kim got som more same sex action in the spin off series Riverside, which wasonly showed in the web.


And that was all folks. I can't remember any more gay storylines in Swedish soap operas. Soap operas doesn't really exist in swedish television right now so I guess there will not be any new gay storylines in a Swedish soap opera anytime soon. If it will ever happen again. Soap operas is not that modern in Sweden unfortunately. But maybe it will be some day again. We have a lot of drama series with gay characters but that's not really the same. So for being such a modern country as Sweden after all is, we are really not that good at gay soap characters. I want a new Swedish soap with lot's and lot's of gays. But I guess I will have to write that myself...