Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Nuke Day: Three's Company

Today's As The World Turns started out with Noah and his hunky film professor at Java, going over the beginning of Noah's screenplay. Mason thought it was a good start and noted that Noah was avoiding the beginner's mistake of making it too wordy.

Luke showed up to see Noah, not realizing he was meeting Mason. Noah introduced the two of them and Mason politely told Luke that while he thought his screenplay wasn't right for Noah, it did have potential. The three of them talked about what a film making genius Noah was and Mason advised Noah to get his film out on the festival circuit when it was done, saying it could help get financing for his next film if he won some awards.

Noah thought Mason was getting ahead of things, but the Prof told the guys that he'd got his own start that way, that he'd made a documentary that had played at Cannes, Florence, Lisbon, etc, and that he'd met his 'other half' while he was on the festival circuit. Mason told the guys that walking down the red carpet together was very romantic, though he looked a little sad while he was saying it.

After telling Luke and Noah that they made a great couple, Mason excused himself to meet someone for dinner. Once his Professor was gone, Noah started trying to work on his screenplay, obsessing about getting it written quickly so that he could meet his deadline for the film. Oddly, for the 'not too wordy' screenplay Mason had praised, we could see one long block of text on Noah's laptop, with no break for character dialogue. Luke, seeing how stressed out his boyfriend was, suggested that he step back, take the night off, and come at it fresh in the morning.

Noah agreed and the two of them headed out for a night on the town at that hottest of nightspots, Metro. As soon as they walked in, they spotted Mason and another man across the room at a table, looking very tense.

Luke wondered if the guy with Mason was his 'other half' and asked if he'd mentioned to Noah that he was gay. Noah said it had never come up and the guys decided to leave since Mason and his dinner companion looked like they were having a serious discussion.

At that point, Mason spotted the two of them and invited them to join him and his partner, George, noting that they'd been having a lover's quarrel and that he was ready to kiss and make up.

George was not happy with the built in audience and complained that Mason always did this, invited in a crowd so they'd have to pretend nothing was wrong. Having made everyone else at the table look like they'd rather be locked up in a warehouse by crazy fake gay non-twins than sitting there, George made an abrupt departure.

Mason apologized, saying George was 'in one of his moods', and the conversation turned to how he'd met George in Europe, on the film festival circuit, and things between them had been great until Mason accepted a position teaching at Oakdale University.

When Noah asked if George was a filmmaker, too, Mason explained that George didn't do anything: he comes from money and doesn't need to work. George had nothing to do during the day in Oakdale, so by the time Mason comes home, George is very needy. Being the center of someones life when they don't have a life of their own can be intense, Mason confided to the guys.

Okay, I know it was really subtle, so you may have missed this, even with Luke's uncomfortable squirming in his chair: George is Just! Like! Luke! and Noah is Just! Like! Mason! The future, unveiled.

After Mason made his own departure, Luke actually voiced this fear, in case there really were some audience members watching who didn't catch on. They were probably the same three viewers who actually find the endless Paul/Meg/Dusty mess to be riveting TV.

Anyway, Luke told Noah that he doesn't want to be home alone, keeping Noah's dinner warm while he's out at awards shows or film festivals.

Noah assured Luke that they'll be working together on films, with Luke writing and Noah directing, and that they'll never be like Mason & George. Besides, Noah pointed out, Luke is going back to college to work on his writing.

Luke said that he was only going back because everyone is telling him he should, not because he really wants to, but then they dropped the subject and looked into each other's eyes, presumably preparing to enjoy the rest of their night together.

I'm really enjoying the potential of the Mason story so far, though the character seems a bit pretentious, especially since he's teaching a film class in Oakdale, Illinois. He's charming, I admit, and very sexy, of course, but I hope the plan isn't to make him unlikable, since the best triangles are the ones where there are fans for each pairing, when you can actually see why the person in the middle is drawn to both of the others.

Still, I think Mason is going to stir things up nicely and it really looks like we're going to get an all male love triangle here, which will be groundbreaking. Let's just hope it's watchable, too.

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