History was made today on One Life to Live. For the first time on daytime television (and I think quite possibly on Network television in general) two gay characters had a full fledged love scene that was treated exactly like any mixed gender love scene. There was kissing, caressing, sensual undressing of each other, and they were shown in bed together both before they made love and immediately afterward, in the afterglow.
Before I get too ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning. The Kish scenes opened with Oliver and Stacy at Ultra Violet, where she was afraid he might have overhead her talking to herself about how Rex isn't really the father of her baby (a common soap habit, muttering your darkest secrets out loud in public places). He hadn't, of course, but that still didn't stop Stacy from saying out loud three seconds later that if Fish found out he was the baby's father she'd be sunk.
Rex saw Fish and assured him that he'd set up the special seats for Oliver and 'his guy'. Fish glumly told Rex to give the seats to someone else, since Kyle had made other plans. Rex asked if Kyle was called in to the hospital and Fish told him no, that Kyle had chosen to be with someone else. Rex commiserated, since his own love interest was off in the mountains having sex with Schuyler at that very moment, and offered Fish free drinks. Fish declined, saying that the last time he'd been that upset he'd had too much to drink and done something very stupid.
Did anyone else think that if Fish had said yes to the drinks he'd have ended up drunkenly making out with Rex in his office at Ultra Violet? No? Okay, just me. But imagine how Stacy's head would have exploded if she'd walked in on that!
Meanwhile, back at Kyle's motel room, Kyle and Nick were still in the midst of a kiss. Unlike yesterday, when it looked like Kyle was pretty much going for it right along with Nick, today he pulled back from the kiss pretty quickly and asked what Nick was doing.
Nick asked what it looked like he was doing and Kyle angrily reminded him that he was with Oliver now. Nick pointed out that Fish wasn't there and told Kyle that the two of them had something really good together.
Kyle: We've been over this, Nick. Okay? I'm in a relationship with Oliver. I love him.
Nick: You love him. What I'm saying is that you can have me. Oliver doesn't have to know.
Nick: You love him. What I'm saying is that you can have me. Oliver doesn't have to know.
Oh, wow. Poor Nick. The way Nicholas Rodriguez delivered that line just made me feel so much pity for Nick. I mean, he's essentially telling the love of his life that it's okay for him to love another guy and just sleep with him on the side, to just use him. Ouch.
Kyle asked if Oliver had been right about Nick, if he'd been lying to him all along. Nick instantly denied this, but I loved that from this point on, during all the denials, he had trouble looking Kyle in the eye and mostly had his back to him. This is one character who knows that what he's been doing was wrong and feels terrible about it. It makes him very human and really endears him to me.
Nick insisted that he hadn't known about the other room and then suggested that he and Kyle forget that all of this had happened, saying that things had just become so stirred up for him and that Kyle had been so good to him ever since he was bashed. Then he made the mistake of saying that if Kyle wanted him to move to 'that guy Joplin's old room', he would.
Kyle pointed out that Roxy had never told them that it was Schuyler's room that was available and Nick was caught out in his lie. Kyle demanded to know what else Nick had been lying about and asked if he'd lied about not being able to stay with Amelia. Nick swore he hadn't, but exposed that lie as well when he grabbed Kyle's phone away after he'd called Amelia to find out for sure.
What came next eased all the worries I had about the direction they'd taken Nick in. So many soaps would have made him a one note character, but OLTL wrote a completely understandable, realistic reason for him to be acting so out of character and Nicholas Rodriguez delivered these lines in such a heartbreaking way that by the end of the scene, Nick was completely redeemed in my eyes and Kyle's as well.
I'm all about Kish, of course, but my heart was breaking for Nick in this scene and Nicholas Rodriguez made me cry. I really, really hope that this won't be the last we see of Nick. I want him to stick around and find someone of his own to love!
Nick assured Kyle that he'd been nothing but great and Kyle said that he hadn't been that great to Oliver. Nick told him to go and find Fish and that he'd be gone when Kyle got back, that he'd either move to Schuyler's empty room or call Amelia.
Kyle headed to Ultra Violet, where Rex told him that Fish had already left. A little later, Fish returned to the club to retrieve his forgotten cell phone and ran into Kyle, who told him that the 14 missed calls on the phone were all from him and that they all said the same thing: that Kyle is sorry and that Fish was right about Nick. Kyle said that he'd been naive and a complete jerk and asked if Oliver could forgive him, saying that Fish was it for him, that he was the one. Awww!
Oliver said that he really hadn't wanted to be apart from Kyle when the clock struck midnight and asked his boyfriend to buy him a drink. Kyle had a better idea, though, and lead Fish out of the club and back to the now Nick-free motel room, where Roxy had supplied a bottle of champagne for her favorite gay couple.
The two lit candles and, as their beautiful song started playing again (My Confession by Rie Sinclair and Friends; it's an exclusive song written for Kish and is available on iTunes), the two did all that I wrote about up above: touching, kissing, undressing each other, finally ending up on the bed, where they stared into each other's eyes and were clearly ready for the big moment.
Later, as they lay side by side in the afterglow, there were literally fireworks going off outside the window over their heads as people rang in the new year. Oliver asked Kyle if it was always going to be like that and Kyle promised that it always would. The two moved into spooning position with Fish's arm around Kyle, who brought his boyfriend's hand up to his mouth to kiss it before they drifted off to sleep, both smiling.
Can you imagine a better first time? It was perfection. These scenes were so incredibly beautiful and well done. They completely exceeded any expectations I'd ever had.
After seeing the lengths that CBS and Proctor & Gamble went to for so long to keep Luke & Noah from even kissing, let alone finally making love (which happened almost entirely off camera, of course), I'd begun to wonder if we'd have to wait another decade before we finally got gay characters who were treated equally on a soap when it came to romance.
Kyle asked if Oliver had been right about Nick, if he'd been lying to him all along. Nick instantly denied this, but I loved that from this point on, during all the denials, he had trouble looking Kyle in the eye and mostly had his back to him. This is one character who knows that what he's been doing was wrong and feels terrible about it. It makes him very human and really endears him to me.
Nick insisted that he hadn't known about the other room and then suggested that he and Kyle forget that all of this had happened, saying that things had just become so stirred up for him and that Kyle had been so good to him ever since he was bashed. Then he made the mistake of saying that if Kyle wanted him to move to 'that guy Joplin's old room', he would.
Kyle pointed out that Roxy had never told them that it was Schuyler's room that was available and Nick was caught out in his lie. Kyle demanded to know what else Nick had been lying about and asked if he'd lied about not being able to stay with Amelia. Nick swore he hadn't, but exposed that lie as well when he grabbed Kyle's phone away after he'd called Amelia to find out for sure.
What came next eased all the worries I had about the direction they'd taken Nick in. So many soaps would have made him a one note character, but OLTL wrote a completely understandable, realistic reason for him to be acting so out of character and Nicholas Rodriguez delivered these lines in such a heartbreaking way that by the end of the scene, Nick was completely redeemed in my eyes and Kyle's as well.
Kyle: I trusted you! I defended you! I let you in my home!
Nick (crying): Because I freaked out! Because one minute, I had this terrific guy and the next minute I'm alone, in the back alley of some bar, getting beaten by thugs for being gay. And I was so scared, Kyle. I was lying there, thinking 'I don't want to die alone'. And then you showed up to the hospital and you were so great that all of a sudden 'I don't want to die alone' turned into 'I don't want to live alone'. I don't want to go to sleep alone, I don't want to wake up alone, I don't want to do all the things that... I convinced myself that I couldn't be alone. And you were there, this guy that I love and I trust. It was like I didn't have to be alone. And I just didn't count on how much you love Oliver. I'm so sorry, Kyle.
Kyle (starting to cry): I'm sorry, too. I should have made it more clear.
Nick (crying): Because I freaked out! Because one minute, I had this terrific guy and the next minute I'm alone, in the back alley of some bar, getting beaten by thugs for being gay. And I was so scared, Kyle. I was lying there, thinking 'I don't want to die alone'. And then you showed up to the hospital and you were so great that all of a sudden 'I don't want to die alone' turned into 'I don't want to live alone'. I don't want to go to sleep alone, I don't want to wake up alone, I don't want to do all the things that... I convinced myself that I couldn't be alone. And you were there, this guy that I love and I trust. It was like I didn't have to be alone. And I just didn't count on how much you love Oliver. I'm so sorry, Kyle.
Kyle (starting to cry): I'm sorry, too. I should have made it more clear.
I'm all about Kish, of course, but my heart was breaking for Nick in this scene and Nicholas Rodriguez made me cry. I really, really hope that this won't be the last we see of Nick. I want him to stick around and find someone of his own to love!
Nick assured Kyle that he'd been nothing but great and Kyle said that he hadn't been that great to Oliver. Nick told him to go and find Fish and that he'd be gone when Kyle got back, that he'd either move to Schuyler's empty room or call Amelia.
Kyle headed to Ultra Violet, where Rex told him that Fish had already left. A little later, Fish returned to the club to retrieve his forgotten cell phone and ran into Kyle, who told him that the 14 missed calls on the phone were all from him and that they all said the same thing: that Kyle is sorry and that Fish was right about Nick. Kyle said that he'd been naive and a complete jerk and asked if Oliver could forgive him, saying that Fish was it for him, that he was the one. Awww!
Oliver said that he really hadn't wanted to be apart from Kyle when the clock struck midnight and asked his boyfriend to buy him a drink. Kyle had a better idea, though, and lead Fish out of the club and back to the now Nick-free motel room, where Roxy had supplied a bottle of champagne for her favorite gay couple.
The two lit candles and, as their beautiful song started playing again (My Confession by Rie Sinclair and Friends; it's an exclusive song written for Kish and is available on iTunes), the two did all that I wrote about up above: touching, kissing, undressing each other, finally ending up on the bed, where they stared into each other's eyes and were clearly ready for the big moment.
Later, as they lay side by side in the afterglow, there were literally fireworks going off outside the window over their heads as people rang in the new year. Oliver asked Kyle if it was always going to be like that and Kyle promised that it always would. The two moved into spooning position with Fish's arm around Kyle, who brought his boyfriend's hand up to his mouth to kiss it before they drifted off to sleep, both smiling.
Can you imagine a better first time? It was perfection. These scenes were so incredibly beautiful and well done. They completely exceeded any expectations I'd ever had.
After seeing the lengths that CBS and Proctor & Gamble went to for so long to keep Luke & Noah from even kissing, let alone finally making love (which happened almost entirely off camera, of course), I'd begun to wonder if we'd have to wait another decade before we finally got gay characters who were treated equally on a soap when it came to romance.
Then, along came Kish. Not only has their story been incredibly well written, but they've been treated with complete equality as characters from the very beginning right up to today, when the guys made love for the very first time. It's truly incredible and ABC deserves a lot of credit for finally allowing a show to tell a gay love story as if it were any other story.
Of course, there would be no Kish without Scott Evans and Brett Claywell, who both continue to do an amazing job making us care about these characters and who are both very committed to telling this incredible love story.
Let's not forget Ron Carlivati, either! He's the incredibly talented head writer who has not only given us the awesomeness that is Kish but also the best written soap on the air. I think I love you, Mr. Carlivati.
What a way to ring in the New Year. I hope 2010 brings even more amazing story for the best gay couple on TV.
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