Kish: Nearly 'Normal'

Oliver and Kyle had some pretty strong scenes on today's One Life to Live. It all started where last Friday left off, with Schuyler revealing to Gigi that he was Sierra's father while Kyle shot lasers out of his eyes at Fish, who kept silent.

Schuyler signed that consent form for Sierra's surgery and then Kyle and Fish made their exit, no doubt wanting to avoid seeing Gigi's head explode as her brain sloooowly computed this latest piece of information.

Before they left, Fish told Schuyler that he was going to file some incident reports and may need a statement from Joplin. Schuyler promised that he'd be at the hospital if Oliver needed him and then thanked Fish for saving his child's life. Fish claimed that he was just doing his job and Kyle looked like he was reaching the limit of his patience in the background.

The next scene with the guys found them arriving in Kyle's brand new digs, a much bigger room at Roxy's motel. In fact, I think it's Schuyler's old room.

Kyle suggested that Oliver relax and let his boyfriend take care of him after everything that had happened. Fish said that he was still pretty keyed up and Kyle felt that was understandable, given the day Oliver had.

Fish ran through all the events of said day for us: chasing Mitch, killing Nurse Charles, calling help in for Jessica, searching for John and Natalie after an explosion, pulling Rex and Schuyler off each other, saving Gigi from the lake, and not saving Stacy. He said that it just might have been the longest day of his life, which is pretty understandable considering it lasted several weeks.

Kyle, sounding disappointed in his boyfriend, said that Fish had managed to leave Sierra's birth off that list. He also pointed out that Fish hadn't been able to get away from the hospital fast enough.

Fish said that his job had been done, as if that was all there was to it, and Kyle reminded him that it wasn't done if he was Sierra's father. Fish started in on the whole "Schuyler says he's the father!" bit of non-logic again, and asked Kyle to give it up, saying that there was no way he was Sierra's daddy.

Kyle dryly noted that the unprotected sex Fish had with Sierra's mother meant that he could be, and Oliver, acting rather cornered, said that he couldn't be, didn't Kyle get that? Kyle asked Fish to explain it to him, but Oliver went back to the usual song & dance: Stacy put Schuyler's name in her will as guardian and everyone was sure of the baby's paternity except Kyle.

Kyle told Fish that they couldn't be positive without a DNA test and reminded him again of how simple it would be for Fish's former lab tech/current med student boyfriend to quietly have the test done once Sierra was through with her surgery and in stable condition.

Fish said no to this again and Kyle pointed out that even if Oliver didn't want to be Sierra's father, he had a responsibility to her. Oliver said that Gigi loved Sierra and hadn't left her side, and since Gigi was with Schuyler, they'd raise the baby together.

Kyle stuck to his guns, though, and started to tell Oliver that with the baby's mother dead, if Fish was the father he was legally responsible for her. Oliver interrupted, telling Kyle that he didn't care about what was legal, he wanted what was right: Sierra should be with normal parents!

Wow. I honestly didn't see that coming, though it is completely in character given the way Fish was raised. I thought Fish was troubled by the idea of being a parent out of the blue, but it didn't occur to me (not having had parents like George & Barbara Fish myself) that he'd actually be worried about Sierra herself growing up with gay parents!

I do have to say that Scott Evans played this scene very well. What should have felt like a complete slap in the face actually kind of tore at my heart because of the way Oliver's voice broke on the word 'parents'. Fish is clearly in a lot of turmoil over this and his eagerness to believe the baby isn't his now becomes far more understandable.

It makes perfect sense that Fish, in spite of being happy with Kyle, still hasn't been able to let go completely of all the narrow minded and hateful beliefs that his parents raised him with.

Kyle said on Friday, in reference to Stacy, that homophobia could have played a part in her naming Schuyler as the father, that raising kids was where people often drew the line. Kyle was right on the money, it seems, but it wasn't Stacy's feelings coming into play, it was the homophobia George & Barbara instilled in their son.

Brett Claywell was fantastic in this scene too, by the way. The look of sadness on Kyle's face after Fish finally blurted out the true nature of his worries spoke volumes.

Kyle: Normal parents, you mean straight parents, right?

Fish: I'm going to shower.

Kyle: No. Not now you're not.

Fish: Would you forget it, Kyle?

Kyle: No, you said it!

Fish: Please, can we not do this right now?

Kyle: So you think you can't be a dad because you're gay?

Fish: No! Of course I can. We have the right to do and be whatever we want.

Kyle: But you don't believe a word of that.

Fish: Yeah, Kyle, because I live in the real world.

Kyle: The real world? The real world where only straight couples can raise kids? How does that normally work out, anyway? What's the divorce rate now? And what about the kids that start out with only one real parent? Oliver, you are a good, caring, honorable man with a partner who loves you. Isn't that what a child needs?

Fantastic moment for Kyle, I have to say! And bravo to One Life to Live, yet again, for tackling a serious issue through great storytelling! This is everything good soaps should be: entertaining and socially relevant, all at once!

Fish claimed that Sierra would have that with sort of life with Schuyler and Gigi and Kyle let him have it , pointing out that Gigi clearly hadn't know the 'truth' about Schuyler being the father and asking who knew if they'd even be together by tomorrow.

On a shallow note, I do love when Kyle gets angry!

Fish felt that Gigi and Schuyler would keep things together for the sake of the baby and Kyle said that Gigi would always be Sierra's aunt but that Schuyler couldn't be counted on and the two of them wouldn't always be together. He told Oliver that his idea of this perfect couple was fantasy, but Fish just said that it was 'still better'.

Better, Kyle asked, for who? For Sierra, or for Oliver? He told Fish that just because he was gay didn't mean he had to give up his child. Fish snapped that Sierra wasn't his and then asked Kyle to drop all of this if he loved him. Nothing like a little emotional blackmail to end a really long day!

Kyle: I'm not going to give up on you.

Fish: You know that it's not giving up on me if you just let this go.

Kyle: Oliver, you can't walk away from this baby without knowing for real whether or not she's yours. Okay? The man I love couldn't live with that.

Fish: Don't I get to decide what I can and can't live with?

Kyle: Yeah, sure, but-

Fish didn't let Kyle finish, cutting him off to say that he was going to go take a shower and 'wash this day' off of him.

After Fish left the room, Kyle picked up his empty water bottle and sealed it in a plastic bag to keep it nice and fresh for DNA testing. You know what they say, you can take the blackmailer out of the lab, but...

Fantastic scenes today. I know other shows would have just swept Fish's struggle with internal homophobia under the rug the minute he and Kyle finally got together, as if that solved everything, but you don't grow up trying to be what George and Barbara Fish expect you to be without it having a lasting impact. I'd love to see Fish get some counseling from Marty to eventually work through these feelings!

I also loved that they're showing that 'shades of gray' side of Kyle again. I know that he's genuinely sorry for what he did in the past, but it seems only natural that when faced with a situation like this, his reaction would be to take matters into his own hands.

I love that these two characters are still very human and fallible. I want to see them give in to their flaws, then face up to and try and overcome them. That makes for good storytelling.