Plus, is it over for William and Iolo on People of the Valley?

Langford’s Picks and Pans

6Degrees (Ireland)

It’s hard to believe there’s only 3 more episodes left of this show. I’m wondering how they’ll wrap everyone’s stories up because there doesn’t seem to be any pace or urgency to go anywhere.

I’m liking Liam and Conor, but I don’t see this relationship lasting. It’s pretty obvious that Liam wants more from Conor than Liam is willing to admit, but I still think it would be best for Conor to take that leap with Justin and the career opportunity that comes with it. I just think not going for it, even if it doesn’t work out, would only lead to regrets for not taking the chance.

As for Eva and her boss, I think this is going to end very badly for her. I think her boss only hired her in hopes of getting her in the sack and he’ll probably succeed. I predict this will end with her out of a job and her future in doubt. I hope that’s how not things wrap up for her as I love her character, but that seems to be where it’s going.

Days Of Our Lives (U.S.)

I bitch about Days a lot, but no soap has ever written for gay characters like they do, at least in the US. Putting them on the front burner in classic soap stories that would fit any character is about as progressive as you can be. But it only makes it more shameful that the other US soaps aren’t following suit.

I loved Victor sending one of his men to drag Will (at gunpoint) to the Kiriakis mansion. Classic Victor! And Victor dressing down Will was perfect, exactly what Will needed to be told. Not that Will was listening. Will was, as usual, making excuses and blaming everyone else. I especially liked that Victor made his point and threw Will out, not having time for anything else. Awesome.

I gotta admit, I thought Will manipulating John into believing that Paul knew that Will was married and set out to destroy Will and Sonny’s marriage was delicious. Will was so convincing, you’d think he believed his own lies. My favorite part was Will saying to John ‘Every time I dropped by Paul's hotel room, he was getting out of the shower and wearing a towel’ or “Paul seems like he’s taking his share of the responsibility for what happened.” HA!

Will Horton takes one for the team? I guess local press know what Will likes!

I think Zoe can be a fun character and we should see more of her, but would she really be so indifferent about Will betraying his marriage with Paul to Sonny’s face? I found that kind of hard to believe. I also don’t believe that Marlena wouldn’t have immediately told John she thought that Paul was his son. She might have been concerned with how it would reflect upon Will, but she wouldn’t have kept that from John, not after all they’ve been through.

Making Xander a Kiriakis was a good idea on the show’s part, but why change history and jump through story hoops to do it? They could have simply said that Xander was Alexander, Adrienne and Justin’s eldest son. I don’t know why they had to create either another brother for Victor or a brother for Justin, both of which goes against long established show history. And that very awkward dialogue to create a relationship between Brady, Daniel and Xander. Oy!

To be fair, making it so Xander is Justin and Adrienne’s child Alexander would create its own problems like the obvious age difference between Sonny and Xander when they're only 2 years apart and why Xander has an accent when he would have grown up in Texas. Either way, it’s a mess. It’s obvious they did it to create a sudden rival for Daniel over Nicole. And that.... blah.

Wasn’t Will waiting for the sitter with John? But he left to go to the club after Sonny called? I guess they forgot Ari!

Sonny looking sad when Paul said that there’s no chance there will be anything between them and then looking at Paul’s lips when they talked? Show, you have to go there. And soon! There's only a few more months left.

*Thanks to MRFIXIT for the clips!

Emmerdale (U.K.)

Okay, that opening scene with Robert and Aaron being all cute and flirty is exactly why fans have bought into the pairing. No denying the chemistry is off the charts and the kiss was swoony. But I just can’t get past Aaron being so into a man he knows is a liar and a killer. Just hard for me to overlook.

And Aaron spent the week at Robert’s house and they weren't seen together? There’s always people coming in and out of that place and no one dropped by the entire week? Sure.... I did laugh when Robert was caught washing the sheets and he said he spilled coffee in bed. Though wouldn’t you be washing your sheets after sleeping on them for a week anyway, even if the scent of your chav boyfriend wasn’t on them?

Chas didn’t see Robert drop the rock he was about to bash her head in with? He did it right in front of her! So I guess, even though Robert refuses to leave his wife, he really does love Aaron. Telling Aaron is one thing, telling Chas is another. And I don’t believe in that moment, that Robert was being manipulative. But I think it’s silly for Chas to tell Robert she’ll tell Chrissie the next day, giving him time to call in a hitman. Why not tell Chrissie right away? It's obvious why she gave him a deadline-- so the story could work out the way it did. But it really made no sense otherwise.

Ugh, how sad that Aaron is going accept being Robert’s plaything. I really think a new man should come into Aaron’s life, not that Aaron has to want to pursue anything, but I want to see how Robert would react if he had some competition.

Robert’s hitman was cute. And he looked a lot like Aaron to me. Was that intentional by the producers?

Interesting how Aaron told Paddy half of the truth regarding Katie’s death in order to assuage himself of guilt. But knowing Aaron, he won’t be able to really get past it until he spills the whole ugly mess. I did like Chas using her own history of bad relationships (her last boyfriend was a serial killer) to know that this will only end badly for Aaron. And it's because of that I don’t believe that Chas would be so blasé and naive about Emma sniffing after James.

Speaking of which, I loved Debbie’s bitchy comments about Emma’s obvious flirting with James. And the shady fight Emma and Debbie had in the ladies bathroom was fun too.

Andy shaved his beard? I think he is much more handsome clean shaven. It’s been so long since he’s not had a beard I almost didn’t recognize him. But those biceps ripping through his shirt? I’d never forget those!

That Lachlan is awful. I have a feeling he’s not going to give up on Alicia. Or he’s going to set himself up a new target. At any rate, I don’t think anyone suspects how sick he really is.

Jacob just walked into Home Farm unimpeded? At least they explained that he smashed the CCTV, but was the door just unlocked?

We saw very little of Finn, only to hear him complain about Darren texting him too much. So after not seeing them together as the relationship developed, now we’re still not seeing them together and Finn is bitching about his boyfriend. I guess the break up will happen off screen or in an off-handed way as well.

Hollyoaks (U.K.)

Wait.... According to the credits, Ste is going by Ste McQueen. Was Ste taking JP’s name discussed on screen? If so, I missed it.

But despite changing his name, Ste has very little regard for his husband. I’m just baffled at Ste’s awful behavior. He’s always treated John Paul poorly, what with the repeated infidelities and what not, but I thought that they had been better since Ste’s HIV storyline. Because there’s very little explanation for Ste’s moving in with Sinead without bothering to tell John Paul, not to mention completely bad mouthing and being disrespectful to JP with Sinead. They aren't having problems, so why the attitude from Ste?

Moreover, why talk about Brendan and have Ste wishing he were still around after all this time? It would make sense if there was any chance that Emmett Scanlan were returning to the show, but since he’s very busy in numerous projects on television in both the US and the UK and on the big screen, that’s not going to happen. So why bring him up? I’m sure Brendan fans were creaming themselves over it though.

The show of course is still soft-soaping their relationship. They didn’t just ‘argue all the time’, Ste endured Brendan’s rages and beatings right up until the day before Brendan was sent to prison forever. And yes, many times they did have sex right after a fight, sometimes with Ste still bruised and battered.

But what are we, as viewers to make of all this? Are we supposed to root for JP and Ste to make it work? Why would we want JP with someone who clearly doesn't care about him? Or is this a set up for a final split between them? Because if it is, maybe it’s time. The relationship is one fight after another, one crisis after another. And given that Ste finds JP so dull and has a secret desire for Brendan to return, what is the point? More importantly, if JP goes back to Ste and wants to stay in the marriage after what he’s heard, what does that do for him as a character?

I’m glad Harry ended it with Cleo and stopped stringing her along knowing he’s gay and not into her. But why doesn’t Harry just tell his dad the truth? I don’t think Tony would have a big problem with it. Tony’s best friend, Ste, is gay and Tony is close friends to John Paul too. He’d understand. But at least we know Harry is not a virgin and has already been with guys. And it’s pretty obvious Harry still has a thing for John Paul. Shame the show won’t pursue that storyline.

Sinead and Freddie are still married? They haven’t been together for almost a year, which is longer than they actually were together. Freddie and Lindsay, BTW, are still really terrible people. I used to like them both, but that was before Freddie became a murderer and Lindsay chose to repeatedly look the other way as her boyfriend committed a series of crimes, to say nothing of all the times she helped him with those crimes.

People of the Valley (Wales)

You know it wasn’t that long ago that Iolo was Sion’s favorite and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to protect him, even to the detriment of his other children. But that’s certainly changed. It’s sad to watch Sion manipulate Iolo into ending his relationship with William and be so smug with himself, not to mention having so little concern for the obvious fact that Iolo is relapsing with the OCD.

And while this might seem like a sudden character shift, the truth is Sion has slowly become more selfish and self-absorbed. So unlike most soaps, this happened over time instead of all at once. Still miss that guy who was so loving and supportive of his son though. I just hope that he hasn’t won and it’s not over with Iolo and William. Given how that final scene between those two played out, I don’t think William is ready to let go of Iolo. My guess is William comes back in Iolo’s orbit because of the car theft storyline and they’ll reunite, forcing Sion to come up with another way to break them up.

You know I’ve always thought Gemma was pathological, but her destroying the hat Dani made for Gwern so the kid could wear Gemma's and then later putting the moves on Gwyneth was only the latest in a series of creepy behaviors. We’ve seen Gemma get fixated on someone before and try to take over their lives like she did with Mark and then Dani. Gwyneth needs to get rid of this girl before it’s too late. And I don’t even like Gwyneth.

This Week in Spoilers

Coronation Street: Sean and Billy make plans to have sex for the first time and take out a room at a Bed and Breakfast for the occasion. But when they arrive, the owner, clearly homophobic, refuses to rent to them. Despite what happened, Sean and Billy get even closer and spend the night together at Sean's place. Elsewhere, Todd continues his schemes to ruin his mother’s chance at romantic happiness.

Aaron lashes out at James

Emmerdale: Aaron is furious when he learns that James has cheated on Chas with Emma. Goaded by anger and his own hurt at not being able to be with Robert, he attacks James, hitting him over the head with a bottle. Aaron is quickly arrested and Chas is upset when she finds out who turned Aaron in.

Elsewhere, Chrissie’s continued inability to handle Lachlan forces her to call in Donny, Lachlan’s father, for support. Robert is immediately threatened by Donny’s presence and looks for a way to get rid of him. Robert soon discovers that Donny has a secret. Of course, Robert is determined to use it to his advantage.

In other village events, Finn and Darren go on a double date with Victoria and Adam. Victoria and Adam are surprised to discover that Finn has been lying to Darren to make them seem more compatible.

Will Sinead destroy John Paul and Ste’s reunion?

Hollyoaks : Cleo refuses to give up on Harry and promises to sleep with him if they get back together. She’s further hurt when Harry, still hiding that he’s gay, says no thanks.

Meanwhile, despite having overheard Ste’s true feelings for him and Ste's lingering desire for Brendan, John Paul decides to move into Sinead’s house with Ste. But Sinead, who is in love with Ste and wants her HIV+ gay baby daddy for herself, is determined to get rid of JP. When Sinead overhears JP and Harry talking about their kiss, she’s certain she’s found a way. Sinead pressures Harry to tell Ste about the smooch, but will he?

Teasers For Next Week

6Degrees: A face from Liam’s sketchy past surfaces...

Coronation Street: Sean is thrown by Billy’s feelings for him; Todd stirs up trouble for his mother...

Is Darren done with Finn?

Emmerdale: Finn ruins his relationship with Darren; Chrissie learns the truth about Robert...

Neighbours: Nate’s past comes back to haunt him...

River City: Patrick gets a chance to start over, but hits unexpected roadblocks....

That’s it for this week’s Langford On Soaps. Please leave your comments below. See you next week!