BEDA #17 - Banking, Panicking And Nuking

Well, today was a day much less eventful than yesterday. I woke up in bed with Charlotte (read into that however you will) and when I got home there were *more* builders in my house fixing the guttering of something. Then I went to the bank and took out £800 to pay my dad back for interrailing.

I was going to talk about panicking for results, which I am doing, but I think I'll save that for tomorrow. Needless to say when people talk about it, I can feel my stomach bubbling and dropping at the same time.

I am, for maybe the first time in BEDA, talk about Luke/Noah/Reid. I really want to clarify my position. Reid has quite literally split our happy fan community down the middle. Half the people (some new, some long-standing fans, some who faded away when the storylines were particualary slow) think Reid is a godsend to the show and the other half think he's a betrayal, and a lazy one at that, by the writers.

I am torn. The reason I love Luke and Noah is that, unlike many others, I like the soapy, ridiculous, fluffy aspect to them. It amuses me and entertains me and, coming for Europe, it's a novelty to me to watch something so unashamedadly dramatic. Luke and Noah are genuine opposites in many ways, which made for (some of the time) a realistic dynamic. It's also important when building tension: soap couples break up a lot, and Luke and Noah are treated no differently in this respect.

But I like Reid. Genuinely. He's like a PG-13 Brian Kinney (so without all the sex). He's snarky and funny and believeable. I think he's incredibly well-rounded considering the time he's been in the show, well-acted and his being gay is not his defining feature. Saying that, it's not ignored and he and Luke have had some of the hottest kisses on the show ever. You know, in my humble but scarily well informed opinion.

I, unlike people who have @ replied me on Twitter, do not think this is because Luke and Noah did not have chemistry on screen. I think it's because, predominately, Luke and Noah has been a love story first. While waiting for sex was a drag, I do respect that they were portrayed as a couple willing to wait for each other.

So, my loyalities lie with Noah but I do have a massive fan-crush on Reid Oliver. So I'm torn. a lot like Luke in many ways. And I can see the pros for Reid:

1. He challenges Luke on many levels Noah does not.
2. He's opening himself up to Luke in a very uncharasteristic way - shows deep emotion.
3. He's funny and witty and the kind of guy Oakdale needs.

But then Noah has upsides too:

1. He tolerates Luke's obsessive need to be needed with more grace than Reid does.
2. His love for Luke got him out a wheelchair and got him his own sight back. That's the kind of love you hang onto. Or bottle.
3. Luke and Noah fit together in a way which seems much more comfortable - Luke's fought enough battles.
4. They both want the same things out of life - excitement when they're young, a family when they're older.
5. Noah is not an emotionally unavailible workaholic. He's more committed to Luke than anything else.
6. After everything they've been through, and how groundbreaking they are, they deserve a happy ending.

So there you have it. It's Luke and Noah ftw. Let's just hope (and they haven't got long left) that they handle it well.

And yes, I am mainly using them as a distraction from the fact my fricking life gets decided in a few days. Humour me.