Drag and trans issues are everywhere on TV just now, and it's boring. I turned over from Corrie to Big Brother, and there we were again. For a 'marginalised and tiny minority', transpeople get an awful lot of coverage, and no entertainment show is completely without womanface in the form of a man in a skintight frock, lots of make-up and a terrible wig, ridiculing the female sex.
I don't have any issue with gay characters, and a low-key story about someone transitioning could be ok if done without preaching an agenda, but the gratuitousness of drag, as though it is an everyday part of mainstream culture is tedious.
I think the Theo storyline is being done very well, and the fact that he and Todd are gay is secondary to his NPD and coercive behaviour. The conversion excuse could be replaced with any initially credible reason for his behaviour and the story would still be believable. When Eileen left, Todd could have been left without much of a role, so it made sense to use him as the hook for the coercive control story, and bring in someone who I hope is a temporary character as the 'baddie'. I agree that the sex scenes are cringey, as there is zero chemistry between the actors, but I suppose they have to make Todd's willingness to put up with Theo believable somehow. He was love bombed at first, and believes that Theo needs him to overcome his past, so when the devaluation started he didn't see it coming because he is supposed to be in love.
I did wonder what his wife's role was in the previous abusive relationship though. Theo's being gay was supposed to be news to her when he got together with Todd, but it now seems that this is all part of a pattern (again typical of NPD abuse). Did she know about the previous guy? If not, how, and if so, why is she pretending that Todd came as a shock?
