Stuart, I love you!
I've been catching up on some old (mid-90s) Taggart. The last two dvd sets I scored from the library had the episodes surrounding Stuart's coming out, and it's been quite interesting watching the progression unfold. I'm sure I was a regular watcher of Taggart back then, but for some reason I seem to have missed a lot of these eps.
In "Angel Eyes", the episode where Stuart is "outed" by an obsessed ex (in the midst of gays being murdered left, right and centre), Jardine's reaction was...well, I'd expected better and I think it was done badly. It reminded me of Bodie in "Klansmen" - Jardine hadn't appeared to have any problem with the gays he'd encountered in the two immediately preceding episodes; had seemed quite comfortable, in fact. Then, suddenly he's all, "It's just not natural !" and "We should shut down all meeting places for people like them and this violence wouldn't happen." Yes, that's right, Michael - blame the gays for being targets of homophobic violence. I mean, hell, even The Biscuit was far more compassionate and open minded than Jardine! And then, of course, Michael has a change of heart by the end (by way of some gay decorators) and ends up going out with the HIV-positive sister of one of the gay murder victims. *eyeroll* It was trite.
There were, however, some absolutely delightful turns by others in that particular episode. It was lovely spotting two familiar faces - Ralph Riach and Duncan Duff (TV John and Doc Brown, respectively, from Hamish Macbeth). Ralph's character, Gerald, was one of the main players - a violinist whose partner was the first victim. He had a terrible struggle with his partner's daughter for the rest of the episode, in a tug-of-war over her father's estate, with her trying to take Gerald's house and everything in it. I spent much of the ep wanting to punch her face in. So did her husband. There was a lovely bit of karmic justice at the end, though, when the partner's mother died and left everything to Gerald - including the house the daughter lived in! *glee*
Duncan's character, Stephen, was something of a property mogul - owning many of the gay establishments in the area (bars, cafes, etc.). He spent much of the episode flirting with Jackie...only to rescue Stuart from the clutches of the homophobic psycho murderer at the end, and whisk him naked from a bathtub off his feet. Poor Jackie never stood a chance! :P
Yesterday I watched "Apocalypse", which is 2 episodes later. Stuart goes undercover into a religious cult. After one of the members was murdered, McVitie and Jackie go to question the congregation...and have this absolutely golden exchange with Stuart:
Stuart: You were right about Burns, sir. He can make people do things.
Jackie: What kind of things?
Stuart: He locked me in a room with a naked girl...
McVitie: *suppresses a chuckle*
Stuart: ...to convert me.
McVitie: Did he succeed?
Stuart: *smug* No, sir. I closed my eyes and thought of the Strathclyde Police.
Jackie: Any particular member? *knowing grin*
*Jackie and Stuart share a look*
Hehehe....Jackie knows, but she's not telling!
Stuart's sexuality has become such a non-issue in recent years that any reference to it has become sort of taboo. Which is good (that it's a non-issue), but in a way it's like he's back in the closet. I need to see more eps from the era of the two above - I'm saddened that a few of them seem to be missing from the box sets. I must hunt them down!
In "Angel Eyes", the episode where Stuart is "outed" by an obsessed ex (in the midst of gays being murdered left, right and centre), Jardine's reaction was...well, I'd expected better and I think it was done badly. It reminded me of Bodie in "Klansmen" - Jardine hadn't appeared to have any problem with the gays he'd encountered in the two immediately preceding episodes; had seemed quite comfortable, in fact. Then, suddenly he's all, "It's just not natural !" and "We should shut down all meeting places for people like them and this violence wouldn't happen." Yes, that's right, Michael - blame the gays for being targets of homophobic violence. I mean, hell, even The Biscuit was far more compassionate and open minded than Jardine! And then, of course, Michael has a change of heart by the end (by way of some gay decorators) and ends up going out with the HIV-positive sister of one of the gay murder victims. *eyeroll* It was trite.
There were, however, some absolutely delightful turns by others in that particular episode. It was lovely spotting two familiar faces - Ralph Riach and Duncan Duff (TV John and Doc Brown, respectively, from Hamish Macbeth). Ralph's character, Gerald, was one of the main players - a violinist whose partner was the first victim. He had a terrible struggle with his partner's daughter for the rest of the episode, in a tug-of-war over her father's estate, with her trying to take Gerald's house and everything in it. I spent much of the ep wanting to punch her face in. So did her husband. There was a lovely bit of karmic justice at the end, though, when the partner's mother died and left everything to Gerald - including the house the daughter lived in! *glee*
Duncan's character, Stephen, was something of a property mogul - owning many of the gay establishments in the area (bars, cafes, etc.). He spent much of the episode flirting with Jackie...only to rescue Stuart from the clutches of the homophobic psycho murderer at the end, and whisk him naked from a bathtub off his feet. Poor Jackie never stood a chance! :P
Yesterday I watched "Apocalypse", which is 2 episodes later. Stuart goes undercover into a religious cult. After one of the members was murdered, McVitie and Jackie go to question the congregation...and have this absolutely golden exchange with Stuart:
Stuart: You were right about Burns, sir. He can make people do things.
Jackie: What kind of things?
Stuart: He locked me in a room with a naked girl...
McVitie: *suppresses a chuckle*
Stuart: ...to convert me.
McVitie: Did he succeed?
Stuart: *smug* No, sir. I closed my eyes and thought of the Strathclyde Police.
Jackie: Any particular member? *knowing grin*
*Jackie and Stuart share a look*
Hehehe....Jackie knows, but she's not telling!
Stuart's sexuality has become such a non-issue in recent years that any reference to it has become sort of taboo. Which is good (that it's a non-issue), but in a way it's like he's back in the closet. I need to see more eps from the era of the two above - I'm saddened that a few of them seem to be missing from the box sets. I must hunt them down!