Post by neenski on Sept 20, 2009 16:11:24 GMT -5
lizkarita asked me in the General Discussion Thread about the storyline where Lenny faked being gay to get back at his father. Yes, he really did. Seems like that's going to bite him in the ass now, what? *snickers*
I told her I'd be happy to do a short write-up about this storyline, but digging through the archives I found a lot of stuff that I don't want to keep from you, so the write-up got considerably longer. And longer. *coughs* But to "make up" for it, there'll be lots of pictures as well - thanks to the extensive archives on gzsz.de.
Mind, I actually haven't watched the episodes save for two; I got all this just from the archives. If you want to know more, it'd probably be best to ask someone who has actually watched that storyline back in the day. That said, any of you who did watch it - if you discover a mistake here, please tell me so that I can correct it! *smiles*
Anyway, the storyline started last year in March (starting with episode 3950/3951). Meet the other people involved:
(Alexander - yes, the current Alexander is a recast - with Lucy and Iris with her then boyfriend Henrik)
Lenny has moved in with his father and Lucy as a favor to his little sister. Seeing as Lenny never got on really well with his father, Alexander tries to remedy that. But he fails in finding out more about his son to connect with him, and as a last resort he snoops in Lenny's stuff, where he makes a discovery (it isn't said what this discovery exactly is) and thus is convinced that Lenny's gay. And even more so when he sees Lenny talking with a classmate.
(*facepalms* Ever heard of a friendly convo, Alexander?)
He tries to persuade Lenny's mother, Iris, of Lenny's homosexuality with absurd theories (like, "When did he ever bring a girl home? Lenny's gay!"). She doesn't believe him, and neither does Lucy. (Smart girls.)
And now lots of pictures thanks to the archive gallery of episode 3959: What does Alexander do? First, he reads a gay help book titled "Gay - so what?"
And he hits gold: "Don't be angry at your son when he distances himself from you. He is going through a difficult phase and thinks that you won't understand him anyway. Don't press him on the subject, have patience until he's ready for his coming-out. Get as much information as you can." Thus encouraged, Alexander then decides to go to a gay help center to, yes, get said information. *snickers*
Which turns into a hilarious scene when the guy at the center thinks that Alexander is the one who's gay and seeks for advice on how to come out as a married man and father, even hands him a brochure titled "How to come out at age 40". ;D
Of course, Alexander flips out and yells, "Do I look gay or what!?!" He then clarifies why he came here: "My son is G-A-Y." And the guy then hits the nail on the head: "And that's your worst nightmare." (So totally.)
Seeing as Alexander is pretty much a macho guy and also somewhat, er, homophobic (and that's an understatement...), it's very difficult for him to deal with his son being gay, but at the same time he's also glad that he's found an explanation for why Lenny's such a stranger to him.
So he tries to be brave and has a talk with Lenny where he addresses the topic of his son's homosexuality. Uhm, well, let's say that Lenny is less that pleased. Actually, he's disappointed, even, that his father is that quick to pigeonhole him without really asking him if it's true. (Common sense apparently is lost on Alexander.) A bitter Lenny then decides to show his father just how gay he can be.
(Mind, this was still around the time where Lenny was very much mooning over Caro, there was not the slightest inkling that he actually might be gay, but even back then a lot of viewers said, "Mh, he does look gay..." I suppose Lenny has to thank his babyface for that. *g*)
Now here are lots of pictures again as the storyline continues in the galleries of episode 3968 and 3969:
Lenny tries to play his fake gayness up as much as he can. For example, when Alexander is in the living room, Lenny enters, talking to a friend on the phone and fiddling with a flyer that he oh so very conveniently drops on a table nearby and exits.
Alexander takes the bait and snatches the flyer where two leather guys are depicted, reading: "Hot boys and cool beats!" Lenny is disappointed that his father was that easy to dupe. And just because he doesn't fit his father's stereotype of a real guy he's supposed to be gay? He fears that Alexander won't ever accept him the way he is.
Later, Lenny meets up with his mother's then current boyfriend, Henrik, whom he gets on very well with and who also is the only one to know the truth. (Funny tidbit: Henrik greets Lenny with a slap on his ass, "Hey, cute ass!" Annoyed, Lenny replies with, "Idiot." *giggles*)
Henrik asks Lenny if it's not enough already. But Lenny says that his father doesn't deserve mercy because he never was really interested in his own son.
Henrik says considering Alexander's interested in Lenny now that he's faking to be gay, at least that's a good thing. But Lenny counters with a scoff that his father's more worried about himself and what the people will think.
And to continue the charade, Lenny brings a classmate home and Alexander watches them like a hawk.
Alexander tries to tell himself that they're just studying in Lenny's room, nothing more. But when he hears loud music from Lenny's room, he gets suspicious:
Yes, the two boys are studying French with loud music blasting in the background. Lenny's classmate is annoyed by the loud music, but Lenny insists on it with a grin. (Devious boy! *g*)
And voilà - because he can't resist, Alexander enters the room with a pathetic excuse. Lenny tells his father to leave them be after he's seen his father noticing the condoms lying in a corner. (Hehe.)
Alexander fails again at being Dad of the Year as he calls Iris to come over, stat. She thinks that something horrible has happened, but when Alexander tells her that "OMG, Lenny has a 'friend' over and they're 'studying together'!", she just mentally eyerolls. (Like me.)
She's unfazed and is A-OK with it, saying, "Don't be a drama queen about it. The first time had to happen, and at least they're doing safer sex, you should be happy!"
She's annoyed because hey, if it were a girl Lenny had brought home? Alexander would so totally not have such a problem with it. (Trufax. He'd totally buy the condoms for Lenny, even. *snorts*)
So she takes Alexander down to the Mocca and together with his half-brother Daniel they try to talk sense into him but it's of no use. Iris is pretty annoyed: "We'll just have to deal with it! Lenny's going to be 18. I trust him and I want him to be happy!" (Aw, Iris.)
Back home, Alexander witnesses the two boys saying goodbye with a hug ... more proof for Lenny's homosexuality?
(Sorry, no hug in the picture, but it definitely took place - I watched this episode, and yes, it was worth 99 cents just to watch Alexander fail so much. *snickers*)
Lenny notices that his father is so not okay with this. Alexander tries to be understanding: "Seems to be a nice boy, I'm glad that you found a buddy, er, a boyfriend." But he notices himself how fake he sounds, and, "Well, I want to be honest with you. The fact that you're ga... well, it's difficult for me to deal with the way you are. But we'll do it - together." (Foot = mouth, oh boy.)
Lenny just says, "It's okay." But his mood quickly changes to the worse when Alexander tells him that he arranged for them to join a self-defense course for gays. Better safe than sorry, and he wants to prove - even if he has to wince a lot at this internally - that he supports Lenny. But Lenny's horrified: "You did WHAT?"
(Cue freaked-out alien elf face. *snickers*)
Lenny tries to get out of it by saying that he has to do homework, but Alexander says that they didn't do anything together in a long time. "I didn't know that you had, ehm, well, different interests!" (Alexander apparently can't say 'gay' at all.) Lenny smirks and doesn't deny it: "Now you know and can let me be, then!"
Alexander tries to deal with it: "You're my son no matter what you think, who you are, who you... ehm... want to love," he stutters. Lenny enjoys seeing his father squirm like this, because it was Alexander's fault that it went this far, after all. But seeing as Alexander insists, "This evening's the gay club's trial lesson!". Lenny has no other choice than to give in. (*pets him*)
Iris is also convinced now that Lenny's gay and tells him that she's proud of him doing the self-defense course with his dad. Lenny doesn't say anything because he's so annoyed with his parents acting as if his (very, very fake - at this point *coughs*) homosexuality isn't a problem for them.
But only one knows the truth - Henrik: "Well, it's your fault!" - "How was I to know that the old man is going all buddy-buddy? I thought he hates gays!" says Lenny. "Man, just tell him you're not gay!" But Lenny wants to see his father suffer: "He always thought I'm a loser. Well, he's got a gay loser now!" (Ouch.)
At home, an impatient Alexander is waiting for his son: "Hey Lenny, you ace. How's it hanging? ... Erm... that was a stupid thing to say..." Lenny just stares at him. (Like I said: foot = mouth. I just hope that doesn't say anything about his qualities as a journalist...)
Later, in the gym hall, Alexander can't hide his distaste at being surrounded by so much gayness - Lenny has to keep from smirking more than once. (If you wondered: Lenny's okay about being in close proximity with other gay guys; he's friendly, smiles at them and is generally unfazed - so not like his father at all.)
Alexander feels even worse when two gays greet each other with a loving kiss. He pushes his son to the side to get some space between them and as you can see, it costs him some effort to keep a friendly smile.
When he has to start doing exercises with Lars, a gay guy who's obviously interested in Lenny, it gets even harder for him. Lenny, in the meanwhile, has chosen a cute, tall and thin bearded guy to do his exercises with, and Alexander gets more and more distracted watching them.
Lars notices that and asks, "Jealous, are you?" Alexander flips out and throws Lars to the ground, growls at him, "If you ever dare to just think of my son, then...!"
But when he looks up, he sees Lenny watching him and does the thumbs-up sign. (OH ALEXANDER NO. *facepalms*)
Lars hobbles off to sit down - no wonder, faced with crazy Papa Cöster... - and Alexander goes to watch Lenny and his partner. Though, as it's par the course for the arrogant journalist, he can't keep his gob shut. (Probably the nerves, but still...)
(See the eyerolling? Poor Lenny.)
"Okay, get a secure foothold..." - "I'm already on it," Lenny says, trying to keep his father at bay. But oh no, it doesn't work at all. Alexander intrudes again and again with inopportune comments about his son's lack of interest in sports, even in front of the coach: "My son's got some difficulties. But he never was any good at P.E., if you must know. Nevertheless, he'll manage."
But when Lenny doesn't 'manage', Alexander asks for a partner who's as tall as Lenny, and the coach asks for Lars who quickly jumps up - but Alexander won't have that.
(Man, to have such an interfering father... I'd have flipped out long before Lenny. *shakes her head*)
He offers himself up as a partner. "Have at it! I won't mind - just come on, bang!" He gives Lenny a shove, but his son is fighting for the last scrap of composure... and loses. He punches his father with full force. Years and years of anger and humiliation are in this hit - Alexander is on the ground, unconscious.
In the next episode Lucy (who apparently was gone for all this time...) hears about Lenny faking being gay and the two siblings have a big argument, which ends in Lenny admitting to everyone that he actually isn't gay.
Alexander is shocked at this new development, but while Lenny cries out his whole disappointment, Alexander feels himself being treated unfairly: he isn't such a bad father - or is he? (... well, duh. *facepalms*)
The news also hit Iris hard as she realizes that Lenny hates his father that much that he went to the lengths of faking being gay. When Henrik tells her that he knew about Lenny's deception, Iris is mad at him because he's now disqualified himself as a grown up partner, seeing as he's closer in age to Lenny than to her, which has also been a source of worry to Iris. (They don't break up then, but Iris tries to connect again with Alex after this debacle, a passionate kiss follows and more entanglement, and this then leads to the eventual break-up of Iris and Henrik. Just in case you were wondering where Henrik is now.)
So, that's basically the whole story line about Lenny faking his gayness. *bows with a flourish*
I'm really curious if they'll reference this on the show, if at all, because it'd make for very interesting Alexander-Lenny dialogue. *snickers* Heh, I'd love to watch Lenny this time really trying to persuade his father that he's actually, truly gay this time, no fake act and Alexander scoffing at him, because once fooled, he's not gonna fall for it again. ;D ;D ;D
I told her I'd be happy to do a short write-up about this storyline, but digging through the archives I found a lot of stuff that I don't want to keep from you, so the write-up got considerably longer. And longer. *coughs* But to "make up" for it, there'll be lots of pictures as well - thanks to the extensive archives on gzsz.de.
Mind, I actually haven't watched the episodes save for two; I got all this just from the archives. If you want to know more, it'd probably be best to ask someone who has actually watched that storyline back in the day. That said, any of you who did watch it - if you discover a mistake here, please tell me so that I can correct it! *smiles*
Anyway, the storyline started last year in March (starting with episode 3950/3951). Meet the other people involved:
(Alexander - yes, the current Alexander is a recast - with Lucy and Iris with her then boyfriend Henrik)
Lenny has moved in with his father and Lucy as a favor to his little sister. Seeing as Lenny never got on really well with his father, Alexander tries to remedy that. But he fails in finding out more about his son to connect with him, and as a last resort he snoops in Lenny's stuff, where he makes a discovery (it isn't said what this discovery exactly is) and thus is convinced that Lenny's gay. And even more so when he sees Lenny talking with a classmate.
(*facepalms* Ever heard of a friendly convo, Alexander?)
He tries to persuade Lenny's mother, Iris, of Lenny's homosexuality with absurd theories (like, "When did he ever bring a girl home? Lenny's gay!"). She doesn't believe him, and neither does Lucy. (Smart girls.)
And now lots of pictures thanks to the archive gallery of episode 3959: What does Alexander do? First, he reads a gay help book titled "Gay - so what?"
And he hits gold: "Don't be angry at your son when he distances himself from you. He is going through a difficult phase and thinks that you won't understand him anyway. Don't press him on the subject, have patience until he's ready for his coming-out. Get as much information as you can." Thus encouraged, Alexander then decides to go to a gay help center to, yes, get said information. *snickers*
Which turns into a hilarious scene when the guy at the center thinks that Alexander is the one who's gay and seeks for advice on how to come out as a married man and father, even hands him a brochure titled "How to come out at age 40". ;D
Of course, Alexander flips out and yells, "Do I look gay or what!?!" He then clarifies why he came here: "My son is G-A-Y." And the guy then hits the nail on the head: "And that's your worst nightmare." (So totally.)
Seeing as Alexander is pretty much a macho guy and also somewhat, er, homophobic (and that's an understatement...), it's very difficult for him to deal with his son being gay, but at the same time he's also glad that he's found an explanation for why Lenny's such a stranger to him.
So he tries to be brave and has a talk with Lenny where he addresses the topic of his son's homosexuality. Uhm, well, let's say that Lenny is less that pleased. Actually, he's disappointed, even, that his father is that quick to pigeonhole him without really asking him if it's true. (Common sense apparently is lost on Alexander.) A bitter Lenny then decides to show his father just how gay he can be.
(Mind, this was still around the time where Lenny was very much mooning over Caro, there was not the slightest inkling that he actually might be gay, but even back then a lot of viewers said, "Mh, he does look gay..." I suppose Lenny has to thank his babyface for that. *g*)
Now here are lots of pictures again as the storyline continues in the galleries of episode 3968 and 3969:
Lenny tries to play his fake gayness up as much as he can. For example, when Alexander is in the living room, Lenny enters, talking to a friend on the phone and fiddling with a flyer that he oh so very conveniently drops on a table nearby and exits.
Alexander takes the bait and snatches the flyer where two leather guys are depicted, reading: "Hot boys and cool beats!" Lenny is disappointed that his father was that easy to dupe. And just because he doesn't fit his father's stereotype of a real guy he's supposed to be gay? He fears that Alexander won't ever accept him the way he is.
Later, Lenny meets up with his mother's then current boyfriend, Henrik, whom he gets on very well with and who also is the only one to know the truth. (Funny tidbit: Henrik greets Lenny with a slap on his ass, "Hey, cute ass!" Annoyed, Lenny replies with, "Idiot." *giggles*)
Henrik asks Lenny if it's not enough already. But Lenny says that his father doesn't deserve mercy because he never was really interested in his own son.
Henrik says considering Alexander's interested in Lenny now that he's faking to be gay, at least that's a good thing. But Lenny counters with a scoff that his father's more worried about himself and what the people will think.
And to continue the charade, Lenny brings a classmate home and Alexander watches them like a hawk.
Alexander tries to tell himself that they're just studying in Lenny's room, nothing more. But when he hears loud music from Lenny's room, he gets suspicious:
Yes, the two boys are studying French with loud music blasting in the background. Lenny's classmate is annoyed by the loud music, but Lenny insists on it with a grin. (Devious boy! *g*)
And voilà - because he can't resist, Alexander enters the room with a pathetic excuse. Lenny tells his father to leave them be after he's seen his father noticing the condoms lying in a corner. (Hehe.)
Alexander fails again at being Dad of the Year as he calls Iris to come over, stat. She thinks that something horrible has happened, but when Alexander tells her that "OMG, Lenny has a 'friend' over and they're 'studying together'!", she just mentally eyerolls. (Like me.)
She's unfazed and is A-OK with it, saying, "Don't be a drama queen about it. The first time had to happen, and at least they're doing safer sex, you should be happy!"
She's annoyed because hey, if it were a girl Lenny had brought home? Alexander would so totally not have such a problem with it. (Trufax. He'd totally buy the condoms for Lenny, even. *snorts*)
So she takes Alexander down to the Mocca and together with his half-brother Daniel they try to talk sense into him but it's of no use. Iris is pretty annoyed: "We'll just have to deal with it! Lenny's going to be 18. I trust him and I want him to be happy!" (Aw, Iris.)
Back home, Alexander witnesses the two boys saying goodbye with a hug ... more proof for Lenny's homosexuality?
(Sorry, no hug in the picture, but it definitely took place - I watched this episode, and yes, it was worth 99 cents just to watch Alexander fail so much. *snickers*)
Lenny notices that his father is so not okay with this. Alexander tries to be understanding: "Seems to be a nice boy, I'm glad that you found a buddy, er, a boyfriend." But he notices himself how fake he sounds, and, "Well, I want to be honest with you. The fact that you're ga... well, it's difficult for me to deal with the way you are. But we'll do it - together." (Foot = mouth, oh boy.)
Lenny just says, "It's okay." But his mood quickly changes to the worse when Alexander tells him that he arranged for them to join a self-defense course for gays. Better safe than sorry, and he wants to prove - even if he has to wince a lot at this internally - that he supports Lenny. But Lenny's horrified: "You did WHAT?"
(Cue freaked-out alien elf face. *snickers*)
Lenny tries to get out of it by saying that he has to do homework, but Alexander says that they didn't do anything together in a long time. "I didn't know that you had, ehm, well, different interests!" (Alexander apparently can't say 'gay' at all.) Lenny smirks and doesn't deny it: "Now you know and can let me be, then!"
Alexander tries to deal with it: "You're my son no matter what you think, who you are, who you... ehm... want to love," he stutters. Lenny enjoys seeing his father squirm like this, because it was Alexander's fault that it went this far, after all. But seeing as Alexander insists, "This evening's the gay club's trial lesson!". Lenny has no other choice than to give in. (*pets him*)
Iris is also convinced now that Lenny's gay and tells him that she's proud of him doing the self-defense course with his dad. Lenny doesn't say anything because he's so annoyed with his parents acting as if his (very, very fake - at this point *coughs*) homosexuality isn't a problem for them.
But only one knows the truth - Henrik: "Well, it's your fault!" - "How was I to know that the old man is going all buddy-buddy? I thought he hates gays!" says Lenny. "Man, just tell him you're not gay!" But Lenny wants to see his father suffer: "He always thought I'm a loser. Well, he's got a gay loser now!" (Ouch.)
At home, an impatient Alexander is waiting for his son: "Hey Lenny, you ace. How's it hanging? ... Erm... that was a stupid thing to say..." Lenny just stares at him. (Like I said: foot = mouth. I just hope that doesn't say anything about his qualities as a journalist...)
Later, in the gym hall, Alexander can't hide his distaste at being surrounded by so much gayness - Lenny has to keep from smirking more than once. (If you wondered: Lenny's okay about being in close proximity with other gay guys; he's friendly, smiles at them and is generally unfazed - so not like his father at all.)
Alexander feels even worse when two gays greet each other with a loving kiss. He pushes his son to the side to get some space between them and as you can see, it costs him some effort to keep a friendly smile.
When he has to start doing exercises with Lars, a gay guy who's obviously interested in Lenny, it gets even harder for him. Lenny, in the meanwhile, has chosen a cute, tall and thin bearded guy to do his exercises with, and Alexander gets more and more distracted watching them.
Lars notices that and asks, "Jealous, are you?" Alexander flips out and throws Lars to the ground, growls at him, "If you ever dare to just think of my son, then...!"
But when he looks up, he sees Lenny watching him and does the thumbs-up sign. (OH ALEXANDER NO. *facepalms*)
Lars hobbles off to sit down - no wonder, faced with crazy Papa Cöster... - and Alexander goes to watch Lenny and his partner. Though, as it's par the course for the arrogant journalist, he can't keep his gob shut. (Probably the nerves, but still...)
(See the eyerolling? Poor Lenny.)
"Okay, get a secure foothold..." - "I'm already on it," Lenny says, trying to keep his father at bay. But oh no, it doesn't work at all. Alexander intrudes again and again with inopportune comments about his son's lack of interest in sports, even in front of the coach: "My son's got some difficulties. But he never was any good at P.E., if you must know. Nevertheless, he'll manage."
But when Lenny doesn't 'manage', Alexander asks for a partner who's as tall as Lenny, and the coach asks for Lars who quickly jumps up - but Alexander won't have that.
(Man, to have such an interfering father... I'd have flipped out long before Lenny. *shakes her head*)
He offers himself up as a partner. "Have at it! I won't mind - just come on, bang!" He gives Lenny a shove, but his son is fighting for the last scrap of composure... and loses. He punches his father with full force. Years and years of anger and humiliation are in this hit - Alexander is on the ground, unconscious.
In the next episode Lucy (who apparently was gone for all this time...) hears about Lenny faking being gay and the two siblings have a big argument, which ends in Lenny admitting to everyone that he actually isn't gay.
Alexander is shocked at this new development, but while Lenny cries out his whole disappointment, Alexander feels himself being treated unfairly: he isn't such a bad father - or is he? (... well, duh. *facepalms*)
The news also hit Iris hard as she realizes that Lenny hates his father that much that he went to the lengths of faking being gay. When Henrik tells her that he knew about Lenny's deception, Iris is mad at him because he's now disqualified himself as a grown up partner, seeing as he's closer in age to Lenny than to her, which has also been a source of worry to Iris. (They don't break up then, but Iris tries to connect again with Alex after this debacle, a passionate kiss follows and more entanglement, and this then leads to the eventual break-up of Iris and Henrik. Just in case you were wondering where Henrik is now.)
So, that's basically the whole story line about Lenny faking his gayness. *bows with a flourish*
I'm really curious if they'll reference this on the show, if at all, because it'd make for very interesting Alexander-Lenny dialogue. *snickers* Heh, I'd love to watch Lenny this time really trying to persuade his father that he's actually, truly gay this time, no fake act and Alexander scoffing at him, because once fooled, he's not gonna fall for it again. ;D ;D ;D