Ste & Brendan - Hollyoaks

[dalphine]

Were can I follow this storyline. Thanks

[carld2]

Anthony Langford's Youtube channel has the story.

[Zathras]

As does emmettscanlanfans. You can also join us in the General Discussion thread.

[mad4tv]

I wasn’t sure where I should put this, but this thread seemed the most appropriate, though I never thought I’d ever post in here. I just wanted to take this time to compare the Ste and Brendan relationship to the Patrick and Maxine relationship since we’ve just had the climax to the latter, and there has been quite a lot of discussion about these couplings. Plus, I was watching the early episodes of both couples recently: Ste and Brendan’s first episode together (November 2010) and Patrick and Maxine admitting their love for each other (May 2013) and noticed some major differences. Obviously they’re completely different moments in the storylines but they still prove my point.

   Patrick and Maxine: Actually, I found that the scene where they said ‘I love you’ to each other was quite sweet, and it showed that the writers put some time and effort into building up a relationship between the characters. However, I had to remind myself about what would happen later on (the abuse), which further emphasises the difference between this and ‘Stendan’: that there was a relatively gradual build up of a romance before the abuse began, contrasted to Ste and Brendan, whose first episode together ended with Brendan punching Ste in the face. This seriously angers me; there was violence from day one with the guys, yet their ‘coupling’ was supported throughout, whereas the Patrick and Maxine relationship that started off rather lovingly (not to mention realistically. Well, as ‘realistic’ as this show is capable of) was treated with disgust. I honestly don’t understand the logic behind this. Wait, there is no logic really, is there? I've previously mentioned about the chemistry between the actors in the storylines, but it really shouldn't justify supporting an abusive relationship.
   I’m not saying that I agree with a victim returning to their abuser, absolutely not (which is why I have steered as far away from Stendan as possible), but with Patrick and Maxine, I could almost believe that she would stick by him if he accepted that he had a problem and was prepared to put the effort in to visit and counsellor and change his ways (didn’t River City do something similar a while ago with Robbie and Will? I don’t mean to bring another soap into this, but it’s a good example) but the audience are so opposed to the pairing that they wouldn't accept it. Whereas with Brendan, change wasn’t an option, because ‘changing’ meant losing the ‘legendary’ character that fans seem to adore. This brings me onto fan fiction. Now, I enjoy reading and writing it, but I’ve avoided Stendan fanfic like the plague, and there is so much of it. The thing is, it’s usually either written as an epic dark romance (similarly to how they were presented in late 2012/ early 2013) or as domesticated fluff, which is what the audience apparently wanted to see, but it would be totally unrealistic for the character, not to mention nauseating for people with common sense to see. I’m actually tempted to write my own Patrick and Maxine fluffy fanfic just to see people’s reactions, though I’m worried that I’ll be condemned or something.

   Actually, you could argue that Kirkwood saved the show in some ways (and destroyed it in others), since he got rid of Ste and Brendan's ‘relationship’. Isn’t it true that Smithwick had a ‘Stendan’ reunion planned, and actually went to the trouble of bringing Doug in, building up a friendship between him and Ste, having Doug come out, getting the characters engaged and married, just to reunite Ste and Brendan at the end? Thank Goodness Kirkwood (with the help of Scanlan) put an end to that, even if we did have to endure the Dublin episodes (though that did bring back John Paul, so it wasn’t all bad).

Basically, what I’m trying (but probably failing) to say is that the hypocrisy of fans still astounds me to this very day.

[Difficult Diva]

Hands Mad4TV a drink.
Hello!!
If you've taken a look back at this thread and the last post in it (November 2012 - right during the ridiculous Stendan Reunion in Dublin episodes), you'll see that not everyone was mesmorized by the "chemistry" between Kieron and Emmett. That the manipulation, abuse and destruction of ANY character that unfortunately got in the way of "epic love", including Ste Hay was brought up time and time again throughout their domestic abuse saga.

Sadly, in my opinion, the reason why some folks view the abuse, manipulation and violence as not the same between Maxine and Patrick versus Ste and Brendan is of fetishism of boys kissing. Throughout the domestic abuse, manipulation and violence that was Stendan, certain viewers kept saying that what was happening onscreen was "different, special and even epic", because Ste had formerly abused his previous girlfriend (and mother of his kids) Amy. That now a former abuser, was in the role of the abused. Then, once the news about BB being abused (physically and sexually), he totally became the "real victim" over everybody else he victimized.