RIP Reid Oliver

         Allow me to preface this article by saying that I am not an avid soap opera watcher. I don’t have the time, I don’t own a television, and I find the melodramatic storylines ridiculous and absurd. Now with that said, I have a confession to make. I have become embarrassingly attached to one soap opera in particular: As The World Turns on CBS. In my defense I never watched the show until just recently when something rather ground breaking happened: two gay characters were added and thus As The World Turns became famous for having the first gay teen couple in soap opera history.  I know it doesn’t sound all that impressive, I mean who cares, right? So they have a gay teen couple, big deal, only, it is when considering the gay population of the world feels really excluded from the general media.  Speaking as a member of that excluded community, I can tell you I felt intrigued and very curious with the direction these characters would take.

So I watched whenever I could, and I have to admit I was disappointed with what the writers did. The two characters, Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer, went through hell, and a lot of the dysfunction and obstacles they faced always had something to do with their sexual orientation. I understand the point behind soap opera’s, they’re supposed to be insanely melodramatic and ridiculously suspenseful, but at the same time I felt a twinge of aggravation at the fact that boys’ screen kisses usually ended up being interrupted or were cut so short as the camera would faze out or would cut away just as they were about to kiss so that their actual lip lock time was extremely limited in comparison to that of the straight characters. Everyone knows that part of a romantic relationship revolves sex; well perhaps someone should inform the writers on CBS, because Luke and Noah had virtually no sex life. They cuddled, snuggled, shared gentle caresses and gazed loving at each other, but as for sex, there almost none. There was only one time when it was implied that they had slept together, the camera focused in on a bed with rumpled sheets and then zoomed out to show the boys leaving the bathroom together with wet hair and towels. Perhaps I should have been grateful for at least that much, but when I realized that the straight couples were constantly bed hoping and in heated lip locks, I was upset.  

After a while, I grew bored with the characters and the constant drama that they went through. There came a point when the chemistry went dry and so for a while, I stopped watching. One day over this past summer, I was bored and thought maybe I check back in and that’s when I was confronted with a pleasant surprise: a new character had been added and after hearing some of his dialogue I was thoroughly intrigued. Reid Oliver was snarky, clever, somewhat rude, confident, a successful neurosurgeon, attractive and gay. Unlike almost all of the other characters on the show, he wasn’t related to anyone, he wasn’t anybodies long lost son or brother or a dirty secret from someone’s past…he was entirely unique. I think the part I liked best about him was that he made fun of how everything was so dramatic on show while he was in character. I admired him for being unapologetic for who he was and for his clever sarcastic humor and for not fitting a stereotype. He was basically the gay version of Dr. House and he gave the show some serious spice.

  Reid Oliver became Luke Snyder’s new love interest as Luke and Noah had recently broken up, yet again, and the sparks between them were intense. Both characters played off of each other perfectly; the sexual energy between them was intoxicating and when they finally kissed for the first I was delighted. I soon found out that As the World Turns was going off the air this fall after a 54 years and I knew that writers were trying to wrap up the show and all its many tangled story lines as quickly as possible.   

So, in a span of a few weeks three dramatic things happen: Reid Oliver was in competition with another character for a position as the medical chief of staff at the hospital on the show, his rival finds out he has a serious heart condition that he chooses to ignore and Luke realizes he’s fallen in love with Reid. While drama ensues I started paying attention to the physical interactions between Luke and Reid and I realized that they were almost identical to that of Luke and Noah, that is to say their kisses and all other sensual and flirty dialogue and body language was cut to a minimum.

             To be blunt, the ending sucked. Reid’s competition is landed in the hospital has his heart condition goes worse and then it turns out he needs a new heart. Reid decides he’s going to get a new heart for him, confesses to Luke that he loves him, gets in his car and ends up stalling on railroad tracks with a speed training heading right for him. Of course, Reid then is in critical condition and just before he goes brain dead he and Luke have an incredibly sad farewell and one last kiss and then Reid signs over his heart to his rival. A lot of people have asked why I’m so upset with this ending, they see it as a beautiful thing that Reid would do something so compassionate as to give over his own heart to someone in need…..and it is, but what frustrates me is the relationship mirrors that of Luke and Noah which was so restrained and tightly controlled compared to the heterosexual romances on the show. Luke and Reid never got to have sex, their kisses were limited and constantly being interrupted and just after Reid and Luke both acknowledged their love and respect for each other…Reid dies. On the final show, every heterosexual character was in partnership with someone, but Luke was alone and mourning, and as lame as this sounds, I actually cried.

            I know soap opera’s are what they are for a reason: because if real life were like a soap opera then we’d all be insane. They’re fun and trashy to watch, a guilty pleasure of many and a way to escape reality. I get that, that’s one of the reasons I got hooked myself. I was just hoping that the writers would perhaps be more evolved in their views of what it means to be gay and living in a world where virtually everything seems to be against us. The media is full of subtle and not subtle ideals of what kind of ending gay people have verses everyone else, we don’t seem to get happy endings very often. I guess in my naivety I thought that this soap opera would be bold enough to help change that…..I was wrong. I wrote this for two reasons: I wanted to give my perspective on what happened to this wonderful and very dynamic character. In my opinion, killing Reid off was a cowardly and lame thing to do, which brings me to my second reason. I wanted to say goodbye to him, lame and weird sounding perhaps, but having him die felt like losing someone I was close to. It hurt. I was attracted and attached to what he represented to me: a strong outspoken gay man who never apologized for who he was.  That to me is worthy of admiration and remembrance. So, even if you don’t know who Reid Oliver is, or have never seen As the World Turns, I hope you will recognize what he represents: another brave, outspoken and fearless gay person to be cut down by a homophobic society. Rest in Peace Reid, I won’t forget you.     

                                                       

Meet Oakdale's sexiest and snarkest doctor: Reid Oliver.....my hero!