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FeedHere Comes the Lesbian Soap Opera Bride
A historic wedding took place last week on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children. No, Erica Kane, the legendary cougar made famous by a pre-Dancing With The Stars Susan Lucci, didn’t walk down the aisle for an 11th time, this time it was Erica’s lesbian daughter Bianca (Eden Riegel) who married the girl of her dreams (Or is she?), architect Reese Williams (Tamara Braun, who shot to fame as mob moll Carly Corinthos on General Hospital).
Of course in true soap fashion, Bianca’s wedding didn’t go off without a hitch. Prior to the nuptials, her slightly-confused betrothed was caught in a liplock with Bianca’s brother-in-law Zach (Thorsten Kaye), by Bianca’s pal Ryan (Cameron Mathison), who then told his fiancé Greenlee (Rebecca Budig), who then climbed on the back of a motorcycle, clad in her wedding dress—she and Ryan had been set to get married alongside Binks and Reese in a double wedding—to go confront Zach, the hubby of her BFF Kendall (Alicia Minshew), who just so happens to be Bianca’s sister. Whew, try that while chewing gum!
Meanwhile, Kendall is gunning her car up the same dark highway that Greenlee is speed racing down, having been in a nasty confrontation with Bianca and Reese about Zach donating sperm behind Kendall’s back for the conception of Bianca and Reese’s infant daughter Gabrielle.
Cut to a dramatic crash that leaves poor Greenlee presumed dead (Budig is once again leaving the show for Los Angeles and pilot season) and a devastated Bianca deciding to have her Sapphic marriage annulled after mistakenly assuming Reese and Zach’s smooch meant they were having a full-on affair.
“Oh, is that all?” Riegel laughed, when Bianca’s wedding day woes were laid out for her. “That's all par for the course on soaps! It is very dramatic, and those scenes were hard to play because the betrayal Bianca feels is so deep. This is the person she just pledged her life to. It gets ugly. But I understand the two women find their way back to each other. It's complicated, but the love is real.”
Representatives at All My Children are encouraging Bianca’s large and vocal fanbase to be patient with this storyline, assuring that a happy resolution is in store for their heroine, even though like Budig, Riegel has exited the soap opera.
“Bianca leaves town after the wedding, but she returns this spring and I can promise you, there will be a payoff for the fans,” teases an All My Children rep. “Reese is staying in town to do everything she can to prove her love for Bianca to Bianca’s family, all in hopes of them conveying that message on to Bianca.”
As for Riegel, she’ll be concentrating on the second season of Imaginary Bitches, the web dramedy about a twentysomething woman who invents a pair of bitchy imaginary friends when her coupled-up real pals stop having time for her. The smash YouTube hit was created by Riegel’s real life hubby and outspoken gay marriage supporter Andrew Miller. Imaginary Bitches reunites Riegel and her former All My Children leading lady Elizabeth Hendrickson (ex-Maggie, All My Children; Chloe, The Young and the Restless). Miller is donating $0.88 of every sale for Imaginary Bitches: The Complete First Season DVD to the fight to overturn Proposition 8.
When asked what she hoped the legacy of Bianca and Reese’s wedding will be for pop culture, Riegel said she genuinely hoped one day it would all seem like nothing special.
“I would really like it to be no big deal,” she says. “I would like to look back on it like I do my character's coming out story and think, ‘What was all the fuss about, again?’ I hope soon gay marriage is legal and an event like this will come and go just like one of Erica Kane's 10 weddings.”
Jamey Giddens is editorial director for Daytimeconfidential.com and co-hosts the website’s companion iTunes podcast. Lookout for his exclusive interview with Eden Riegel in a future issue of Curve.
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Reader Comments:
How can there be a payoff, when all the viewers have seen during the past four months is that these two people should not be together. This story was nothing more than a ratings stunt (that failed), and at times it looked like a cross between a penthouse letter and something that had to be co-written by the supporters of Proposition 8.
The writers spent more time developing the relationship between Zach and Reese than the one between Bianca and Reese. Bianca was treated like less than a secondary character in this storyline. Reese, a character we don't know and don't care about, was forced down our throats and showed no remorse for saying one thing to her fiancee while having thoughts feelings for Zach. And, how can there be a payoff when Reese a world away from Bianca? Why should the viewers care about this so called couple if the writers are too afraid to show their relationship.
A payoff to tis storyline would be Reese leaving town, Bianca making ammends with her sister, and Bianca coming to terms with why she would even make a committment to someone she barely knows.
I agree... it's very difficult to swallow a payoff after months of trivializing this relationship by bringing the third "male" person into it, as is so often done with lesbian storylines on shows, movies, etc. This 'historic wedding' was totally minimized, in my opinion. What would have made it a 'little' more easy to accept is if the third person was another woman (as I know soaps need their drama, which I love). The writers working the story with the third person being a male, as they did, belittles gay/lesbian relationships and adds to the view that being gay is a choice and any male can swoop a woman off her feet (in true soap fashion). I had very high hopes for this story on AMC, and have been very disappointed by it. Shame on you, All My Children, for ruining, what could have been, a great statement.
I agree with the two posts above! This is all crap! And from what we've seen it seems like they barely knew each other! Way to live up to having a U-Haul! lol! The sad thing is they had to bring a baby in the mix! What was that about? Don't buy this romance one bit! It was forced and contrived! They should just cut their losses and not force it.
People who want a more satisfying, respectful and believable lesbian relationship on their soap should go check out what Guiding Light is doing with Natalia and Olivia. They've slowly been building this up (in classic soap fashion) for over a year - taking them from enemies to frenemies to friends to "family" and now - finally! - to "something more than friendship". They're now taking the sub- out of the subtext, and its really exciting to watch! Get on the "Otalia" train now folks!!
I agree with the above comment, jump on the Otalia train if you want to watch a really satisfying love story. Guiding Light has been doing brilliant work with Olivia and Natalia so far, and according to spoilers, it's only going to get better. Now is definitely the time to start watching GL. Check out episodes on CBS.com and the Otalia channel on youtube.
I love Reese and Bianca together. I can't wait for Bianca to come back. It would be exciting if they got back together and Bianca's family accepted Reese. They have a child together now so their bond goes deeper and can never be broken. It's just too bad we (the viewers) couldn't see how their relationship grew. Go Rianca!!!