#liam simmonds

This British kids soccer show continues to make history. We saw some very nuanced and mature discussions between Dillon and Elliot about being gay and coming out; how often on tv do two gay kids actually discuss their sexualities?  Elliot gave Dillon some great advice and perhaps more importantly told Dillon that he was in fact brave and a winner on and off the pitch

You’d have to be daft to deny that Dillon and Elliot have crushes on each other after this ep. Seeing both Dillon and Elliot trying their best to look nice before meeting up with each other was cute and their handhold at the pitch was very sweet. Lots of soft smiles and longing glances and we even got a hug before Elliot left

Laquarn has confirmed that he’s not in any more S5 eps and doesn’t know if he’s back for the yet to be filmed S6. I can only hope he’ll come back. It would be a waste of great chemistry and an engaging character if Elliot was just meant to help Dillon with his sexuality before passing the torch to Ruby. He clearly left the door open for a future reunion when he told Dillon to call him when he was ready. Patrick confirmed in an interview today that he’ll be back for S6 and presumably Dillon will be playing for Foxborough or some other pro team. Being in a relationship would certainly be a good spur for Dillon to come out more publicly. And Elliot’s love of astronomy is a perfect set up for a date under the staahs

It’s true that the show has not really focused on ships in a big way; the most we’ve gotten was Boggy and Nancy and the low key Jack, Jamie, and Michelle triangle. But at the same time if Dillon can take Indira out and kiss Sienna then he should be able to date a boy he likes. It would be tragic if the closest Dillon gets to having a boyfriend or kissing a boy is Liam outing Dillon and claiming that Elliot was Dillon’s boyfriend and that he thought they were gonna kiss

And it’s a bit shady that Eric of all people is suddenly getting a female love interest out of nowhere. I just hope when the show eventually ends that it doesn’t turn out to be another Andi Mack where Cyrus was able to kiss a girl twice and go on dates with a girl and use the word girlfriend when none of that happened with a boy

Jamie Johnson really covered a lot tonight with Dillon. We had a very helpful run down of Dillon’s past with girls and the show carefully explains that Dillon never liked Sienna like that, he never wanted to kiss her, he never had a crush on anyone else like she thought, and he never liked Ruby as more than a friend (at least Duby shippers still have Alba and Liam for an Osborne-Simmonds ship). It wasn’t subtle but I think it was necessary to really drive home that Dillon is really gay and there’s no going back. And we got confirmation that Elliot was Dillon’s first crush, he’s obviously never beaten anyone up on this show and the way he phrases it makes clear that he’s never really thought about liking boys that way until very recently

And boy did this ep ever tackle homophobia. Graham Simmonds was seriously out of order this ep. He clearly didn’t want to believe Liam but Dillon using his aftershave already primed him to believe he was trying to impress someone, he just assumed it had been a girl. He really ran through the homophobe’s greatest hits collection: blaming Ruby’s gay parents, saying being gay was a choice, saying that being gay would end Dillon’s career, and disowning and kicking Dillon out for being gay. I suspect that quite a few of the parents watching JJ with their kids hold some of the same views or act the same way and this ep really holds up a mirror and reflects how ugly that kind of behaviour is. We also see Graham praising Dillon’s accomplishments and character right before Liam outs him which just exposes his hypocrisy even more. I do give the show credit for not shying away from Graham’s awfulness, it’s not going to be a quick change for him to suddenly accept Dillon and I’m excited to see his journey to atoning for his mistakes

Thankfully Mrs. Simmonds returned from her banishment to the shadow realm to tell Dillon she loved him and to tell him to return home. Shaun Duggan said he hoped this ep would be a lifeline for kids watching who may be living in homophobic homes (he also mentioned that CBBC rules don’t allow eps to allow on cliffhangers so he has to end an ep showing that the characters are at least physically okay)

It also challenges the audience, most of whom are probably young boys and men, as to whether they will suddenly stop liking Dillon just because he’s gay. It was a real gamble on the show’s part to have their fan favourite character and the effective second lead of the show come out as gay but it has the tremendous pay off of really making the audience question their assumptions and hopefully for some of them it will change their world views

Dillon and Elliot also discussed homophobia in sports. Dillon correctly notes that there aren’t any out players in the top professional teams. Shaun Duggan mentioned in a BBC interview that they like to bring on professional soccer players when they’re having the kids going through things but this time he wasn’t able to have anyone come on to help Dillon because there are no out players. So it falls to Jamie Johnson to basically create that reality themselves by telling Dillon’s story

Patrick Ward did a phenomenal job tonight and he really is the best of the kid actors. He’s mentioned in interviews that he did a lot of research by watching shows and movies with similar gay story lines. In particular his breakdown set to Behind Blue Eyes by the Who was very well done (and once again the show has great taste in music). And of course, Shaun Duggan did an amazing job writing this ep. He’s openly gay himself and that makes all the difference in bringing an authenticity and depth to this story line. On Andi Mack of the 5 textual gay eps only one, 3x11, was written by a gay man and not surprisingly that was the best written by far of those eps

We were 19 minutes into the ep before Jamie himself briefly showed up. And he was 5th in the credits tonight with Dillon and Elliot taking the number 1 and 2 spots. Actually this whole ep had a very small cast and only a few locations, it really helped focus this ep on Dillon. Having Dillon seek out Jamie is interesting in that they’ve been foils for each from the start. But also because it sends a message to have Jamie Johnson himself praise Dillon, it’s a way for the writers to speak directly to the audience through the title character

We’ll doubtless get some more development on Dillon’s story line in the rest of the season but they’ve done historic work so far. A lot of what we’ve seen so far: the depiction of homophobia, coming out to parents, and two gay kids discussing their sexualities has yet to happen anywhere on Disney. Hell this ep alone had more uses of the word gay than Disney has yet to have

I loved how extra the black and white boxing match cold open was. Not surprising that Dillon sees Mike as the supportive (and non homophobic) father figure he wishes Graham was

This was a big step backwards for Liam’s redemption arc tonight but at least at the end he didn’t seem to buying into his dad’s bullshit about them being the only men left in the house. Liam is by no means blameless but he’s also a victim of his dad’s emotional abuse and his pitting his sons against each other. That little meet up with Eric was interesting because they’re foils for each other in some ways and I’m curious to see what lies ahead for Liam and the U13 crew and for how Liam makes this up to Dillon

Looking Ahead:

Finally we get back to the real meat and potatoes of this show; online gaming! Looks like Mike is bored of gardening at the allotment and wants Jamie to get back into real soccer. We’ll see if Jamie makes into the online tournament

Again, not really sure why Eric suddenly needs Ayesha but we’re getting some Freddie anger over Eric choosing lasses over lads

Imagine the keep reading sign is now a Youtube intro sequence, because that opening paragraph felt like a Youtube cold open. In my head, the character I compare Liam most to is Rumplestiltskin from Once Upon a Time. I think it was mainly after episode 11 that tbf, because oh my god, Liam is just so chaotic whenever he’s on screen. You have no idea what he’s going to do next.

Liam is not book smart. You can see it in, what, season 4, episode 2 when he has trouble reading Freddie’s surname. But he also happens to have a real talent for manipulation. Back to season 4 episode 5, it was Liam who noticed that Alba had anger issues, it was Liam who knew the exact right words to get under Alba’s skin.

So Season 5 episode 11, to me, that was pretty much the Smash the Mirror 2-parter in once upon a time. It’s been a while, but I remember being annoyed in season 4 because Rumple had worked hard at his redemption, and they just ruined it in season 4. But then Smash the Mirror came. And we got to see Rumple at his evilest. And it was amazing. Probably the best episode of season 4, Rumple had never been the main villain before, and putting him in that role. Oh my god, he was so smart and so brilliant and he was so smart.

So maybe it’s not as huge a thing as Smash the Mirror, but they never needed something as big as Smash the Mirror, because Liam hasn’t completed his redemption arc. He’s in the middle of it. Although even if he had completed his redemption arc, I would’ve still loved it. He brings chaos to the show. Because let’s face it, how much bad stuff is he responsible for?

His bullying of Alba in season 4 was the reason that the club had financial difficulties. Liam (controlled by Stormzy) was responsible for Duncan turning to the dark side (even though he was already a terrible dad). He outed Dillon, getting him kicked out of the house. He caused the in-fighting between Eric and Freddie, causing the under 13s to lose the game, and he caused Alba and Freddie to be angry at Eric in season 5.

And saying that, I have to wonder if Liam was thinking about all of that in episode 8. Like, that moment in episode 8 was the moment Liam realised “I’m kind of a terrible person” Because, seriously, when Liam says:

“Look, he’s gone bright red. He knows I’m not lying.” That is terrifying. Coming from a kid. The way he says it, it’s... I don’t know how to explain it. I always said that Liam didn’t really want to hurt Dillon as bad as he did. But even through the rest of the scene, and the rest of the series, Liam’s got more a playful winding up energy to him. But that line, the delivery of that line, it sends shudders down my spine (Not literally, but...)

But I still don’t think he meant to get Dillon kicked out. He was just trying to “play the game” between him and Dillon. And I think that’s how he’s always seen it: It’s a game. Life is a game, and he has to win it. Just another example of terrible parent from dear old Dillon Simmonds.

In episode 8, Liam finally saw the consequences of his actions. In episode 8 and 9, he finally realised that he didn’t like himself. Especially episode 9. So, what brought about his heel faced turn in episode 11? Well, there are two options the way I see it:

1) Dillon came back home. Everything was fine. Finally, everything was back to normal. He could be himself; or

2) When he was acting friendly, how he thought everyone wanted him to act, that’s when he was at his loneliest. Nobody was having anything to do with him in episode 9, but when he acted like how he did in episode 10, people paid attention to him.

Or, of course, it could be a mixture of both. It means we won’t finish his redemption arc in season 5, but I hope he’ll at least be sent down that road again by the finale.

Perhaps in episode 12? If Dillon tells Foxborough he’s gay, and they tell him he should keep it a secret so that they can protect him. And I don’t think Dillon’s ready to be open about his sexuality, but we know from episode 10 that he eventually wants to. I think @mackmeta could right, and it will cause him to stay at Phoenix/the Rovers. And then Liam would blame himself for Dillon leaving Foxborough. And who knows how Graham would react. It’s still hard to imagine season 5 ending with everyone in a good place, but I guess we’ll see how it goes. I look forward to it. I trust the writers.