Yunny

Aw that's so nice to say :) Tumblr doesn't really have a Hollyoaks fandom anymore and I'm on twitter now. But I still check in here occasionally in case someone makes gifs. And I still chat about Starry everyday in DMs lol. Since you asked, here's some random thoughts on the reunion:

It was ridiculously fast! There are any number of storyline reasons why they wanted it to happen so soon; maybe to match timing with James sl, Deedee sl, possibly they want Starry to already be a couple when Ryan exits the show soon or just felt that Harry and Ste had both suffered apart long enough already. Harry's "life is short" speech was so meta lmao I loved how he described the typical soap reunion story and didn't want that.

Whatever the reason, Roanne Bardsley wrote the 2 episodes they had together, and omg she pulled it off brilliantly. I usually have a lot of qualms about the dialogue in this show, but virtually everything Ste and Harry said to each other--even what Tony said to Diane about Harry--I loved!

I was so angry at Ste for so long but that wall scene healed my wounds. Ste is fully aware of how stupid and selfish he was, and when he went on yet another of his self-deprecating rants, Harry pretty much tuned him out LMAO he just wanted to get the drugs away from him. Then attacked him for wallowing in self-pity and told Ste exactly what he needed to hear to finally put his kids welfare first. Harry was Ste's saviour again. He knows he should hate him, he's not delusional, but his love is stronger than Ste's mistakes. He's so perfect for and to Ste<3 That scene was 3 minutes long but it flew by. And after watching Duncan James make even Kieron look bad with their atrocious lack of acting chemistry for so long, what a breath of fresh air to have Parry and Kieron absolutely smash that scene together. I thought they might be rusty after not working together for a while, but their chemistry was strong as ever and even had a new energy.

This show is awful at aftermath and I always want better for Harry from other characters and for his representation in the stories but in this case I think the writers made a conscious choice not to mention Harry's suffering over the past 7 months. He had to suffer in order to be redeemed and focusing on it would only remind us of his terrible deed to Amy. Instead, they let us pity Harry when he found out about Styan and Deedee.

I loved that Ste unequivocally defended Harry to the kids, and wanted him there to tell them about Ryan, even though they weren't a couple anymore. They’re such a family. I loved that Ste was the one to initiate a kiss and talk about wishing they could be together again. And Harry resisted his urge to comfort Ste and told him they can't forget the past. They both so obviously wanted to be more than friends but did what they thought was right. It was only when Deedee became ill that Harry decided he didn't want to wait.