Shortland Street Round Up 2022

[aquila1nz]

OK, this is now an annual catch up for our local queer friendly soap, we finished 2021 with an unexpected kiss between Samira and Francesca, plus two ongoing f/f relationships, and then 2022 turned out to be an absolute rollercoaster.


What did Shortland Street give queer women in 2022?


1. The new relationship between Samira and Francesca was very popular and absolutely lovely - and then went downhill very fast, as Francesca pushed too hard, then left the show.
Samira immediately decided Marty was the love of her life instead, then promptly left the show without him.


2. Dawn tried to set Louis up with cosplayer Demelza but instead she kissed Dawn. Dawn was very flattered and is never good at saying no to people, but had to tell her she had been down that path before and it was not for her. Demelza turned out to be an ex of Maeve's (pre-Saskia) that she had a bad break up with which Maeve was apparently still harbouring a lot of anger over. I'm sorry Demelza didn't hang around after that.


3. Rosalyn left Leanne for a man who grew flowers; Rosalyn's side of the breakup all happened off screen. Leanne didn't swear off women forever (which would have been within character) but she did sleep with newly married Damo and then got involved with an evangelical church which would have drastic repercussions down the line. She did get out again when her closest friend there proved homophobic, in time to prevent them fleecing her of all her money, so well done Leanne. Not sure if she'll get a girlfriend again but she has evolved a bit. Still trying to run Nicole's life though. And then at the end of the year Ros showed up for a funeral.


4. Nicole and Maeve have had a difficult year of never quite being on the same page, struggling with intimacy and whether the other really wants them. Which culminated in Maeve suggesting a threesome with a woman who had been flirting with Nicole because she thought that might make things better with Nicole. Nicole was not pleased but later trying to initiate a threesome with a man they worked with which Maeve said yes to but then freaked out about, and shortly after that Nicole decided their relationship had become too hard and asked Maeve to leave. Maeve did not take this well, got drunk a bunch and kissed Harper once. And then someone from Brightshine church killed Wilder, which briefly brought them back together in their grief, the year ended with them loosely together, Nicole obviously not happy about it, and Nicole was last seen in the IV as it burned down. Cliffhanger!

On the one hand that's three f/f couples that have broken up on Shortland Street this year. On the other, that's a soap record, because no other soap has three unrelated (or overrelated) wlw couples to break up.


5. Saskia also returned for one episode for Wilder's funeral (not surprising - Amanda Tito had been doing some directing - including directing the episode where Nicole and Maeve first broke up).


6. Young Billy is still not quite up to full dialogue scenes, but has become more vocal with the addition of Marley, and there was a nice storyline where Marley wanted to wear a blue Frozen dress for Halloween to match Billy's princess dress. After Marley came home from school angry at being laughed at for wearing it to the school Halloween Drew also dressed in a dress to go trick or treating, leading to drama with a friend's parent who had unnecessary opinions. And Billy ended the year with a full sentence of dialogue!


7. In other news in November new doctor Gia Te Arakura was introduced when Jack employed her as a locum. Gia was avoiding meeting TK who had recently found out that the older child he was estranged from was dead, and it quickly became clear that Gia was that child, who had transitioned. And had also become a fully fledged doctor in the five years since she last appeared on the show as a teenager focused on rowing - we could solve the country's health worker shortage if we used Shortland Street's sped up training methods! Gia is played by trans actress Awa Puna.



So yes, a year with lots of ups and downs for the fans. Shortland Street is back from hiatus on Monday, it'll be interesting to see where they go this year.



2021 Shortie Recap
2020 Shortie Recap