Alberts48 - Untitled

Exactly. She and Robert will soon actually be close.

Robron & Liv

I love that Robert and Aaron have got a story line the minute they’ve got together. It would have been easy for the writers to put them together so they live happily ever after and disappear into the soap background.

Instead they’ve got Liv who is entertaining me no end, she’s gobby and opinionated and ready for mischief. Aaron adores her and she makes him smile. He can probably see himself in her. She is going to rock the boat temporarily, but she’ll love Robert like Jacob loves David one day!

God, yes!

[insp]

ManChildTrump is a wannabe mobster, and a Russian asset!

Similar.

I’m trying to figure out why I feel so hopeless about robron right now. And if you accept the writing (which at some level you have to, because it’s what’s airing) I’m narrowing my problem down to Aaron. This will not be a happy post, you have been warned. Aaron will not come out well through this post, but I’m more complaining about the way he’s written, not the character I’ve loved for years. I hope that distinction is clear through this post. (Also all of this is assuming Aaron doesn’t get mental health help. I don’t see that happening, ED’s had plenty of chances and they won’t do it.)

Yes, Robert messed up. But relationships are always give and take, and I never see anyone in the fandom actually saying that Aaron had responsibility for some of this. Some. Like Robert said in January, they can’t get married if they haven’t even got trust right. Aaron has never fully trusted Robert. I’m not saying he hasn’t had reasons, god knows he has, especially during 2015. But for a year in 2016 and a year is an eternity in soap terms, he had absolutely no reason to. Robert was his absolute support throughout the worst time of his life and he never gets any credit for that.

Because the narrative is everything’s always Robert’s fault. Again, issues with why they thought telling this story was worth it, because it makes six months plus of Aaron’s biphobia almost proved right, especially as it’s never been called on. He didn’t trust Robert, not because he’d had affairs in the past, but because he feared Robert would go back to a woman. I can’t stand that ED proved him and his biphobia right, because it’s what everyone says about bisexuals, or I certainly hear enough about it. 

I also hate the implication that Aaron can’t stand Robert because he’s the man he fell in love with. It’s a thread in TV shows I hate, the idea that you slowly turn and hate the reasons you fell for someone in the first place and want them to change? Why? You fell in love with them for a reason. Are we seriously saying that Robert’s scheming and manipulating and smirking “I got away with it” smile wasn’t part of the attraction in the first place? Because I don’t believe that. Compare it with when Aaron tried to rob Home Farm in late 2016. Robert’s reaction was “it’s a good job those things impress me.” Within this relationship, Robert’s trying to be “good” and strong for Aaron and the second he messes up, he gets shouted down and all Aaron does is complain about it. If he’s keeping his distance, that’s wrong. If he’s sticking his oar in, that’s wrong too. Robert is literally in a no win situation with the way that Aaron’s behaviour within this relationship has been framed. 

Yes, Robert screwed up. For one night when he was drunk and Aaron didn‘t trust him to tell the truth about what he was going through. When instead Aaron pushed him away, making him believe it was over. What’s Aaron’s excuse for not trusting him for the past 11 months at that point?

Aaron will never, ever trust Robert again. Not after having his cheating fears proved correct. His fear and distrust of Robert being faithful will now always be linked with his sexuality, something that can’t be changed, and I hate with a passion that they thought this was the right story to tell.

And right now? I struggle to see why I would even want Robert to be belittled and held down in a relationship like that. Where every move he does is wrong and every mistake is always thrown back at him. A relationship that they are not equals in because Aaron’s mistakes are so much smaller, because he’s “Aaron” and the “good character.” Or even the mindset, Aaron’s apparent mindset that Robert’s not allowed to make mistakes. I feel that’s immature because no one’s perfect. I want to fall in love with Aaron again. I just don’t want this version we’ve been given. I hate that I’m falling out of love with a character I loved so much.

And I think that’s my problem.