With this new storyline and especially with Nicola of all people talking to Aaron about him and Robert, I've had a lot of thoughts about Robert's traumatic relationship with sex, power, and consent (I'll come back to Nicola in part 2). I'm currently watching both Aaron's and Robert's storylines from when they were kids and teenagers, and there are so many things that put what's happening at the moment into perspective.
Now, I'm no scholar when it comes to Classic Emmerdale so if anyone has anything to add or comment, please do! Other thoughts and reflections are more than welcome too!
First, I wanna talk about the situation with the farmhand. Yes, it's a retcon and not shown on screen, but it's canon and it's relevant. Most if not all of us in the fandom have seen this scene a thousand times, but for anyone new and who needs a refresher:
To recap:
Until he moved away at 19, Robert lived with his family on one of the farms in Emmerdale. His father Jack was the man in charge and the kids had to help out. At one point when Robert was 15, they hired a new farmhand who he really liked. One thing led to another and Robert and the farmhand ended up in Robert's bedroom. Before anything could happen, Jack found them, kicked the farmhand out and gave Robert a “leathering”, aka a beating. It should be mentioned that Jack had been physically violent with Robert, both before and after:
Why is this relevant to what's happening now?
One of Robert's first attempts at an intimate encounter got him a beating from his dad, because it was with a boy. In his young brain that would’ve created an association between intimacy, physical violence and men, especially older men. Canonically, this incident messed up his relationship with his own bisexuality for 15 years and made him stay in the closet until he came out in 2016. The fact that one of the main reasons he got assaulted in prison was because of his queerness must've been triggering for him and brought up a lot of old shame.
So far we don't know whether or not Kev has ever properly hit Robert, but we all saw that second kiss and Robert's pliant and dazed reaction. Due to the trauma of what happened with Jack, having an older man use physical force in relation to a queer intimate moment would've felt familiar, if not very uncomfortable. In fact I'd say that Robert was on the verge of dissociating.
In relation to age, if Kev is around Chris Coghill's age, this means that there is about a 10 year age gap between him and Robert, since Chris was born in 1975. This follows the pattern of Robert choosing noticeably older partners/lovers, including Chrissie and Nicola, as well as Lawrence even though that wasn't consummated. This could be interpreted as a manifestation of parental trauma, aka mommy/daddy issues, which we know Robert has in SPADES; both his biological and adoptive mothers dying when he was young, a father who was physically violent, emotionally abusive and neglectful with moments of love and care.
In part 2, I will discuss the circumstances around Robert's virginity and why Nicola is relevant.
cain: have you seen sarah? she was supposed to open the garage today
moira: i can't find mack either and i need him at the farm
nicola: is lewis here???
meanwhile...
ugh we need more manipulative characters that aren’t evil. lie and cheat and steal for a good cause. control every narrative. use narcissism for justice. ruin all of your personal relationships for the good of the mission.
Bless Ryan. He looks gorgeous on film, but he looks awkward in all the photos from the prem (bar the ones from his interview with Chloe). Bless. Plus his outfit was not doing him favours. Also some idiot cut too much of the floof out his hair imo.
Incredible that such a gorgeous man had such an awkward photo face that night. Evidently not his comfort zone, bless him. He seems like one of those actors that looks way more comfortable when he's acting as opposed to when he has to be himself at events. Plus premieres and red carpets are The Worst for those kinds of actors.
Also, all the new photos of him / Robert in Aaron's flat are the same. Babes defo struggles to do a good photo face.
EMMERDALE RAREPAIR WEEK | Day 1: Canon Couple - Caleb/Ruby
↳ "Thirty years ago, you did save me. And you never stopped saving me. (...)."
"(...) The girl you were when we first met, the victim, she’s gone now. She’s long gone. Who you are now, Ruby, she’s who you were always supposed to be."
