Goodbye to As The World Turns: The Story of Luke & Noah (Part Two)

This week after 55 years on-air the CBS soap As The World Turns ends and to mark the occasion we’ve commissioned a special feature, written by fan Andy Eldridge, looking at the soaps most popular storyline of recent years; he romance between Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer.

This week after 55 years on-air the CBS soap As The World Turns ends and to mark the occasion we’ve commissioned a special feature, written by fan Andy Eldridge, looking at the soaps most popular storyline of recent years; he romance between Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer. This is the second part of Andy’s look at the story of Luke (Van Hansis) and Noah (Jake Silbermann), dubbed ‘Nuke’ by fans, you can read the first part by clicking here >>

“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Never did such a simple exchange of words cause so much excitement to a relatively small fan base. Noah kissed Luke on a Friday. Not surprisingly, it was their final scene of the week and the cliffhanger fans were left with for the weekend. Within 30 minutes of uploading that epic kiss on to YouTube, I noticed the view count multiply every time I refreshed the page. (It would each 1,000,000 hits in just six months). It spread to folks all over the internet at a rapid pace. Over the next few weeks, my subscriber count went through the roof. People bombarded me with messages asking who this couple was. I simply told them to go back to part one and watch from the beginning. It felt like new fans were popping up from every place on the globe to learn more about these characters and their story. The kiss they shared on August 17, 2007 was the first-ever teenage same sex kiss on daytime television here in the U.S. This was a very exciting time.

Once the story resumed the following Monday, the kiss was interrupted by a phone call from Col. Mayer telling Noah to hurry up and get to the restaurant where he and Maddie were waiting. Noah then did what you would expect many gay teenagers in denial about their sexuality to do: He tried to pretend the kiss was nothing serious on his part. He claimed the kiss was a joke meant to play with Luke’s head and then he left in a hurry. Later that evening, Noah went back to WOAK to talk with Luke. He admitted that he was wrong before. He had kissed Luke because he wanted to do it. But this could never happen again. Noah had a need to please his father and the last thing he would ever want to do is hurt him. If that meant him staying in the closet, so be it. He asked Maddie to move in with him; and she said “yes.”

Armed with the need to please his father, Noah tried his best to make a happy and romantic relationship work with Maddie. The pair even signed a lease for an apartment to share on the campus of their college. But as time passed by, Noah could not get Luke out of his head. Every moment the boys spent alone together was filled with tension as they fought their attraction for each other while Luke tried to convince Noah to come clean with Maddie. He still did not have the courage to do it.

Maddie had long suspected that something was not right between her friend and her new boyfriend but she could never figure out what exactly. After a talk with her brother Henry, she confronted Luke and asked him if anything was going on between him and Noah. When Luke couldn’t respond, Maddie had her answer. What resulted was a breakup as both Noah and Maddie faced the reality of their situation. But Noah remained secretive for a short time out of fear of coming out to his father. Finally, after a talk with Maddie, Noah decided that he could not deny his true self any longer and he prepared to confess to his father. As expected, the news did not go well for the colonel, especially after he walked in on Luke and Noah kissing.

Noah’s father accused him of lying and then angrily disowned him. However, he quickly did a 180 and told Noah that he would not lose him. Almost every story on a soap opera has to have an evil villain. Colonel Mayer provided that for Luke and Noah. He was adamant that Luke had to be out of his son’s life. In Winston’s mind, Maddie was on her way to “straightening” Noah out and Luke ended up ruining that. Luke had to be punished. The colonel devised a plan where he invited the boys on a fishing trip and once it was over, only he and Noah would be the ones leaving alive. The fishing trip was set, the men arrived at their destination and the colonel wasted no time. Aiming his rifle at Luke, he was able to get one shot in just as Lily and Holden arrived to save their son’s life. Winston fled and Luke was rushed to the hospital. After coming out of surgery, he was shocked to learn that he could no longer feel his legs. He was paralyzed from the waist down.

Meanwhile, Noah had to go to the police station to confront his father who had just been arrested after another failed attempt on Luke’s life at the hospital. Noah felt too guilty to face Luke after everything that had happened and he planned on leaving town forever just to spare him any more pain. Luckily, Dusty Donovan had a long talk with Noah and convinced him that running away was not the answer. Noah finally went to the hospital and talked with Luke. While the boys were talking, it was clear that each one felt sorrier for the other than for himself. At that moment, they decided to become boyfriends.

The first few months of Luke and Noah’s relationship as official boyfriends were not easy. Luke struggled to live his life in a wheelchair and even pushed Noah away at times, thinking that Noah deserved better than a boyfriend who could not walk. But Noah would not be easily pushed away. He refused to leave Luke’s side and gave him the emotional support he needed as well as help with Luke’s physical therapy exercises. Within time, Luke started having feeling in his legs and slowly regained his ability to walk. By Christmas time, he was able to walk with a cane. Another big moment shared that Christmas was Luke telling Noah that he was in love with him. The natural chemistry between Van and Jake combined with the hurdles Luke and Noah accomplished together made this a very memorable holiday. Even though there appeared to be obvious restrictions from the higher-ups during this time at ATWT regarding the affection the boys were allowed to show on screen, Van and Jake were nothing short of amazing with the way they portrayed these two characters who were clearly in love with each other. Every look, every touch, every move in each other’s presence showed
their true feelings.

After spending the holidays with the Snyders, Noah never wanted to go back to living alone again. Just as he had done with Maddie before, Noah asked Luke if he would like to get an apartment together. After some time thinking about it, Luke decided instead to ask his grandmother if it would be alright for Noah to move to the farm with the rest of the family.

When Emma said, “yes,” Noah now had a new family to go along with a loving boyfriend. Things were looking very good. And in the soap opera universe, that is the precise moment when things tend to go very bad in a hurry. Thus was the case as a stranger would soon enter Noah’s life and cause brand new drama for him and Luke.

Part Three will follow tomorrow. You can post your thoughts and comments on the story of Noah and Luke, and your memories of As The World Turns below. However, ATV Today has a strict editorial policy and will WILL NOT publish anything of a homophobic nature.