May 17, 2010

Brothers & Sisters Season Finale Ends on HIV Twist

The season finale of Brothers & Sisters ended with the revelation that a character was HIV positive. The surprising plot line brings up issues of nonprogressors, HIV testing protocol and the rates of HIV among gay men and the elderly, reports AfterElton.com

Spoiler alert: In the May 16 episode titled “On the Road Again,” Uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin) discovers that an old romantic interest has been living with AIDS. Saul, who has never shown signs of illness, acknowledged that he had unsafe sex decades ago but never got tested. He has an HIV test and reports that he’s negative. But later, he’s in a car wreck and is bleeding. When other characters approach to help, he pulls back, saying, “Don’t touch me. You can’t.”

Uncle Saul is a rarity of television because “most HIV-positive characters on TV to date are heterosexual,” according to AfterElton.com. The plotline “gives the show an opportunity to deal with an issue that has been ignored by mainstream television for far too long: HIV infection among gay and bisexual men, particularly among the elderly.”

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BigDavidO, Chicago, IL, 2010-05-18 15:38:57
Just the fact that Saul felt compelled to lie to his family about his HIV status says a lot about the stigma and internalized homophobia that persons living with HIV, even in an accepting family, still experience in 2010. Bravo to "Bros&Sis" for bringing this plot line up in their season finale; I just hope they continue to develop it further next season and don't just let Saul and the topic die.