In the early-evening drama series “All That Counts,” the confrontation with homophobia in sports takes center stage. Last month, the coming-out of kickboxer Nick Lippmann (Raphael Kalkowski) to his initially less-than-enthusiastic father became a focal point of the storyline (TheColu.mn reported). The plot also followed Nick’s romance with attorney Luca Perez (Orlando Lenzen).
As is typical in soap operas, there were dramatic moments: The gay couple weathered a relationship crisis last week, which essentially hinged on Nick’s reluctance to come out publicly and Luca’s refusal to hide his sexual orientation for Nick’s career.
That’s over now: Nick and Luca have, after a lengthy game of hide-and-seek, publicized their relationship. This triggers a scandal on the eve of Essen’s Kickboxing City Championship—and brings attacks from Nick’s rival Chris (Julian Friedrich).
When Luca meets Chris during a basketball game, Chris initially taunts him with a suggestive remark (“Problems with your shot?”) and then deliberately hurls the ball with full force into his stomach. Kickboxer Nick intercedes and vows to settle the dispute in the ring.
At the subsequent official weigh-in before the match, the clash intensifies: when Nick points out to his opponent that his strong defensive stance hints at him being secretly gay, Chris replies that he would “rather be dead,” because kissing men is “disgusting.” Nick responds to the insult with a pointed provocation and kisses Chris on the cheek in front of the spectators.
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Parallel to this, in the same broadcast week, the storyline around a deadly car-bombing escalates, terminating in Matteo’s death: after evidence against Maximilian von Altenburg (Francisco Medina) emerges and Kilian Reichenbach (Marc Dumitru), who had been unfairly detained, is exonerated, Maximilian goes abroad. Following a near-miss involving Charlie Beer (Shaolyn Fernandez), Maximilian pressures Deniz Öztürk (Igor Dolgatschew) by phone to leave Essen immediately. Co-conspirator Ben Steinkamp (Jörg Rohde) also urges Deniz to flee, while at the same time trying to force a separation of the couple so that Charlie will not learn that Ben was involved in the attack.
Air dates and streaming availability
The article summarizes the events of the broadcast week covering episodes 5066 through 5070, which air this week Monday through Friday on RTL, each after the 7:05 PM newscast. On RTL+, the episodes are available on demand for paying subscribers, also one week ahead of the linear TV broadcast.
