The most prominent name featured on this show is Andrew Haigh, who wrote three episodes and directed five of the eight episodes. He is not well-known, but he had a highly acclaimed indie flick called Weekend, which I haven't seen so I won't pretend to know, but it's definitely a film that focuses on gay males as well.
This may be difficult to explain, but the show is highly realistic and seems to be taken from everyday life. But at the same time, the entire world is gay in this show. I'm only slightly exaggerating. On the AV Club reviews for this show, most of the gay commenters mentioned that they don't only hang out with gay people. And in this show, that is definitely not the case. There's only two straight people in the show to my memory, and they both occupy the "Main/Gay Best Friend" TV Trope - except you know everyone else is gay and they're straight. However, this is kind of hilarious and appropriate if you ask me so this is not an issue to me at all.
And there's a pretty easy way to explain why they are all male and not female. Somewhere along the line, homophobic men decided that lesbians were hot, but that gay males were disgusting. It's kind of become ingrained in pop culture. So even if this show is a snapshot of gay life, there are no lesbians in this show. (Hell, there's barely any females to speak of)
The "star" of this show as determined by the running time is definitely Patrick, played by Jonathan Groff. He's actually unlikable for most of the season. Not helping the case is that he has a sort of love triangle with his boss and his boyfriend, both of which seem to be too good for Patrick. The boss is played by Russell Tovey, and he's supposed to play him as an irresistible Brit who nonetheless would represent a terrible decision for Patrick. He definitely succeeds. And Richie is played by Raul Castillo, a Latino hairdresser who represents a class and racial difference from Patrick that Patrick clearly is at least a little uncomfortable. (Patrick is a video game designer and he seems to do quite well)
Then there's Dom, who seems to be the most interesting and best-acted person on the show. Played by Murray Bartlett, he's definitely my favorite character as he plays the man who is considerably older than the other two. He's a waiter in the restaurant business, and he's roommates with one of the straight best friends, Doris. Undoubtedly, Doris and Dom's interactions are easily some of the highlights of the early episodes, which tended to be slower.
Lastly, there is Agustin who is by far the character who needs the most work going into the second season. I can relate to Patrick's awkwardness and inability to say the right thing, I can relate to Dom because he's awesome, but everything about Agustin just seems bad from the start. He seems to pressure his boyfriend, Frank, into a three-way in the first episode, calls himself an artist and yet never creates (although he's remarkably self-aware about this), and all of his actions are pretty selfish. I just found an inability to care about his problems and if I did care, it was a negative reflection on him.
This show needs to round out its love interests better too. Richie is played really well by Castillo, but we don't know much about him. He seems too perfect for Patrick and we really don't know why he's even interested in Patrick half the time. Lynn, played by Scott Bakula, is also similarly distantly characterized. And Frank gets barely any screen time, but he seems to be way too good for Agustin. Luckily the actors involved do a good job at making this characters seem more complete than they are.
The fact that the show is a closer and more intimate look at the relationships of gay males is not the only reason you should watch the show. It's also pretty damn good. I don't remember if I was expecting to like it or not, but I finished the show pleasantly surprised. Maybe it's because the contradictions of Patrick makes for one very compelling character. Maybe it's because Dom is just impossible to dislike. Maybe it's because it's very well-written and the direction creates for almost an inside look feel. It's like you're dropped into their lives and they exist in real life.
San Francisco should also show this show for advertisements to get people to live there. It's prominently featured, but not in any way that feels like they're showing off. It's the perfect background to the show. Also as an outsider, it being in San Francisco certainly helps me accept everyone being gay. I know that isn't actually the case, but if it was in Washington DC, I don't think it'd be as easy to accept.
I would recommend this show to anyone who is willing to give it a shot. It's not a great show and it has its flaws, but it's well-written and expertly directed with great performances. And if you're not gay like myself, it's got that wonderful TV ability to transport you into a world you're completely unfamiliar with. That always elevates a show better than it might otherwise be in my opinion. You should stop looking for a show to watch and watch Looking (I could not resist this forgive me)
Grade - B+
Playlist
1. "I Want You Back" - Jackson 5
2. "Sunny Afternoon" - The Kinks
3. "Mercy" - Duffy
4. "Regulate" - Warren G
5. "You (Ha Ha Ha)" - Charli XCX
No comments:
Post a Comment