Welcome to the Weekend Binge. Every week, we’ll suggest a binge-able title designed to keep you from getting too stir crazy. Check back throughout the weekend for even more gloriously queer entertainment.
The Flaming: Q-Force
Leave it to stalwart queer performers Sean Hayes and Wanda Sykes to lead a series that both celebrates and lampoons LGBTQ stereotypes with good humor and adventure. Q-Force is the queer answer to Charlie’s Angels—a series about a clan of LGBTQ secret agents saving the world from nefarious villains and bad fashion sense. Hayes stars as Agent Mary, a secret agent determined to prove his team to the American Intelligence Agency. Partnered with a butch lesbian genius named Deb (Sykes), named Twink (Matt Rogers), a master of disguise (in particular, drag), and the despondent hacker Stat (Patti Harrison), the force sets out to discover the truth behind a series of kidnappings involving attractive gay men. Oh, and at the direction of AIA boss V (Laurie Metcalf), the group also must play host to a straight lothario agent named Buck (David Harbour), a man as self-obsessed as he is clueless.
For those of us that grew up accused of being queer stereotypes–or trying to deconstruct them–Q-Force offers a certain laughing catharsis. Call it a kind of kitchen table humor: the type of jokes we within the LGBTQ community share among our queer family to roll our eyes and laugh. Whereas a lesser show would induce cringes for such ridiculous humor, Q-Force tells its story (and its jokes) with incredible love and affection. The more a viewer knows about LGBTQ culture, the funnier he will find the series: jokes about circuit parties, lube, lesbian animal rescues, online dating, Netflix & chilling, flannel, Euro-pop, influencers, Todd Haynes, reality TV and gay icons abound. The show also has one of the funniest non-sequitur lines about a beloved actress we’ve heard in a very long time.
We compared Q-Force to a drag show when it landed on Netflix back in September, and we stand by that comparison. As with drag, not everyone will be able to get on board with the outrageous, campy humor of the series. For those who can, though, the show plays like a love letter to LGBTQ culture, one told amid a genuinely compelling mystery. Most of us who grew up wrestling with queer stereotypes also dreamed of one day seeing LGBTQ superheroes, secret agents and warriors on the screen. With Q-Force, we finally get them.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Streams on Netflix.
CatholicXXX
tired stereotypes.
DarkZephyr
Nah. Nothing wrong with campy stereotypes for fun when the LGBT community is in on the joke. A show like this with no stereotypes and nothing but a bunch of “Masc4Masc” types with no variety would be dull and dry.
Creamsicle
Give the show a chance. The first few episodes are kind of bland and the jokes are a little cringe, but by about half way through the characters get better and the jokes get a little better. I hope they get another season because I’m curious to see where it goes.
Also, the animation is surprisingly good for a Netflix original.
Goforit
My reaction exactly. The series is not earth shaking but if one has a sense of humor and can laugh at oneself, the series is fun.
Wheelerman
I find Q Force charming, silly, and engaging, with gay stereotypes lampooned. Watch it for what it is – a fun, gay, animated show. Kudos to Prime for giving it a chance.
Hank31
lol. They removed lots of dislikes but the dislikes still outnumber the likes 3:1. No market for anti-gay stereotyping, it seems.
DarkZephyr
Who removed the dislikes?
dario717
If you enjoy silly, campy humor, you’ll enjoy it. If you try so hard not to conform that you have actually conformed, you’ll call it stereotypical and not enjoy it.