travelogue

Last night’s ‘Fellow Travelers’ took us to the Pines to party & play, in the horninest, most heartbreaking episode yet

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Photo Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg / SHOWTIME

*Caution: Spoilers ahead for Fellow Travelers up through Episode 7, “White Knights.”*

It was just over a year ago that photos leaked from the set of Fellow Travelers featuring stars Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey frolicking shirtless on the beach, breaking the Gay Internet in the process.

While it’s felt like decades (and it literally has been in the show!), the Showtime series has finally caught up to that moment, taking us to groovy 1978 for a Fire Island Pines getaway in its latest episode, “White Nights.”

But the episode isn’t all sun & fun and party & play—though there is plenty of all of that, which we’ll get to in a minute.

A lot has changed since last week’s 1968-set outing, and Fellow Travelers (now a Golden Globe nominee for Best Limited Series, alongside Matt Bomer for his performance) catches us up with some archival footage of the Gay Liberation movement, from the Stonewall Riots to the shocking and tragic murder of politician Harvey Milk.

Tensions are especially high in San Francisco, where Marcus (Jelani Alladin), Frankie (Noah J. Ricketts), and Tim all live, with the latter two working at an LGBTQ+ health clinic. Though it’s been a decade since he’s seen Hawk, Tim gets an invite to join him for a Pines getaway, and he can’t pass up the opportunity to take a break from the stress of the city.

As for Hawk, well, he’s had better days. We learn that his son, Jackson, died from a heroine overdose just months prior. Unable to curb his drinking, Lucy (Allison Williams) kicks him out of the house, which is how he ends up on Fire Island with a gaggle of gays—and one very hunky boy toy named Craig (Morgan Lever)—on a never-ending bender.

Suffice it to say, Hawk and Tim’s big reunion isn’t the big, romantic moment anyone might’ve hoped, with Craig in particular giving “Skippy” a hard time. But before long the old flames begin to warm to each other once again, running around the beach with one another.

And you better believe they hit up some Pines Parties. These scenes are especially euphoric, with some choice needle drops like Ashford & Simpson’s “Found A Cure” and Donna Summer’s timeless “MacArthur Park.”

As series creator Ron Nyswaner told us the other week, these moments were all about tapping into a specific feeling of liberation at the time: “The celebratory sex wasn’t solely hedonistic, it wasn’t just about the pleasure—it was about the connecting to a whole community of men who were outside of society, and yet were thriving and celebrating who they were through their sexual behavior.”

Of course, reality finds a way to pierce through the fantasy, and a moment where word spreads through the party that Milk’s killer got off easy is especially affecting. Back in San Francisco, we watch Frankie, Marcus, and his young student Jerome get involved in the harrowing White Night riots, bringing them all closer together.

Related:

Matt Bomer once shared a one-bedroom apartment with Lee Pace & OMG our imaginations are running wild

“I’ve known [Pace] since he was shorter than me, when he was 14 and I was 15,” says Bomer.

Perhaps it’s similar fears and frustrations that fuel a very heated threeway between Hawk, Tim, and the boy-toy Craig. It’s another of Fellow Travelers signature sex scenes, which is, yes, very, very hot (Lever’s Craig, notably, bares all) but also instructive of the characters’ fraught mental and emotional states.

While in the act, Hawk spots the photo of his son on the night stand and loses it, nearly strangling Craig, only to break down in tears. Understandably panicked, Craig flees, and Tim stays to cradle and comfort Hawk as he allows himself to finally grieve Jackson.

Taking us from heartbreak to horniness to even greater heartbreak—that’s the magic of Fellow Travelers in a nutshell.

Despite the breakthrough, Tim is shocked to see Hawk doing drugs the morning after, deciding then and there that they’re done this time, for real.

Of course, with one episode left, we know this isn’t the last the star-crossed lovers will see of each other. As the decade-hopping story finally catches up to the ’80s, will Hawk finally be able to accept who he really is—and who he really loves? And will Tim be able to accept his apology? Time will tell.

Scroll down below for a few more of our favorite reactions to the episode. Oh, and by the way, here’s “Craig’s” (a.k.a. Morgan’s Lever’s) Instagram if you’re curious—it appears he’s straight and in a relationship, but…. that doesn’t stop him from showing off a bit!

The season finale of Fellow Strangers premieres Friday, December 15 on Paramount+, and airs Sunday, December 17 on Showtime.

Related:

‘Fellow Travelers’ creator Ron Nyswaner on gay life in the ’60s & ’70s, why AIDS stories still matter & more

On World AIDS Day 2023, the ‘Philadelphia’ screenwriter reflects on his trailblazing film, 30 years later, and his full-circle moment with ‘Fellow Travelers.’

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