We begin with an ongoing illustration of the ninja-like sneakiness with which Pat and Kevin mask their inappropriate relationship: an ass grab at an office party followed by a conspicuous departure for a private rooftop meeting. I mean, who doesn’t do that with their boss? They’re so cute and couple-y that they even bicker about sweaters and schedules before deciding that Kevin will accompany Patrick to Dom’s rugby game on a totally just friends basis. Because nothing is friendlier than forcing others to act casual while you inflict your terrible decisions on them.
Next, we have the closest thing to a superhero/arch-nemesis pairing this show will ever see: Agustin visits Richie at the barber shop. Pat’s ex immediately re-asserts himself as the best person any of the main characters will ever meet: he listens openly even though the dude he’s talking to is a known dirtbag, he expresses his own feelings in an honest but level-headed manner, and he even cleans up Ag’s hobo beard, presumably for free because where would that money have even come from?
A freshly shorn Agustin arrives home to find Pat freaking out about cleaning because he honestly still expects everyone else to join him in the fantasy that Kevin is some sort of romantic prospect. It’s like a prolonged re-enactment of Lars and the Real Girl as directed by Woody Allen at his most neurotic. There’s one thing our delusional little dilettante hasn’t scrubbed, though, which means it’s time for a trip to the local convenience store for some personal irrigation tools. Pat tries to make cute jokes with the woman at the checkout counter, but she’s too busy being a normal person to tolerate his nonsense. Like the rest of us, she’s wondering how he could have gotten this far in his life as a gay San Fraciscan and still be experiencing so many things for the first time. Was he a mermaid before the first season? Does he still brush his hair with a fork?
Dom, Lynn, Doris, and Malik all boned and then slept in the same apartment last night, and it’s a situation that no one seems fully comfortable with. Everyone is in agreement that they’re all too old for this kind of dorm-room tomfoolery, but they still enjoy the special brand of youthful exuberance that can only be achieved through rimming. Because that’s another thing that we’re candidly discussing now for no reason having to do with wanting to feel fun and current after last season’s reviews. Take that, Girls! The gang gets dressed, brushes their tongues (one assumes), and heads out to breakfast to celebrate Dom’s recent meeting with a potential investor and impending game of rugged, gruff, homosexual rugby.
The game is, it turns out, pretty lackluster. (Gay amateur rugby is a little specific to draw a crowd.) Lynn can’t make it, so Doris is left to fend for herself with Ag and Eddie, who has returned from wherever he was last week. Kevin and Pat are late because they were busy having faux-adorable drinks while nearly discussing marriage. (Green card marriage, not the romantic kind, but of course Pat still got his hopes ALL THE WAY UP.) They also leave early because this is seventh grade and making out is important. Besides, Eddie is proving to be a little too much of an Anglophile and it’s making everyone more uncomfortable than they already were.
After winning the game and having a celebratory group dick wiggle in the shower, Dom learns from a teammate that Lynn set up the investor meeting knowing that it would only result in the offer of a manager job, and not the blank check he’s apparently looking for. This leads to some daddy-on-daddy sniping in the parking lot, because it’s important never to discuss these things at home in private. Sending your roommate to stand ten feet away makes public arguing completely acceptable.
Back at the homestead, Kevin is surprised to learn that Patrick reads self-help books, even though everything about the man says “I understand human behavior on a purely academic level.” Baby Boy doesn’t want to jump straight to fucking because he’s such an innocent, a fact driven home by his decision to put on literal children’s programming. Surprisingly, Kevin is all about this choice. Even more surprisingly, Kevin wants to bottom when the completely natural cartoons-to-buttsex segue occurs. Slightly less surprisingly, Kevin then waits until he thinks his fake boyfriend is asleep and calls his real boyfriend on the phone. Patrick is left to lie alone in bed and convince himself that there’s no way he could have seen that coming. Maybe next week Ag can take him to buy a new book about this situation. Or maybe just a new brain.
Aussiemate
Queerty
I absolutely love Looking.
But where is the article about Cucumber and Banana?
The show is also fabulous.
Taskebab
This show is EXTREMELY overrated. And sad to see yet another series about gays glorifying cheating, open relationships and general screwing around.
Faulk
@ Taskebab
Is there supposed to be just one kind of relationship? Probably the one you are only comfortable to live with? If people are comfortable with being in a open relationship let them be, its their choice. If they want to cheat, its their life, you don’t have to, nobody is forcing you or glorofying anything. They are just telling a story, nothing more.
@ Episode 3
I see so much of myself in Patrick xD, i love it.
VampDC
So far i’m liking this season SOO much more than season 1.
I hope this season doesn’t turn into Team Kevin vs Team Richie.
It’s nice to see Patrick with Kevin and explore that relationship. It could lead to interesting plot lines…marriage, kids, etc.
1copaseticsoul
This was an actually good episode. Dealt with alot of universal issues that effect people of all walks of life not just the gays. It felt like “regular” tv. Beside the black guy and all the stereotypical points it was a good episode
Jbaltes
Patrick’s naivetĂ© is striking – hard to believe that he is THAT unaware! There is a little more drama than I would like, but, then again, get all those gay guys together and what is the likelihood of no drama!? All that being said, the characters remain, at least for me, a bit too superficial and insincere. Perhaps I’m being too idealistic here…but wish we could see a little more depth develop. And, for the record—I wouldn’t care if Richie EVER reappeared on the scene—he absolutely does NOTHING for me, can’t stand his character, and find him totally unattractive on every level.
trelin
@Faulk: I, too, see a lot of myself in Patrick. His little bits of naivete and his search to keep parts of himself innocent. He’s a hopeless romantic.
SebX
@Jbaltes: Wow, we’re on opposite sides of the spectrum!! I find Richie the ONLY likeable character in the whole show!
That’s why I’ve stopped watching it: all the other ones are people I’d avoid like the plague in real life and Richie is the only level-headed one. Apparently the creators and actors defended the first season as something relateable, a “gay every-day life” kind of thing, but my friends are way more appealing in personality (not talking about looks) than this collection of child-like d0ucheb@gs.
I find Cucumber massively more interesting with just ONE episode, and the main characters are not even my age!
Jbaltes
@SebX: Well, that’s what makes the world go ’round—we all like different things! He is level-headed, I agree—he just holds no appeal for me—personality, physically, etc. Oh, well……!!!!
NG22
I thought 403 was a great episode. And can we talk about that sex scene? Kevin looks impossibly hot bottoming.
However, I don’t care for this recap for the same reason I disagree with many opinions about Patrick. He’s not immature. He’s neurotic, anxious, emotional, and a hopeless romantic. A lot of criticism about the character seems to suggest there’s only one way to be gay, or to be an adult, or to be a sexual being.
He’s certainly not a slick character from “Queer as Folk” who has a favorite enema brand and knows when a fling is just a fling. And the fact that Patrick is *not* that is precisely what makes him so human to me.
He doesn’t have all the answers. He puts his heart out there to be broken. He doesn’t have much casual sex. He is not supposed to represent all of you, or be the symbol of homosexuality. He’s just a guy that’s gay. And there are other guys like him, as previous commenters demonstrate.
Faulk
@trelin
Yes, and it hurts me somehow to see how much hate he gets for just being who he is :/. There are all kind of people out there, i find it rather fascinating then irritating. But i for once also never hated Augustin, as the most have. He has his issues, big ones, and he does some stupid things, but so have i in the past, and probably there are more coming in the future, but thats life, sometimes its messy, and whats wrong with that?
I just hope this show doesn’t get cancelled. 🙂
Taskebab
@Faulk: I would have no problem with open relationships if I were not shamed and be called a prude when I say that I dislike open relationships. A recent study showed that 85% of all gay relationships end up as open relationships, and if you dislike them the gay world make fun of you and start accusing you of “wanting to be heterosexual”…”Looking” only helps along with the idea that open relationships are the most desirable ideal in a gay relationship, cheating is once again made romantic, something gay TV series and movies also like to do all the time…The entire gay media is working hard on creating one acceptable ideal for gay men to live by and when somebody is critical of that THEY are the ones who are the ones who are problematic…THAT’s the problem I have with open relationships…the unquestioned pressure that comes from within the gay world to have them…
Faulk
@Taskebab
But you don’t have to live by those “rules”. I am also not a huge fan of open relationships, i mean, i don’t know if i could be in one, it would probably hurt me too much, but i see some couples where it really works and those couples are happy. I also think its better than to cheat and do everything behind your partners back.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you how to live your life, or what kind of relationship you have to be in. Its your life, be who you are.
Also, i haven’t really see the media glorifying open relationships… augustin and his boyfriend tried it, or whatever that was, but it went terrible, dom and his boyfiend… well, there hasn’t been that much story about those two. Kevin is not in a open relationship, he is just being an ass, patrick just fell for him, but he is definitely not comfortable with the situation.
At the end we all have to find a partner that wants the same as we do, i know, i its easier said then done, but i don’t think thats much different then in the straight world.
Random
I keep watching this show and hoping that I will warm to it but I do find the characters more irritating than likeable. Both Patrick and Kevin do that whole ‘smirky-smug’ thing which makes them seem insincere the whole time. Agustin and new ‘bear’ squeeze seem about as deep as puddles, in spite of their characters’ struggles – drug use and HIV, respectively. And Doris is irritating beyond belief – she’s the kind of person that invites herself along to everything even though noone really wants them around. Urgh! Dom and Ritchie seem to be the closest to fully realised, stable characters so it’s a shame they don’t form more of the focus of the show, rather than Patrick and his neurotic endeavours.
NG22
@Random: I find it strange that people evaluate the characters in Looking as if they were friends. Everyone who dislikes Looking basically says that they would never be friends with the characters in Looking.
Is that just because this is a show about gay men? That there’s an undying need to identify with the characters on multiple levels?
That’s not the metric I use when evaluating shows. I like “Scandal” and “House of Cards,” but I likely wouldn’t be friends with any of the characters on either program.
HighStrungLoner
@NG22: The problem, for me, is that he has NONE of the answers. He doesn’t even know the questions! He lives in SF and doesn’t know how to buy an enema? He’s shocked by the Folsom Street Fair? Please.
kayakriver
I LOVE this show, and I relate to Patrick so much. To all the nay sayers, it’s a gay series on HBO that feels real, it’s funny, and so entertaining, let’s enjoy it and shut up.
wally1014
The sarcasm and the shade being thrown is palpable. A re-cap or op-ed? I think that this show does a great job of creating relatable characters no matter what part of the LGBTQ+ community you are a part of. You don’t have to to be gay to empathize with a gay character.
Random
@NG22: I think you make an interesting point, actually. I think it depends on what type of programme you’re watching. Personally, though, I do feel these sorts of ‘people’/slice-of-everyday-life programmes, do need to have characters that you can connect with in some way. A very large part of the success of hit HBO shows like Six Feet Under and Sex and the City, was because their audience *did* feel they could relate to the characters on some sort of authentic, emotional level, rather that *just* because they were watching well produced TV.
Paton41
Loved the first season but it has degenerated to a gay version of “Dynasty”! Who is fucking who????
cuccoa
This show is totally over rated. If there were some substance or humor it might be watchable. The only reason it is still on is because Gay men are desperate for something resembling Gay life. This is not it. Really falls flat.
Cam
I don’t know who the hell Chris J Kelly is…..but THANK YOU! This review had me cracking up! Best line in it
“Back at the homestead, Kevin is surprised to learn that Patrick reads self-help books, even though everything about the man says “I understand human behavior on a purely academic level.”
Loved it!
As for Looking, this episode was the first one that actually made me laugh and got me. Maybe the show has found it’s stride.
And if I may bitch for a second here:
I didn’t see a problem with Lynn thinking that MAYBE before blowing $80,000 Dom should get some experience actually managing a business, not the least of which is because when you are looking for investors, saying you actually managed something is much more helpful then saying you haven’t. Then again, Dom has acted like a child for 40 years so I shouldn’t be surprised.