This week’s episode is brought to you by “jumping the gun.” For better or worse, everyone decides to rush their decisions, conclusions, and other ventures. There will surely be consequences to mop up by the season finale, but that’s a problem we can watch them deal with later, I suppose.
Two weeks have passed since Kevin’s post-funeral ambush. He has apparently moved into Patrick’s house, where they do cute things like cuddle and annoy Agustin and make breakfast in bed. Or, at least, they would make breakfast in bed if Patrick weren’t genetically incapable of getting things right. Though his romantic gesture scatters in shards on the floor (and those farmer’s market goji berries were probably expensive, too!), he and his boss still have each other.
That difficult wrinkle in their relationship provides this week’s first opportunity for gun-jumping (not counting, I suppose, the fact that they moved in together way too soon). Because sure, an inappropriate workplace dynamic could be handled with tact and decorum, but Patrick would rather make it weird by rushing to tell everyone. Not only that, he’d prefer to make the announcement by wearing his direct superior’s sweater while finishing his sentences adorably at an ostensibly business-focused meeting. Though he and Kevin giggle about it on the roof, Meredith’s trip to HR is no joke.
Of course, announcements aren’t the only things we can do hastily. Dom’s blind leap this week is to snag that chicken window (chicken window!) before he 100 percent has the money for it. And beyond that, he sort of assumes that Doris will just be around to help him set the place up. I mean hey, she’s paying for it, why not also expect her to throw away her social life for it? She and Malik are headed out of town and can’t immediately chip in, and she legit feels terrible about it, but give her a break! Her dad just died! Let the girl get some good dick.
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Another thing we’re doing before we’re ready: going to GaymerX, the convention where homosexual programmers, developers, designers, and other tech professionals can show off their latest work. Pat and Kevin haven’t completed their app or sought feedback on the premise or even arrived in a timely fashion with the supplies they need to set up their table, but prudent isn’t really their style. Besides, if they hadn’t created this perfect storm of bad circumstances, then they wouldn’t have met the bitchiest queen in all of San Francisco, who has the nerve to read Patrick for perpetuating stereotypes while simultaneously advertising an app about finding the nearest glory hole.
While we’re at it, let’s rush some diagnoses, too! Crazy hot sex goes immediately flaccid when Ag gets some of Eddie’s cum in his eye. Our favorite delinquent tries to be cool about it, but of course he freaks out that he might have an HIV-positive cornea and disappears on the man he’s been trying desperately to latch onto all season. His efforts to milk a little comfort out of Dom are wasted: Captain Chickenwindow sees right through this empty panic, and besides he wants help building the restaurant, not a side job offering free therapy to unsympathetic wanderers.
(And real talk: why does Ag think that Dom needs “a new hag”?! First off, I’m pretty sure we’re done calling our best friends “hags,” and second, she hasn’t even been gone a whole day yet! Why is everyone so certain that Doris can only be a good friend if she appears like Beetlejuice every time you call her name?)
Back at GaymerX, things are going rather poorly. Pat thinks he’s got it rough when he has to demo a broken app to disinterested convention attendees, but the heat really gets turned up when Richie wanders by with his boyfriend. Turns out Brady is writing about the con. Irony sets in as Pat desperately claws for the slow, tactful pacing that he thought was useless only a day ago. He tries to brush over the whole relationship-with-Kevin thing because he knows Richie will think it’s gross (which it is), but Kevin is right there and isn’t going to be swept under the rug. Meredith reported you guys to HR, remember? We’re telling EVERYONE NOW. At least Brady thinks it’s adorable and wants to do a whole story about them. Like I said: telling everyone.
Eddie smokes a cigarette. Ag apologizes for bailing. Eddie doesn’t want to deal with another well-meaning homo who’s actually too scared to date him. Ag is, by all appearances, exactly that. They stay together anyway.
That night, there is a prom. Patrick gets intensely literal about the fact that he is still mentally a teenager by orchestrating this whole overdone suits-and-corsages high-school-do-over scenario. He and Kevin think it’s THE KYOOTEST, but the whole thing makes Richie cry into his drink. It’s really awkward to make eye contact with your teary-eyed ex while slow dancing with the man you cheated on him with. I assume.
Back home, Dom is calling Doris to leave a passive-aggressive message about how he guesses she’s not coming by the chicken window to help out. My hope is that she is too busy riding Malik’s tongue to answer the phone. I’m sure tomorrow she’ll stop by to help Dom both with some good old-fashioned elbow grease and by, oh right, giving him the money left to her by her beloved father. #TeamDoris
The night is almost over, but we still have a couple things to do too quickly. First: a double date with Brichy and Kevtrick. (These couples do not lend themselves to cute compound names. I apologize for trying, I see now that it was wrong.) It starts out filled with unspoken tension, but a highly inebriated Brady isn’t into the “un” part: he thoughtlessly reveals to Patrick exactly what they’ve been saying about him behind his back. I really wish we could get a whole episode about whatever conversation happened after that moment, because I bet it was top-shelf premium awkwardness.
A final gun-jumping before bed: after reading a terrible review of their app, Patrick tells Kevin he loves him. This is, apparently, the first time he’s ever said this to someone. (He’s 30, mind you. My Mork & Mindy theory stands.) Kevin loves him back. Hopefully their connection is powerful enough to last after their game bombs and they both get fired for workplace misconduct. Maybe Dom can hire them at the chicken window!
Ron Jackson
The sex scene with Agustin and the fat guy made me turn of the TV. Ugh.
junglejim
Really? Patrick acts like an 8th grade school girl who’s crushing on Kevin to the point of planning a prom-night-cum-honeymoon (complete with cake topper tuxedoes, boutonnieres and honeymoon suite!). Will they stay together? Will the precious newlywed try breakfast in bed again with less crashing results? Will they survive the HR kerfuffle? Will their stereotyping “Twink vs. Leather Daddy” video game be a hit or flop? Will they sit straddling the building rooftop while sharing a burger (who does that?)? Who cares! I’m so done with this show. See ya.
NG22
The most powerful scene was at the prom. Patrick and Kevin dancing to Jessie Ware’s “Say You Love Me” was genuinely beautiful. Cut to Richie — his eyes pooling with tears. Honestly heartbreaking. The juxtaposition of Patrick’s fulfillment and Richie’s pain was emotional and overwhelming.
I felt the love between Patrick and Kevin the whole episode, but I still commiserate with Richie — who has stronger feelings for Patrick than Brady.
If HBO discontinues, I’ll always be grateful we got the second season. It’s been a great and fulfilling pleasure.
NG22
The reason I enjoy “Looking” so much is because it’s a love story. People criticize it for a variety of reasons — some valid, many less valid.
But I’m a romantic. I enjoy rom-coms and rom-dramedies in general. That this is the only one featuring gay men makes it all the more exciting.
Cam
“”Though he and Kevin giggle about it on the roof, Meredith’s trip to HR is no joke.””
______________________________
My only problem with that is that Meredith could also be reported to HR for insinuating that just because they were dating that somehow Heterosexuals were now going to be discriminated against.
That suggestion is a big no no as it is a hostile comment that could be construed to intimidate gays.
They do seem to be making Patrick into some sort of ditsy Suzanne Summers, Christina Applgate, kind of character now.
MarionPaige
I’ve met people like Patrick, they’ve all been White and female, but they exist. However, does anyone know any Hispanic Guys like Ritchie who hangs around tired ass White Guys who weren’t paying him for sex? Ritchie was a actual character in Season 1 but he’s cardboard thin in Season Two.
onthemark
Patrick NEVER thinks ahead. As exemplified a couple episodes back where he was jacking off and seemed surprised at the, um, result. He actually seemed befuddled. Finally he pulled off a sock (lucky for that chilly SF weather) and mopped up the jizz with the sock. The average 14 year old boy is better prepared.
Since 30 year old Patrick is confused by masturbation, it’s probably best if he’s not solo I guess. Maybe Kevin will get into BDSM and Patrick will just go along with it like he seems to do with practically anything anybody suggests.
Cam
@onthemark:
I’m thinking it might be Groff’s acting, he just might not be equipped to play an adult.
odawg
@MarionPaige: You are so right! The writers have created this world where everything revolves around gay White men. It’s tired and sad.
PARKAVMAN
You make it sound much more exciting than it really was. Good for you, that must have been difficult since we are dealing with a bunch of socially stunted gay boys. They don’t seem to know how to start a relationship (it isn’t 0-60 in 4 seconds) or end one. (Don’t go on a double date with your ex who really never got to be your boyfriend)
HBO is deciding whether to bring it back. I hope they do. I’m glad it’s on just because it’s a gay show, not just the gay BFFs for the lead characters. Hopefully they will get it going with some real stories, but that’s for the producers and writers to decide.
MarionPaige
Jonathan Groff plays a gay ex soldier in American Sniper
Blackceo
@MarionPaige:
This has pissed me off more than anything since Richie was the main reason I even had a fuck to give about season two of Looking. When I heard he would be a series regular for season 2 I figured ok maybe it will be an interesting storyline between he, Patrick, and whatever Patrick’s mans name is. But no…with only a couple episodes left they’ve given him crap.
If there is a season 3 it’s because someone is ponying up a lot of their own personal money, or someone has some really durable knee pads.
reece99
I’m sorry kids, this show sucks, in more ways than one)! It is so contrived, so unrealistic, so boring! If you want to watch a show with gay scenes that reflect a real relationship, with real problems, and real situations, watch “Shameless” and pay attention to the interactions between Ian and Mickey. Those two are real people, with characters you care about. And, they are better looking than those dorks on “looking”.
odawg
@Blackceo: LOL! “Durable knee pads?” That’s too funny.
Cee
The guy in the wheelchair was the best thing about this episode. #Funny
I don’t like Patrick’s character and I’m not rooting for his relationship with his boss. If It would have been an honest relationship I might feel different, but his boss cheated on his long term BF, leaves the BF, shacks up with the guy he cheated with, and is happily ever after now? lmao #foh The relationship started on a lie. Those never work out.
kiriakis1
Seriously, these are the best recaps of this show in all of Gay Internetlandia.
I’m truly surprised and pleased that not everything I read on Queerty leaves me with a feeling of having wasted a few minutes of my time.
Paco
Patrick is guaranteed to screw this up before the end of the season. It is built in to his character to do so.
After this show is cancelled, I hope HBO tries again and doesn’t limit the show to an extremely small audience like “Looking” does. Many of us are over 40 and don’t live in the urban gay bubbles of SF or WeHo.
dhmonarch89
are there wheel chair accessible glory holes? Truly, I’d like to know…..
markgtx11
I have been a diehard fan so far but I feel like this show is losing me. I wish I could put my finger on it but mostly it’s just that Patrick is so unlikeable and the central character. At least with Ritchie there was some kind of challenge to his inane and insipid behavior, but now that he is with Kevin they are like two giggling teenagers who just support the status quo in each other. It was the same for me with the Piper character in Orange Is The New Black. Luckily the writers fleshed out the other characters in the second season and moved the focus off of her. This season all I want to do is punch Patrick in face because he is annoying as hell. Total himbo.
smittoons
The show excels when it focuses on small moments. The episode of Patrick and Richie’s date or Doris’s dad’s funeral, the scene of Kevin performing Take That for Patrick, a few little moments in last night’s episode… but it’s still a rollercoaster when it comes to believability. This is upsetting because when the show does subtle it does it infinitely well, and it’s shot and directed beautifully, particularly when Andrew Haigh is helming. Patrick is such a frustrating character, I find that I only like him most of the time for shallow reasons – Jonathan Groff is adorable, but Patrick is hard to take seriously.
Still, at its worst this show stands head and shoulders above Queer As Folk, so while it’s not as trailblazing, it has the benefit of being a more watchable descendant.
Fang
I finally got HBO and sat down to see what all the fuss is about. After marathoning it, I loathe Patrick with every fibre of my being. Everything else is pretty good!
DistingueTraces
YOU get a drunken meltdown! And YOU get a drunken meltdown!
EVERYBODY GETS A DRUNKEN MELTDOWN!
kayakriver
@reece99: I love both Shameless and Looking. I don’t understand why so many of you guys hate Looking. This season is even better than the first, I used to hate Augustin now I like him.
Someone up there said they didn’t like the Augustin sex scene with the guy who’s fat, what’s wrong with you???
Contrary to what some people say maybe the situations are not realistic – what is realistic anyway – anything can happen to anyone, the feelings and emotions the characters go through are real. Heck, I could have been Patrick, if I were white and lived in SanFran, but anyway, this show is great and we should be glad there’s a gay show on tv.
jorgecruz
This is the episode I officially give up on this series. I desperately wanted to enjoy it because there may be gay characters on other shows, but no really series that revolves around being gay as a central theme. All the main characters are so unlikable, how do you watch a show when the characters you like are relegated to being doormats?
Hopefully the actors that play Doris and Richie are given opportunities with better material in the future. If Patrick has one more “lets play dress up and put on a show” Mickey Rooney scene, I just might vomit. If this is all you can think of to do with these characters and we aren’t 20 episodes in , I have no confidence in things getting any better.
sejjo
@smittoons: What are you smoking saying the show is better than QAF? Even on an objective level, QAF was way better written, even though it did have its implausible moments. But even with these, the show managed to wink at itself and not take itself too seriously.
ApolloDionysus
I loved the episode, I thought Patrick and Kevin’s relationship was extremely sweet. I can’t stand Richie, he is such a loser.
ApolloDionysus
@sejjo: Watch the first episode of QAF and seriously tell me again that it doesn’t suck. It’s such a stupid show, completely unbelievable, the writing is campy and terrible.
Cam
Patrick reminds me of the “Mr. Shoe” character in “Glee”. In other words, the producers thought he should be a star and made the original focus around him but to the audience he was the creepy teacher who kept weirdly butting in to the kids performances. The producers finally sort of saw the light and diminished his role greatly. I don’t know if they will be smart enough to do that with the Patrick character. And is that the way the director wants him or is Groff incapable of playing him in a way that doesn’t make him seem like anew 11 year old girl on some show on the Disney Channel?
NG22
@Paco: I feel like this explains a lot. If you’re over 40 and you don’t live in San Francisco, L.A., or New York, I can see how you wouldn’t relate to the show. I wonder how true that is of the most vociferous critics on this board.
I’m under 40 and a lifelong New Yorker, and the show just works for me. It makes sense. And I find it beautiful and fascinating.
The show also seems to divide because of issues of race or class. Many people don’t appreciate the lack of diversity, and feel like the characters don’t have real problems.
@sejjo: QAF is a glorified soap opera. If you like melodrama, over-the-top characterization, and salaciousness, then it’s a great show. But please note that “Queer as Folk” was broadcast by Showtime. “Looking” was greenlighted by HBO — a broadcaster far more recognized for its good taste, and celebrated with more Emmy nominations than any channel for more than a decade.
If you think QAF is better, it says more about you and your own taste than anything else.
Cam
@NG22: said… “If you think QAF is better, it says more about you and your own taste than anything else.”
______________________
And there you have it folks, attempting to be subtle, but still a perfect example of the bitchy, passive agresseive “If you don’t agree with me, you’re an idiot” comment.
::::::Clapping::::::: Well done.
NG22
Considering you’re a veritable master of bitchy comments, I’ll take that as a compliment.
I’m saying sejjo is tasteless. Most people are. I’m saying I have better taste than sejjo — who clearly likes bombastic storytelling and doesn’t understand or appreciate nuance. But most importantly, I’m saying that HBO has better taste than sejjo, and you, and me, and everyone here — most especially Chris Kelly.
I’m not surprised you didn’t address my demographic point about age and location — as it may filter your perspective.
If you’re trying to shame me for being a New York elitist, it won’t work.
I have no problem with my comment because I’m not just telling people that they’re idiots. I’m telling them why and how they’re wrong and tasteless.
Kathukid
This show is ridiculously stupid. It is very hard to care for any of the characters
electricbixxh
No mention of Gabe Liedman? No mention of Danny Franzese’s hugh c**k?
Cool recap, I guess?
electricbixxh
@jorgecruz: Show with unlikable characters. Why is this a problem for people? I don’t want to watch role models or people who always say and do the right things. I want to see complex characters and challenging situations. I want to be in love with a character one minute and hate them the next.
electricbixxh
@Ron Jackson: Have fun with your superficial existence. You want hard bodies? Go back to network television.
Paco
@NG22: I’m not sure if lack of diversity is something I can or would want to appreciate. It’s something that doesn’t reflect my own experience in life.
Cam
@NG22:
No actually your comments are off based, claiming that “Looking” is nuanced when season 1 was nothing but non-fleshed out characters is ridiculous. Claiming that a younger demo is going to love it because it speaks to them, when the storylines are reminiscent of far older gay movies, well whatever gets you through the day.
I actually think Looking is ok this season, but Patrick is not nuanced, he is a poorly developed character played as if he is 19 years old.
The director did a great job with “Weekend” but that doesn’t translate as well to a 1/2 hour format when you have characters as broadly drawn as Patrick or how Augustin was last season.
Your comment was simply bitchy and saying “If you don’t like what I like you are stupid”. If that’s the best you got, fine, but don’t get mad at somebody else for pointing it out.
Chris Kelly
@electricbixxh: I didn’t mention Gabe Liedman by name, but his character is in there. There’s even a picture of him! As for the cock, what can really be said? It’s a nice bonus, but not exactly a major plot point.
jorgecruz
@electricbixxh: first of all I am not mad if anyone else likes the show or wants to watch it. Everyones taste is different so we shouldn’t judge each others opinions as right and wrong- opinions are opinions so they arent up for a vote.
I’m saying that I wont watch the show anymore because I can’t root for or enjoy watching any of the main characters. I have enjoyed watching unlikeable characters on shows in the past- George on Seinfeld, Miranda on Sex in the City, etc. But this writer is making all the leads so self-aborbed that I dont want to watch anymore. The perfect example is Patrick at the funeral- it is set up as him doing something nice for Doris, but turns into a story about his own teenage years and family. If your friend’s father just died, you really don’t want to listen to your friend complain about his childhood at the funeral.
I do want to weigh in on the QAF versus looking debate. You can’t compare the two. QAF was intentionally provocative because they were showing things never before seen on television. It was campy but I think of it like a gay pride parade that intentionally puts drag queens and leather guys in jockstraps on floats and drives them down main street. I would add that the original british version was much better probably because it wasn’t on too long, it was cast with better actors and didnt have so much tragedy. It was much lighter.
enlightenone
@NG22: “…The juxtaposition of Patrick’s fulfillment and Richie’s pain was emotional and overwhelming….”
I get it now, you are autistic! Makes perfect sense.
enlightenone
@MarionPaige: “Jonathan Groff plays a gay ex soldier in American Sniper”
Is there a blooper outtake clip?