Manuel here checking in on the Looking boys this week, after their carnal sojourn into the woods last week.
We open with Kevin and Patrick in bed and if we didn’t know any better, their adorable reminisces about their queer childhoods, including talk of what is arguably one of the gayest videos ever, read like an intimate scene from a healthy burgeoning relationship. Of course, it’s lunchtime and they’re at a motel (“don’t you guys find seedy motels kind of sexy?”), indulging in what Patrick refuses to acknowledge is an “affair” (“I really like him and the word ‘affair’ is starting to feel rather shitty to me”). In many ways, this scene feels taken straight out of Andrew Haigh’s own Weekend, a film that was thoroughly fascinated with contemporary gay intimacy and gay identity. What does intimacy look like within a community that is still encumbered by secrets and closets, even as it prides itself on openness and honesty? It’s also no surprise that Patrick and Kevin end up coming up with a gay-themed card game that works as a brief run-down of various gay archetypes (“hot-shot”, “drag mother,” “lusty lads of London,” “gay-for-pay,” “the ashamed gay”).
Secrecy, as it turns out, is taking its toll on the two of them, and while we don’t see Kevin dealing with his migraines, we see Patrick freaking out about his rash, which he idiotically if earnestly believes could be an HIV symptom leading to an awkward conversation with a nurse (“Hey everyone, I’m pregnant… with HIV”). While Patrick initially finds the thrill of seeing someone he really likes, it slowly dawns on him the consequences of his behavior, mostly as the open secret of his affair begins to make its way out of his small circle of friends (Doris and Lynn have been clued in and it’ll be a matter of time before they’re exposed no?)
Openness, on the other hand, is what’s at the center of Dom and Lynn’s relationship. After finding a spot for his peri peri chicken, we see them in full domestic mode even as Dom is taken aback by the frankness of Lynn’s approach to their open relationship (“Fuck anyone?”). Bashful, he admits he didn’t know they’d need to talk specifics and yet when Lynn jumps on him and teasingly asks where he did it, you see a couple whose intimacy need not be restricted to sexual monogamy. Rather revolutionary, don’t we think?
Less revolutionary, though perhaps in keeping with Agustin’s character, we find him yet again trying to deal with his frustration with life (I guess?) with alcohol and drinks. After sharing some margaritas and some shots with Doris and the boys, he ends up at a bar looking for Eddie and bumming a GHB drop from a friend of his ex, only to be found asleep next to a pupusa cart by Richie later that night. Will the show just keep pushing Agustin until his (or our) breaking point? Thankfully, this chance encounter (punctuated by one of my favorite lines of the episode: “Yo, I think I know that guy. He works at Chipotle!”) gives us a great reaction shot from Patrick. When he answers the door (in his undies!) and sees Richie, you see him look terrified mistakenly thinking the latter is making a social call.
So you’re just barely seeing someone?
The rest of their encounter is just as awkward, but bolsters the notion that they would have made quite a couple, and perhaps this is part of what drives Patrick further into his spiral the next day (“you just have to let him cycle through it”).
"Kevin, what are we doing?"
Thus, while we open with two naked boys in bed in a tight close-up, the episode ends with an even greater moment of shared intimacy: Kevin doing his dance to Take That’s song, one he was much too embarrassed to do at the motel, and which he performs in the glass box that is his office (what an appropriate metaphor, no?). The scene works not only because Russell Tovey is a charming performer, but because his embarrassment and pride in his goofy dance makes his gesture all the more significant. He really cares for Patrick. This can’t end well, can it?
Best line of the episode I wish I could off-handedly use:
I was just telling him about your big juicy foreskin.”
Best gif-worthy moment (tie): Tovey’s “booty dance” & Tovey’s Take That dance
Best Doris moment: being unaware that a guy would be flirting with her rather than eyeing her gays.
Previous Recaps:
Looking Back: Season 1 Recap
Looking for the Promised Land
P.S. This season already feels much more assured though it’s still pretty much an acquired taste; I can’t see it courting new viewers even with all leads dropping trou every other episode (but don’t call them “brave” for doing so). You guys hooked? Did everyone immediately track down that Take That video (Robbie Williams looks so young!)? Are we all happy Richie is back?