+ Best San Francisco Title of the Year
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| Jonathan Groff in focus, Murray Bartlett nearer and Frankie J. Alvarez in the back on the poster for Michael Lannan's Looking |
Looking is HBO's new spectacular romance-drama series about 3 gay friends in the San Francisco Bay area and their various work, relationship and family situations. It is based on a short by its creator Michael Lannan, Lorimer (2011), and its 1st season runs 8 episodes of approximately 25-30 minutes each.
Although all 3 friends are leads, we spend more time with Patrick (Jonathan Groff (Frozen (2013), voice), the sweet country boy-atheist-computer game designer. The other two are sommelier Dom (Murray Bartlett (August (2011)), who is perhaps 10 years older than the others, and Augustín (Frankie J. Alvarez (Aphasia (2014), short), an artist's assistant, who is the only one of the three who is in a steady relationship.
Since the season only spans 8 episodes, I will present the plot of Looking structured thus:
1: Patrick suffers an unsuccessful date but meets a sweet Latino doorman named Richie (Raúl Castillo (Lorimer) on the Metro. Agustín and his boyfriend Frank have a threesome.
2. Despite his roommate friend Doris' (Lauren Weedman (Date Night (2010)) advice to the contrary, Dom sits down with a former, abusive lover. Patrick makes a bad second impression on Richie.
3. Patrick makes a fool of himself towards his new, British boss Kevin (Russell Tovey (Pride (2014)). Augustín gets fired and picks up his own former identity as an artist. Dom wants to start his own restaurant.
4. Patrick flirts with his boss but goes off and reignites his spark with Richie. Dom pitches his restaurant idea to the older owner of a local flower shop, Lynn (Scott Bakula (The Informant! (2009)), while Augustín's art becomes about a male prostitute he meets, CJ.
5. We stay with Patrick and Richie for the entire episode, as Patrick takes a day off to hang out with Richie. They go to the planetarium, the coast and Richie's 'señora' soothsayer and share sexual and other personal information.
6. Dom turns 40 and finds himself at crossroads between more mature relationships and continuing to lay young guys, as Lynn agrees to finance a pop-up restaurant event. Augustín arranges a three-way with Frank and CJ, filming it for his project, and trashes Richie, when Patrick introduces him as his boyfriend at Dom's birthday.
7. Dom prepares his new venture. Augustín gets dumped by Frank, when the truth of the now dumped art project is revealed. Patrick drags Richie to his cousin's wedding, but radiates so much stress that he alienates Richie and has to go alone.
8. Patrick SPOILER neglects stepping up to Richie's expectations and instead gives in to his boss's advances. Augustín takes drugs and ends up back where he started, as Patrick's roommate. Dom's pop-up restaurant is a success, but he has been unkind to Lynn in the process and, as their professional relationship is brought to an end, he embraces and kisses him.
Looking soon proves an excellent new acquaintance: The first episode provides a sweet introduction to the three great main characters, who are specific in each their own way and hold different, individually relatable personalities. For me it was already in the course of the second episode that I really got hooked to Looking and began to see its ambition:
The series is an honest, deeply relatable celebration of modern, urban gay life. Yet Looking will definitely also resonate with many heterosexuals, because its honest portrayal of its characters' issues concerning careers, identity, love, their families and futures transcend their sexual orientation.
Besides the great writing from the 6-person writing team, this is also due to the spectacular performances that the series' 5 directors have wrung from the cast who have clearly created strong bonds with each other and their characters: Groff is magic as our often very funny hero, who so often says and does the wrong thing, but still has our undiminished support. Bartlett shows us some of the angst of reaching 40 without much to show for it, and Castillo is gold as down-to-earth, sincere hottie Richie. All of them can do breezy, smart dialog scenes as well as show weaknesses and insecurities. Additionally, Weedman has to be singled out for her great performance as Dom's hilarious friend Doris.
Looking's main director with 5 episodes to his name is Andrew Haigh, who also distinguished himself with affinity for gay drama-romance in the great Weekend (2011).
The series contains a fine selection of new, hip music and older classics in the gay scene from Erasure, The Smiths etc. - You can hear a selection of it here. The show is at times incredibly romantic, but ultimately SPOILER it chooses ambiguous, conflicting realism over wide-eyed romance, (even if some of us were cheering for that...)
Looking is an almost perfect series for its time: Its depiction of the conflicts of gay life and concept of 'looking' and framing the younger adults who are trying to 'find something real' are spot on as told through its charming, winning, real characters.
HBO has renewed it for a 10-episode 2nd season, debuting in January. - So if you haven't gotten acquainted with Looking yet, now is the time to get it on DVD or stream it and get ready for the next season!
Best episode:
5: Patrick and Richie share a day of romance and companionship
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Watch the trailer for the 1st season here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: None
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What do you think of Looking?
Any related shows or movies that you want to recommend?
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