Looking back on Looking

Well, this sunday marked the last episode of the first season of new HBO comedy LOOKING. We recently learned that against all odds, the show was renewed for a second season by HBO. The show follows three gay friends living in San Franciso, the series mainly follows Patrick, played by Jonathon Groff as he attempts to find a boyfriend, as well as the exploits of his friends Dom, played by Murray Bartlett as he tries to progress professionally and find love, and Augustin (played by Frankie J. Alvarez), a struggling artist working as a call boy who moves in with his boyfriend.

The series got off to an auspicious if perhaps a slow start, and the show was strong out of the gate, the first few episodes gave us just the right blend of character development and story arc, and managed to pique our interest with complex and well defined characters, and story-lines that were risque enough to keep audiences watching. The show is fairly slow, and this is typical of Andrew Haigh's work, particularly on his 2011 film Weekend, which laid the groundwork for much of LOOKING's narrative structure and visual style. The first few episodes gave us a quick reason to care for these characters, and thus gave us a reason to watch the show.

The show has had a few standout episodes, episode 5, Looking to the Future features an extended conversation between Patrick and new flame Ritchie, taking place over a whole day the two discuss bottoming, HIV and anal sex. This episode is indicative of the shows willingness to discuss gay sex openly and frankly, many shows in the past, even gay centric shows, have shyed away from talking too graphically about gay sex so as not to alienate a straight audience, but LOOKING takes advantage of HBO's significantly younger audience and discusses these topics in frank and interesting ways. The discussion about bottoming is especially significant, as it is something those not members of the gay community will necessarily understand, the dialogue between Ritchie and Paddy about bottoming represents the internal homophobia inherent in the gay community at the moment, where all that is masculine (and by extension heterosexual) is considered virile and desirable. Patrick's refusal to bottom for Ritchie represents in part his internal self loathing and his discomfort with being gay, and his inability to open up to Ritchie about his needs and desires.

This theme will be revisited in the season finale, Patrick has a flirtation with his boss throughout the series, which culminates in a brief kiss at the wedding, and which is finally realized in the finale when Kevin (Patrick's boss) lures him to the office late at night, where they have sex, with Patrick assuming the role of the bottom. Again this encounter represents some of the internal homophobia of the gay community, Patrick finally agreeing to bottom represents not only the inherent difference between his relationship with Ritchie and his relationship with Kevin, but also the fact that as his boss, Kevin is in a position of power, is thus stronger and more typically masculine, and thus he assumes the role of the top. The series uses sex a huge amount, in order to show the connections between the characters. The sex between Ritchie and Patrick is sweet, and loving, but lacks passion, and the sex between Patrick and Kevin is passionate and graphic. Augustin and his boyfriend have trouble connecting, and always feel the need to bring someone else into the bedroom, and Dom looks for fleeting encounters with young twinks from Grindr, as an attempt to feel young and free.

The show deserves to be lauded for its use of sex, and sex is used intelligently as a tool in order to show us how the relationships between the characters progress, the use of sex in the show is creative and doesn't feel gratuitous. The concept of the show is that everyone is looking for something, a boyfriend, an apartment or a relationship, a job or a promotion, however rather than showing us how they got them, the show uses the concept of constantly looking for something to show us that in a sense we are always looking, and that even if we do occasionally find what we are looking for, mostly, life is just a perpetual cycle of looking, and rarely finding. The show is visually interesting, smartly written and surely acted, and the characters are interesting enough to carry us through into season two. Rating: A-

Patrick: So now what?
Kevin: I don't know Patrick