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| Photo Credit: HBO |
So here we are. Jon is out of the
picture, Patrick's ready for love, and he and Kevin are together and
committed. And a kinda
annoying. Maybe it because it's two weeks in (according to rise n'
shade Agustin's serves up to Patrick) and their engaging in
activities like Patrick wearing Kevin's atrocious dog sweater and
comparing their love triangle to Brad, Angelina and Jennifer
Aniston's.
“Oh
god, you don't think people are going to be team Jon do you?”
Patrick muses to Kevin over cereal as they talk of letting an
appropriate amount of time pass--a.k.a the courtesy gap--before
informing people they're now a legit couple. Don't get me wrong;
Kevin and Patrick definitely have genuine chemistry and a real
connection. But from their co-workers (one of whom worries the
corporate environment will become hostile to heterosexuals) to Richie
and Brady, their assertion of being booed up carries with it an
undercurrent of aggression. It's like they're saying “We're
together. Now deal with
it.”
That
said, “Looking For Glory,” does lays out a few of the challenges
these two face. The bit about several employees calling HR was played
for laughs; however, the possibility Patrick may have to bear the
brunt of his co-workers' distrust, resentment or outright hostility
(including work buddy Owen) is very real. So is the chance his
sister--who thought Jon walked on water--may never forgive him. And
Agustin doesn't seem all that enamored with Kevin, a reasonable
reaction given all the tears he's had to help mop up up to this
point.
Given
all this scrutiny and skepticism, it's understandable Patrick would
want to press fast forward on things, prodding Kevin to take their
relationship out of he and Agustin's apartment and into the world.
But is that the right move? Further blending their work and personal
business, they decide to take their app One Up Him to GaymerX, a
gay-centric, San Francisco-based conference where techies come to
debut new apps liked Glorified--a hookup app that lets its users find
the nearest glory holes--and attend the after party prom. Patrick and
Kevin meet their latest tribunal when Richie and Brady, there so the
latter can write a possible feature story, spot them and Kevin,
one-upping an apprehensive Patrick, outs them as a couple and
suggests a dinner double date.
Later,
while Kevin escorts a drunk Brady to the bathroom, Patrick tells
Richie (who I might add came off particularly judgmental this week)
that the combination of losing it at Doris' dad's funeral and having
the last guy (i.e. Richie) who showed up at his doorstep tell him he
wasn't ready to fall in love inspired him to take a chance.
But
Patrick seems to have forgotten that part of the reason Richie came
to this conclusion was because he tried to push their relationship to
places it wasn't ready to go to yet--like his sister's wedding. In
short, he moved too fast, and his “I love you” to Kevin (who
reciprocates) notwithstanding, there's a sense both of them are
racing to raise the stakes, to prove to everyone and themselves this
is real deal. Again, there's a genuine foundation for a lasting
relationship here. But like their not-quite-ready app, they may have
gone public too soon.
This
week was Agustin's turn to get swept up into a AIDS panic, as
getting, how shall we say, splashed
in the eye by Eddie during sex, sends him running to the bathroom to
check his pupils for infection and to Dom for advice. Dom, not
exactly in the mood to suffer fools or freakouts, reminds him it's
2015, not 1994, and to chill out and look into a Truvada
prescription. Eddie, having come to this juncture more than once,
starts to write him off as another hypocritical, closed-minded queen
until Agustin promises to deal with his issues. So it's back to
smooth sailing, for now.
Meanwhile,
Dom is heading straight for a confrontation with Doris. He's thrown
himself into renovating his chicken window space, quitting his job
and maxing out his credit cards while waiting on the money Doris
promised, which has been slow to arrive. Normally she'd help him do
things like put in the water filter, but now that's she in a couple,
it's off to attend a birthday party for one of Malik's relatives.
Dom's been pretty mature and supportive about Doris' diminished
presence in his life so far; but judging from the message he
leaves--probably not the first one--while standing in front of his
restaurant alone, his patience is wearing thin.
Other
Thoughts:
--Next
week seems to promise a family showdown between Patrick and his
sister, with their mother playing referee. It's been a minute since
we've seen Patrick interact with his family, so this ought to be
good.
--After
presenting him as a successful, got-it-together gay, particularly in
contrast to Patrick in “Looking for Gordon Freeman,” “Looking
For Glory,” took some of the shine off Brady via a--you guessed
it--drunken rant. Well really, Brady was so blasted he didn't so much
rant as lose the ability to censor and quiet himself. Along with
calling out his boyfriend's judgmental nature, he confesses he no
longer believes a few things he and Richie said about Patrick and
Kevin; that being the former is “A 13-year-old girl, scared of his
vagina,” and that the two of them represented everything wrong with
the gay community. Not that Patrick didn't have a more than a little
of that coming, but Brady may want to practice moderation in the
future.
--“This isn't the Devil Wears Dog
shirt.”
--So far, the reaction to One Up Him
isn't good. Its first reviewer gave it one star, charging it with
encouraging stereotypes. Guess everyone doesn't see the fun in otters
vs. bears.
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