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| Photo Credit: HBO |
After the epic costumed cringe comedy
of “Looking For Gordon Freeman,” this week's “Looking For A
Plot,” seeks to tug at the heartstrings rather than make stomachs
squirm, and it succeeds resoundingly. The backdrop for all this
emoting is an event where emoting is a default state: a funeral.
Like “Looking For Truth,” which
gave more insight into Richie via a visit back to his old
neighborhood, “Looking For A Plot” uses Dom and Doris' return to
their hometown of Modesto to attend Doris' father's funeral to round
out the characters and their relationship. Doris benefits from this
focus the most. While her relationship with Malik has shown a softer
side to the character, more often than not she still functions as the
stereotypically blunt fag hag, always at the ready with a sarcastic
quip.
“Looking For A Plot” reveals the
roots of that acerbic humor, which lay in a childhood spent living
with an alcoholic mother and experiencing what's insinuated as a
combative relationship with her father's sister Sarah, whom Doris
reveals suffered abuse from an uncle. Her father meanwhile, was both
her protector and biggest supporter, driving her around late at night
until her mother passed out, then cheering her on through her stint
on the high school swim team and her move to San Francisco.
It's not the least bit shocking that
Doris and Dom dated as teenagers or, that she was in love with him at
one point; like, say, Will Truman and Grace Adler, Dom and Doris'
bond has always had an air of former romance about it (though you get
the idea Dom's initial coming out was less torturous for Doris than
Will's was for Grace), like in the way Dom promises to take care of
Doris, or how they practically function as a married couple at the
post-funeral reception.
The pair's age also allows the show to
explore a classic small-town-kids-leave-for-the-big-city question:
What if I stayed? While Doris has no regrets over getting the hell
out of Modesto, Dom expresses some uncertainty, particularly after
coming out to an old classmates who's now married with kids and has a
successful career. Dom's arc for much the series has been a search to
find himself and realize his professional dreams, and “Looking For
A Plot” brings this into focus by filling in some blanks on his
past. Turns out his dad, who passed away when he was young, also
owned a Portuguese restaurant, but it went under and is now home to a
donut shop.
We also learn Dom never came to out to
his dad while he was alive, and the fact he'll never truly know how
he would have taken the news clearly weighs on him all these years
later. The scene where he, Doris and Patrick search for his grave
starts out sad (they don't find it), but turns darkly funny as he
decides to “come out” by loudly announcing his homosexuality to
the entire graveyard as they drive away. And then they're side swiped
by a truck. At the hospital, Doris quips that she's an orphan, then
offers to give Dom the money her father left her so he can start his
restaurant.
“There's nobody I'd rather want to
invest in more than you. 'Cause you're my family,” she says, and if
you weren't tearing up already, here comes Malik, who's been sending
“thinking of you” texts, and who drove to hospital to check on
her. In that moment, Doris finally gives into her grief and cries in
his arms. Lauren Weedman knew this was her half hour to shine and
seizes the opportunity, playing Doris with just the right amount of
toughness and vulnerability.
And what about our dear Paddy? As he
says on the ride to the funeral, he main reason for accompanying Dom
and Doris is escape having to deal with his own issues. Despite his
less than altruistic motives, Patrick does provide some emotional
support--he gives a mean neck massage--but the aforementioned issues
follow him to Modesto. While visiting the local gay bar, Patrick
projects his own lonely adolescence--one where he snuck
out to gay bars clad in his sister's jeans, got drunk, and listened
to Evanescence during bouts of depression--onto a guy sitting alone
at the bar, a fantasy that bursts when the guy's boyfriend shows up.
It he hadn't totally lost his shit last week, it'd probably be
inspiration to get wasted; instead, he strolls over to the dance
floor and gets down with Doris and Dom.
However, when Sarah reads Walt
Whitman's “Clear Midnight,” the same poem Patrick read to Dom in
the season premiere, the words open up the floodgates, as all of his
pent up emotion comes out in one ugly, loud cry. His outburst gets
him branded as the weird guy, but unlike last week's meltdown, this
felt more like a much-needed release rather than self-destructive
lashing out. He ignores a call from Kevin, but later, comes home to
find him outside at his apartment. Turns out he manned up, broke it
off with John and wants to start something real with Patrick.
Patrick, no doubt affected by recent
events, agrees.
Next week: Patrick and Kevin wear
matching outfits (ick) and get mistaken from brothers!
Other Thoughts:
--The episode starts the morning after
last week's disastrous Halloween party, during which Patrick curses
tequila while Agustin and Dom offer up a highlight reel of his other
antics--ike throwing up on a hobbit's (Eddie's) shoes, and calling
Brady a “Truvada whore.” As Dom succinctly puts it “You were a
mess girl.”
--Like most small towns, Modesto has it
own rainbow-plastered hole-in-the-wall in the form of the Brave Bull,
a gay bar where they play fantastic 80's pop like “Walking On
Sunshine,” and host drag queens named Kitty Leukemia, who
apparently does a wicked Lady Gaga set.
--Patrick: “In high school I came to
a place like this [the donut shop] every afternoon and sat in a booth
alone with a box of glaze, and read an Out magazine
tucked inside a Sports Illustrated.”
Dayum that is bleak.
--Agustin:
“Actually I'm really looking forward to the drag queen
reenactment of your epic speech at The Castro.” Save for that
opening scene, Agustin was MIA this episode, though next week's
preview implies a self-inflicted bump in the road in he and Eddie's
relationship.
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