After last week’s dismal episode, Looking came back with a solid episode that delivered on the promise of the show.
Augustin (Frankie J. Alvarez): It has hereby been decreed that Augustin is the worst. We can totally tell that this dude isn’t going to be faithful to his boyfriend this season and it sucks to watch him to this. They go to Folsom Street Fair where he manages to convince CJ (the sex worker from last week) to be a part of his new art project. However, from the weak answers to his boo about his day and the fact that he ate the meat CJ offered, we know where this is going. I think Frankie J. Alvarez is doing a good job of telegraphing his character’s future actions in an organic way, but this character feels like Belize from Angels in America without the finesse.
Dom (Murray Bartlett): Dom just can’t get right when it comes to talking to people. This episode saw him trying to flirt/butter up the gentleman played by Scott Bakula. Dom can be the shadiest person without trying and it took him the whole episode to realize that he was giving the other guy mixed signals. However, it seems like Bakula’s character is at least willing to hear his business plan. Will they be able to keep it professional though?
Patrick (Jonathan Groff): For the first time this series, I feel like they finally knocked it out of the park with this character. Patrick and his boss (Russell Tovey) were basically tip-toeing around possibly engaging in some extracurricular activities. From their flirting about the Folsom St Fair to their desire to create a great game, they were walking the thin line of professional and personal, all the more complicated by the fact that the boss has a boyfriend. Which all came to a head at the end of the episode, when his boss was basically offering himself up on a platter via the guise of getting fried chicken for dinner while they worked. Remarkably Patrick, realizing that this would be crossing a line, managed to say no and left. On the one hand I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO because Russell and Jonathan have great chemistry and they’d have made a great pair. On the other hand, hooray for character growth! Patrick would be rewarded for his smarts at the end when he runs into Richie (Raul Castillo) at the bar everyone ends up in. Though the conversation starts off super awkwardly and Richie is wary, he slowly thaws (in a GREAT scene, kudos to Groff and Castillo) and they end up dancing together and starting over.
Overall Thoughts: Tonight’s episode of Looking was leagues better than last week. It was interesting to watch all these characters try and navigate personal wants amidst professional/professional-leaning needs. Even when I hate the character (Augustin) I still loved how they played those scenes and that end one with Groff and Castillo was a master class in how to balance characters inner turmoil on the exterior.