So…all of my wonderful Lookingans (Lookingites? Lookings?) we need to sit down and have a real conversation about tonight’s episode.
Yall, we just have to have a real frank (pun intended) conversation about tonight’s episode of Looking, which put the concept of relationships under the microscope. It was incredibly interesting to see the characters and us as the audience being forced to wrestle with the notion of how two people relate to each other and how one should weigh happiness. We saw one major break up (Dom and Doris) that feels just as heart wrenching as Patrick’s mother admitting that she might want to leave his father. We also got to see what relationship bliss looks like with Kevin and Patrick cementing their relationship by moving in together and Augustine baring his soul to Eddie (with some PHENOMENAL acting by Frankie J Alvarez) and winning Eddie’s heart.
And yet, having sat here with the episode for about an hour now, I don’t feel complete. Quite honestly, I’m mad that one episode away from what is being rumored as a series finale, that much of what I want from the show isn’t being delivered. If you’ve been reading any of the past recaps, you’ll know I am not a fan whatsoever of Patrick and Kevin being together. In fact, I was overjoyed that Patrick’s sister showed up to drag him a bit for his life choices. But more importantly, I felt like the show this week was trying to find a way to justify this pairing. I think I’ve resolved in my heart that Richie and Patrick are not going to happen ever again on the show, so this isn’t just my poor broken heart commenting on this. But I really felt that Looking tonight, with the storyline regarding Patrick’s mother, set up a strange justification system for what it’s doing with its characters. Nothing that was said in this episode regarding the pursuit of happiness is new to what Patrick was going through and honestly, I would have liked it much better if his mother had been supportive just because her son seemed to be happy and pursuing what he wants in his life, rather than have her facing a similar issue in her life. This rang a bit hollow cause as I remarked on Twitter it appears that she’s just supportive of him cause she wants to step out on her relationship. Patrick is a grown ass man and has been making decisions on this show that while difficult, he’s hit head on, and he doesn’t need the show to present ways to justify it. Never mind the fact that Kevin presents her with a much more acceptable man in Patrick’s life with his having money, British accent and skin tone, something that surprisingly the show didn’t comment on. I find the latter note really interesting in particular because Looking is so good at weaving in class and race and how the privileged characters react to it, so they missed a good time to do so again.
Anyways this recap is getting long and mopey, but I’m really interested in how you all felt about the show.
Odds and Ends
-Dom saying he was fist fucked made me cackle.
-Seeing Augustine’s ex Frank again was such a wonderful surprise and that conversation was just as frosty and awkward as you could expect. This scene was the highlight of the episode for me because everything felt real: Augustine’s palpable fear/intruige at being in his orbit, Eddie’s hurt at being called “friend”, and the frost bitch act Frank put on that thawed once he saw Augustine was actually putting his life together.
-Funniest Moment: Patrick’s mom offering him a Xanax. Whew I howled.
-I was so annoyed that Patrick and Kevin kept making sex jokes to people who don’t know them. That poor realtor and mattress store worker…
“Nothing that was said in this episode regarding the pursuit of happiness is new to what Patrick was going through and honestly, I would have liked it much better if his mother had been supportive just because her son seemed to be happy and pursuing what he wants in his life, rather than have her facing a similar in her life.”
Agreed and this was another crisis, that caused Patrick to not think and just go ahead with things with Kevin.
Initially, Patrick was surprised that Kevin hadn’t asked him to move in. Now, he’s totally ready to take this next step with him, because his mother says, that she’s going to leave her husband, after 40 something years of marriage. Also, that their father will know how to handle things after their breakup.
Dana, desperately needs their support, but this has also continued to keep Patrick on this path, of trying to prove to himself, that he’s made the right choice.