Have you ever watched something and wish you had a big tub of popcorn to chew on or a nice beverage to sip whilst you guffaw and engage with the screen? If so, then you probably understand the glee with Hunting Season season 2 was watched by yours truly. The first season of the show proved to be a wonderful discovery, a raunchy take on the lives on gay friends in NYC based on Alex’s blog. Now with its second season, Hunting Season has settled down from the raucous and rocky version to a more well defined yet still awesome entertaining show. And what makes this web series so entertaining? Well it’s hard to figure out just what he key is, because so much has to go right for it to work. The material in inherently juicy but just showing characters having sex is boring, the acting can go either way depending upon your feelings on a particular day, and the shots of nude guys can run its course. Yet, Hunting Season engages in a way you wouldn’t think. I believe what makes this season work so well is that creator Jon Marcus and his cast manage to find the soul of the material and mine it for all its worth. Whether it’s with its laugh out loud comedy moments, its incredible assurance in its sex scenes or just a general understanding of how messy of a story its telling, Hunting Season is a delight from start to finish.
I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed these guys until the end of the first episode, which introduced a more dramatic side of the show than the previous season did. Alex (an excellent Ben Baur) is struggling with maintaining his lifestyle aka sex, blogging, sex, writing for Gawker, more sex. It’s been a sort of charmed existence for him, but immediately hits some challenges when his sister decides to visit for an extended period of time and a freak run in with an ex, who’s now married with a kid, sends him on a journey to find his confidence again. It’s an interesting storyline for this character, given that Hunting Season has prided itself on its characters being unashamed of their actions and they pull off this tricky balance of allowing Alex to make decisions and forcing him to reckon with them. They don’t judge his struggle between Good Alex/Bad Alex, but give us the good sides of both of those avenues. Watching Alex have to decide whether to claim or deny his blog once people start to find out about it is a major source of conflict that drives the series. I give a lot of credit to Marcus for his writing, but even more credit to Baur for stepping his game up as an actor. Even as Alex’s world begins to crumble a bit, he balances the fun personality we’ve expected with the emotional side.
It’s not just Alex who are going through interesting changes. TJ (Jake Manabat) is exploring life as a non-monogamous man all while facing a turning point in his life regarding whether to start his own fashion line. The best (read funniest) storyline is reserved for Tommy (Marc Sinoway) whose run in with a dirty guy from Brooklyn leads to some of the shows funniest moments and its best shots (like the one above). These two supporting characters, and the myriad of other characters (Tyler French is my fave as Reese and Hunter Hoffman is aces as well) and cameos add a wonderful flavor to the series that help it feel grounded despite the hijinks.
Also helping keep the story grounded is Jon Marcus, whose direction really impressed me this time around. The first season felt like it had a sure hand, but one that was trying things out. Now everyone has settled in and Marcus can concentrate on making the show more cinematic. This is also aided by the fact that they decided to make 4 30 minute episodes, which give the show some added weight thematically and situational, but still feeling a bit edgy.
There’s probably nothing that will entice me more to something than hearing that its messy but in order to keep me, a show has to do more than titillate. Luckily for me, and audiences alike, Hunting Season does with aplomb.
Hunting Season premieres exclusively on Vimeo starting today, and will release weekly. I’d like to end this review with a collection of photos that described my mind state while watching this new season.
I loved these 2 characters!