difficultdiva

I am not too far into the season and relationship, but Brian put up no resistance with this Michael relationship from what I've seen thus far. I wonder if that was character development or an unexplained change of direction for Michael.

Michael was pretty bad season 1 but I think we all reach stages in our lives where we just hang onto we know we can't have or shouldn't be with....

Brian wasn't perfect but I still found him real and human and ultimately I think he was a good person....

It was character growth and change of direction for both Michael and Brian in season two with the introduction of Professor Ben. Even though there were viewers, who thought that it was an unbalanced pairing (not because of Ben's HIV status), but due to class differences with the pairing. Michael was a manager of this cheap, psuedo "WalMart like" store, while Ben worked at a university.

I liked who Michael became while being with Ben. He grew out of his obsession in the fantasy of being more to Brian than just his best friend.

I also think that Brian knew that if he didn't let Michael go emotionally, they both would never really be able to have chances (or Michael specifically) at finding someone to share their lives with romantically.

As for Brian, he was definitely real and human, but I never related to him or thought of him as a good person. I felt like he was still in the process of learning how to let himself feel something for others, to express it, without thinking that it was a sign of weakness.

That's why I was so happy that Brian and Justin decided to not get married, so that his young lover could have a chance at experiencing life on his own, making his own choices.

Brian was at a place in his life, that he seemed to be at peace with himself. Justin wanted more and even though Brian tried to give him what he thought his fiance wanted, Justin knew it wasn't something that he could give him.

Patrick could try and say that Kevin was sexually harassing him, but he is attracted to his boss. I think that if John wasn't in the picture, Patrick would still have qualms about pursuing Kevin.

I still think that Patrick has way more to lose than Kevin if they end up together.

Emotionally I don't think that Patrick's at all ready to be with anyone, Richie or Kevin at the moment. He says that he wants something more, but he can't cope with feeling that Richie's beneath him (even though he doesn't want to feel that way) nor be able to deal with being Kevin's secret lover, if they ever decide to move past the flirting stage. That's why I don't agree with the idea that it would be easier for Patrick to be Kevin's secret lover, than being in a relationship with someone who's of a different class and race like Richie.

He has two men who want to be with him.

He continues to push away an available man, while flirting with another who isn't available.

Michael was really pathetically hooked on Brian in season one.

I know, isn't it great?

Exactly. And aside from Auggie, who really is his own worst enemy, I appreciate that I at least understand where these characters come from when they do things that make me shake my head That would be my only issue, if the motivation made no sense.[

Agreed - Look, I hated Brian on QAFUS, but I was interested in how Michael finally let go and let himself have a life, a man and a future that he wanted. He was still Brian's BFF, but he was able to get himself out of that holding pattern of just being Brian's pathetic friend who wants more.

I'm pissed out Agustin's behavior, but I'm also interested in IF he'll come to a breaking point and wonder why he blew up his job and his relationship with Frank. It wasn't just because he found CJ hot.

I want to see how these characters deal with the choices (good and bad) and how they try to move forward from it.

Is it really a deal breaker that the leads (on a gay show) have to be likeable?

If every lead had to be "likeable", would Breaking Bad, Mad Men or even Sopranos have lasted past their first seasons?

New interview with Scott Bakula.

http://www.vulture.com/m/2014/03/lookings-bakula-on-weed-and-loving-to-sing.html?mid=twitter_vulture

I hope he does come back as Lynn for next season.

Skin

I've never read any viewer describe how Brian had put Lindsey, Justin and Michael in categories of how much emotion he gave to all three. Your theory on it does make sense to me, especially the part about denying the sex with Michael and keeping his emotions in check with Justin.

Justin was never my favorite character, but I felt that the writers (in their need to keep the fandom happy with B/J having as many sex scenes possible) destroyed any sort of growth that he was gaining when he left Brian for Ethan at the end of season two.

I felt like some of those fans wanted to see Justin grovel, in order to get Brian back after Ethan had cheated on him and that's exactly what the show wrote for that character.

Justin was never independent from doing anything that had nothing to do with Brian. Then, when they had him refocusing on his art in the final season, some viewers couldn't understand what happened.

The wedding being canceled.

Him leaving Pittsburgh to try and make an independent start in his life.

Thanks for the link, EM

I saw you post it on this week's AVClub of Looking.

I love the conversations that have developed about that show on that site.

Scott Evans, who didn't have any lines in the episode, was in a scene next to Patrick's sister and that was when he used the c-word to describe him and Kevin said that only the British are able to use that word properly.

If, I'm remembering directly.

I don't think she tried to hook them up. However I knew it was him before the credit as well. Foreshadowing maybe?

Kevin and John appeared just fine to me at the wedding which made Kevin making a move on Patrick that much shocking for me. I see all the reviews I read was saying Patrick was looking at him all night, but I must have missed it all.

Agree with Eric about Dom. Not that he would be the first gay man to get bent out of shape that someone isn't falling all over his...part.

ETA: SFK, hot friend.

Patrick was looking at Kevin (and John) throughout the reception and that's one of the many reasons why he pushed him away when the kiss happened in the bathroom.

Too many mixed signals, no matter how much Patrick does want Kevin to desire him. I guess some folks wanted to see Patrick and Kevin do it right inside the stalls. That would really add to Patrick's neurosis.

I wonder if Scott Evans is the guy that Patrick had his first sexual experience while on that school field trip?

Happy that Patrick had the presence of mind to reject Kevin's drunken advances.

Julia Duffy looks fantastic.

I think (and still have hope) that Patrick doesn't want to end up being a side piece to Kevin. Kevin and his interest in Patrick may be genuine, but he continues to give him mixed messages regarding his boyfriend.

I'm not expecting to hear that Jon is this walking saint, but Kevin continues to say all these negative things about his boyfriend and his relationship to Patrick, then he sees those two together and they DO look like they're happy or what's supposed to look like happy.

Patrick already has issues with his self-esteem. I don't know how he'll function as the other man. If that happens.

He'll be even more neurotic.

Glad to see this. There seemed to be a lot of haters who wanted the show to fail.

Hey, they helped with the continued growth in the ratings each and every week since the pilot.

I'm just so glad that Lauren, Raul and Russell have been bumped up to regulars for next season.

Sorry I know Big vs Aiden is like another world war but Big just had IT and there was no way Carrie could ever have loved someone as much as she loved him. And vice versa.

Yeah. The Big vs. Aiden issue is still a hot topic, because SaTC chose to go with the fantasy that this philanderer, two-time divorced older/established man would devote himself completely with (someone who romanticized everything in her life) Carrie.

Carrie couldn't even cope with accepting the responsibility of breaking Aiden's heart TWICE after he took her back the second time. I wasn't expecting her to not have any sort of romantic relationships after Aiden, but TPTB chose to have her shrug off Aiden's pain as something that shouldn't have any sort of affect on her. That's why I got a complete thrill when Berger dumped her behind with a Post-It note.

Candace Bushnell didn't get a "Happily Ever After" with her Mr. Big. They never even made it to the chapel.

That's why I like "Looking". I don't see there being some last minute fantasyland tale come true for any of these characters.

That their "happily ever after" is something that they're going to have to work for, grow up and seek it, through uncomfortable and realistic change.

(And yeah about that preview, and Patrick's mom, I assume, asking if Kevin who is somehow at the wedding-it's like he has a tracking device on Pat--asking if that's his bf Richie... I think there'll be more cringing to come.)

So glad that I'm not the only one who thinks that way about Kevin. It's just odd that Kevin's showing up at these personal things regarding Patrick.

Yet, there are viewers that are hoping that Kevin will dump his hot, gorgeous and (probably making more salary than him) boyfriend for Patrick.

Kevin sees Patrick as an escape. Somebody new and fun that he can have, while he's in SF.

I adore Russell Tovey, but I'm wary of Kevin's interest in Patrick.

I don't even know how Richie allowed himself to be convinced into attending a wedding. That's WAY too fast and WAY too soon. Alarm bells should have been going through the rough at this point.

A siren is probably blasting in Richie's mind 24/7 at this point, but he's really into Patrick. He continues to keep giving him shots at trying to turn their thing into a relationship. As he told Patrick other times before, he takes dating and relationships seriously and when he said, "I'm in" he meant it. He doesn't want to give up, because he's seen how Patrick can be with him (when they're alone), but they can't keep their relationship in a bubble.

It has to be able to thrive in the outside world and sadly, Patrick's not strong enough to even confront his friend, when said friend shows his ass to his boyfriend.

Patrick IS hanging onto Richie, because he doesn't want another failed attempt at a relationship. He just invited him to a huge family event. So his neuroses will be on a dangerously high level.

Patrick's going to have a panic attack and that's going to be it for Richie.

Does anyone remember the scene of Carrie, hyperventilating, getting hives and having to be cut out of her wedding gown, because she knew that her appending marriage to Aiden Shaw was the wrong thing for her on SaTC?!

I just had a hard time that going into your thirties they still would frankly call him out on his crap so rarely.

I didn't feel quite that way towards Stuart in the UK version, where I got that. Some of that may have been that the actual dialogue writing was more nuanced. A lot of it probably was due to the fact that we just saw those characters for--what a year of their life? Not 5 or 6, so it was easier to buy.

Stuart was usually always called out on his BS, but never with Vince or Nathan. Which made sense, because Stuart knew that he could get away with getting his way with his best friend, who was in love with him and the young man who never left.

It was all the other ones (Vince's mom, the older gay lodger, their lesbian friends and Vince's friends) who were able to see beyond the history between Vince and Stuart to see how they each were putting their lives on hold.

I loved it when the ONS walked up to Stuart and he called him out for not remembering him. Or the business client, who was so desperate to cheat on his wife and "hang out" with Stuart that it made him shudder in disgust.

I still adore how Cameron (Vince's Australian older lover) told Stuart that he enjoyed keeping Vince waiting for him in some desperate need to choose him.

Stuart definitely had his good, bad, dull, fiery, loving and angry side of his personality, but that was in the writing. It was in the source material. It wasn't this image that the character was based on and used for the majority of the time as his US counterpart.

I appreciated that Davies ended the UK version after the second series. I even read an article that said he felt like the first series end was were he wanted the characters to be left at, but Channel 4 wanted to ride the wave of critical acclaim and viewers who wanted more stories based on the characters.

As much as I despise Agustin's crappy behaviour, I've had friends in my life, do almost the same exact things to me and a new guy that I had in my life. It's like this fear comes over them, like they'll be forgotten and not needed by you IF you're happy and in the beginning stages of love.

As for Patrick, I still think he thinks that he has to find that J.Crew ideal for him and even though he does like Richie and doesn't want to be that guy fixated on image: he IS that guy right now. Agustin just blew Patrick's little bubble of happiness up, but Patrick probably has allowed him to do these things in his life for years.

There was a reason why Patrick was so worried about Richie meeting Agustin. Somehow, he knew that Agustin would show his nastiness.

I want Frank to dump Agustin and in the next season (crosses fingers and toes) runs into his ex, with his current man, CJ on his arm.

I would just be so happy.

As much flack Agustin's getting, I want to praise Frankie Alvarez, Jr.'s performance in the role. Agustin isn't a monster. He's a jerk, who's unhappy with his life and lashing out at others, because he's too damn weak to fix himself. That's something that is apart of human nature, even when folks don't want to acknowledge it.

Same. He was such a pathological narcissist. I finally noticed how is almost pathologically capable of letting other people get any attention. It's startling how many times we see characters talking about their problems only to have Brian make the whole conversation about himself. Watch how many times he comes into the diner, plops down in the booth and starts talking about himself regardless of the topic being discussed.

Well, he was the one that Lindsey, Michael, Justin and certainly a huge portion of the viewing audience were interested in.

I mean, if Brian had truly decided (on a whim) that he wanted to see what sex would be like with a woman, Lindsey would have been in his bed so fast, Mel's head would have spun around.

It's not so odd, that Melanie, Ben and Debbie were constantly calling Brian to discuss things about their lover and/or child. Justin's mom thanked Brian for helping to support her son, when he wouldn't move back home.

This was the almost 30 year old man, who had sex with her 17 year old kid.

My issues with the Brian character, beyond his narcissistic behavior and acting like he was allowing these folks into his life (when it was the complete opposite) was the fact that he seemed utterly bored with his life, including all the sex and the men he was able to get, because he was the supposed sex god of Pittsburgh.

The lack of drive, interest and desire for getting what he wanted irritated the heck out of me.

I watched the whole series and I hated how Ted aka "Eeyore" would end up being punished for almost the same exact behavior as Brian aka "Sex God" would be rewarded/praised for it.

The quote that I loved from the previous thread on this series:

Drew and Emmett had the best sex scene ever when afterwards Emmett screamed "Touchdown!!". Emmett really got the meaning of brokeback after that one, he broke Emmett off the most proper piece sex he had through the whole series[ /b]!

I agree. Drew really was Emmett's perfect match, but it made sense for Emmett to not try and desperately hold onto him in a relationship.

Drew was finally able to experience the release of being out, in all of its highs and lows. He actually gave Drew the chance to just be, in comparison to Brian and Justin's way too long and desperate pairing. IMO.

I don't think there was anything "generic Ken doll type" about Mike. He IS just too good for Fiona and his head case brother.

I just want someone, mainly Veronica to slap some sort of sense into Fiona. I know that Veronica's life and choices aren't always perfect, but Fiona has way too much to lose, with a family that has always depended on her to be there for them.

Her and Mike were never going to make it, but she willing went for his brother. I hated that scene, in which Mike apologized to her about being a guy who cares about his family and her life. He truly cared about her and her family.

While, his brother made sure to be the first one to strike Mike down, in telling him about having sex with her. He used her and she let him use her.

The AVClub critic claims that the screener copies sent out are in general too dark (he did a comparison of one shot) but I assume you're not watching those I found the lighting fine on my set... http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/looking-for-the-future-107072

I was watching the extra piece HBO does for each episode, that gives insights from the producers of Looking. One of the producers (the one with the funky beard), said that everyone who was behind the scenes of "Looking for a Future" episode, felt like they were also on the date with the two characters.

Folks would whisper and not have too loud conversations on set, even when they weren't filming.

It was a good episode but at times it seemed to just lag. That scene at nighttime....maybe it was just my television but was it hard for you guys to see the characters? It seemed like it was cutting to black or something.

As for Patrick and the little ese I dunno I did buy their connection. The intimate scenes were pretty good.

Richie had taken Patrick to an exhibit at the Planetarium. It was supposed to be that dark, so that they could see the stars. For me, it would have been odd, if you had some special lighting, to showcase the two characters at that moment in time of their date.

Like when on other sitcoms and soaps, you have some club scene and it's lit in just a certain way, so that you can see the main characters dialogue.

I think the Augustine/Frank thing was foreshadowed by the fact that when they DID open their relationship up to a threeway (for the first time, I think) happened to be the day they were moving in together. Aug clearly does have feelings for Frank, but he's not willing to let go of his other life yet. Add in the callboy, and I think he feels like he's missing out, or yet to experience some mythical amazing experimental life (if that makes ANY sense) and is still searching for that. It's a bit more complex than the same old grass is always greener thing.

Wasn't it Agustin that initiated the beginning of the threeway between Frank and that other guy? He is completely behaving like someone who thinks he's missing out on something.

That's why Dom made that offhand remark about giving the move in 6 months to last AND Patrick being startled by Agustin's little omission of not telling Frank that he's going to pay TJ to "model" for him.

I'm so excited about tonight's episode.

Thanks for the info.

What do you think of that woman getting married, the one with the crazy hair? She's very 80s.

I wonder why they keep Olli on if they don't want to write for him. Is he still popular with fans?

Olli IS still popular, but the soap's writers are still under the impression that a majority of the audience ONLY is interested in him, when he's only focused on Christian. His long-distance and habitually cheating husband. The show has screwed up BIG time in how they've written both Olli and Christian during the past two years.

I think that maybe, the show is testing the chemistry between Sascha and Olli, because there is an audience who definitely wants Olli to move on and leave Christian behind in his mind, heart and life. I'm not sure if anything romantic will develop from Sascha towards Olli, but something has to result from Olli discovering that he can feel something else for someone else other than Christian.

I love this show, because I wasn't expecting it to be like SATC, QAF or GIRLS. I love that I can identify and understand (at times), where each of the three main characters are at in their lives on this show.

I'm old enough to remember how crazy you can be, when you're still single in your late 20s, questioning your life and relationship in your 30s and wondering if you've made the right choices in your life when you turn 40.

I also like that these characters are not over the top and hilarious every 5 minutes and that they are portrayed as sexual beings, but it doesn't justify their entire existence.

How can I care about Patrick with anybody?

Because of too many Patrick in the world. That and I remember my late 20s.

Augustin and his attitude about his boyfriend? I can walk out my door and see that every day with so many vapid boys and their toys...ESPECIALLY this week where they are putting out there on the street to my shear contempt. But I could say that about my old home as well where people fall in love after a makeout session and move in two days later and break up a week later.

Yes, Dom rocks.

Agreed.

There will always be Patricks, Agustins, Dominics, Kevins, Richies and Franks out here, living their lives in this world.

Patrick's a mess, but he isn't that bad.

Even Agustin, with him not treating his boyfriend right, isn't an evil guy.

They're just messed up, but not evil and their actions, I have seen in my guy friends and their relationships or attempts at relationships.

None of what's being written isn't based on some real life situation.