Well, I'm finally nearing the end of having watched this in its entirety and it's fair to say that the UK version is far superior, but then again, being only 10 episodes in total that feels inevitable.
Part of why the OG QaF worked was because it felt like a genuine look at how a lot of gay men are seemingly stuck in a pro-longed adolescence, while the rest of the world keeps moving. Stuart and Vince were stuck in a holding parting because both of them weren't really ready to grow up; Stuart had a successful career, but the emotional maturity of a teenager. Meanwhile, Vince meanwhile might've been wanting more emotionally, but was also stuck in a dead-end career. Nathan of course was only starting out, but he wasn't somehow more emotionally mature or ready to take on adult life with a career.
Still, somehow they all remained likable thanks to the writing and us only getting a slice of their lives. Eventually they all would've needed to move on from each other and likely would've (even if the fantasy ending of Stuart / Vince is okay). I think the issue is that when they tried to stretch this concept in the US version it inevitable became increasingly thin and I guess less and less real to life.
Justin and Brian should've never been a sort of a "one true pairing". For me the show started going downhill once they pivoted towards that - Justin getting that emotional bond he wanted with Ethan, who then betrayed him and his solution was going to be running back to Brian, who was as emotionally stunted as ever? Add that he wasn't even 20 yet. Wouldn't the obvious thing be that Justin would've gone out and started exploring his options rather than hanging onto Brian?
But you can say the same for Michael once he paired up with Ben. Ultimately, I think the US version suffers from the same issue that a lot of shows that are based on a very specific concept and they try to drag it out, namely, why are these people still in each others life by the end of it?
I'm not surprised that the ratings seemed to fall off after season 3.
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