I just finished the show's third season for the first time. Absolutely the best one so far, especially the second half, which largely dropped the 'outrageous' single episode stories in favor of more mature, complicated, continuing drama (with doses of QAF's usual OTT). The Stockwell Election campaign story (an umbrella storyline!) is the best one they've ever done, and sadly has soooo many parallels to what's going on in the country right now. Of course, the bad guy loses in the end and, as we saw, the reality for us was not the same. Ted's pill/drug addiction, Mel's pregnancy, Ben/Michael taking in Hunter and loving him, Deb/Carl and Dumpster Boy were also fantastic. Ted seeing himself getting f.cked on camera while he was completely out of it was the stuff of nightmares. They also did a great job making me care for Brian more than ever before and, of course, Ben and Michael are love. It made me cry when Hunter hugged Ben as a thank you. Great stuff. I'm only afraid it can't be surpassed. I would have liked I little more Daphne and especially more of Justin's mom. I love Deb. They seemed to completely drop Ben's steroid use. 

Edited November 22, 20169 yr by YRBB

I haven't seen the show in a long time but the third and fourth seasons are probably the ones I remember as the best, mostly because they moved away from most of the stories that were dead ends and never really worked (like Michael being in love with Brian). 

I remember season three being on of the best. And love, love, LOVED the music...though I never found out  what song was  used as the intro for the season three box set when you hit the main menu. lol.

 

Still I loved how unrelated stories connected so well in season three.

On 11/22/2016 at 3:18 AM, DRW50 said:

stories that were dead ends and never really worked (like Michael being in love with Brian). 

 

Yeah, during the last episode, it hit me -- Michael had (mostly) moved on. And thank God for that. After he got together with Ben, it really would have been damaging to his character to continue that.

 

On 11/22/2016 at 3:23 AM, Taoboi said:

Still I loved how unrelated stories connected so well in season three.

 

The writing really matured in season 3, and this was a result of that. They put that cast to WORK, most of them delivered better than they ever have before.

Is it still on the Showtime app? I always wanted to rewatch this show 

its on NETFLIX. All 5 Seasons

2018 EW Reunion

 

https://people.com/peopletv/video/bs/00000163-dccc-d960-a767-fcde318a0000/queer-as-folk/

Robert Gant STILL looks amazing.

6 minutes ago, John said:

2018 EW Reunion

 

https://people.com/peopletv/video/bs/00000163-dccc-d960-a767-fcde318a0000/queer-as-folk/

 

It stops playing after the first segment break

 

Edited June 11, 20224 yr by victoria foxton

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.