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 pattern 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.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by te.

Great post @te. though looking back on my older posts in this thread, I guess you see that I basically agree with you. I think ultimately it did become a big issue (and us soap fans know this well) where the powers that be felt that they had to focus on the "they were made for each other" relationships you mention which I never bought into (in general I don't buy into that reality, though I think it can happen, but found it especially forced here.) I am pretty good friends with one of the writers on the show and know one of the other writers (much of the writer's room was Canadian--and to their credit, gay,) but have never felt comfortable asking them more about the creative process on the show because they're rightfully proud of the show, and I just know my many issues with it would somehow come out.

However, when watching the reboot (WHY was it even named Queer as Folk?) it did strike me how with this remake Cow/Lip decided they wanted to be far more diverse than the original UK series was. And yet, I can't remember any major character on it ever being a person of colour? Even for the time that seems surprising...

I think part of the issue is that the writers started believing the hype with Brian themselves and seemingly always had it so that he'd always come out on top. The truth is that the relationship between Justin and Brian was incredibly toxic and not something that was ever built to last. At the end of the show Brian hadn't really changed - I didn't buy that the bombing (did poor Cyndi Lauper die in the show universe?) actually changed his point of view permanently. It's odd because Emmett and the football player guy actually got the ending that you'd think Brian and Justin should've had; Brian realizing that he needs to let him go for his sake and maybe they'll meet up in another few years.

The bombing of course was also a dud, but that's another issue. At least Melrose Place brought the special effects despite only killing the Katherine Wentworth and the pool boy! I also couldn't care less about Lindsay and Mel moving to Canada - they always felt disconnected to the rest of the cast so I didn't feel any particular emotional impact of them leaving Pittsburgh behind. Sucks that they have to fly back-and-forth with the kids I guess.

The turn with Ted and Tad was so sudden and unnecessary? It's like surprise, he has borderline personality disorder and is a crazy mofo. I'm not really sure why they wasted any time on that at all when they probably could've used it to re-establish his connection with Blake.

Either way, I don't think I'm going to bother with the Peacock QaF. Nothing I've heard or read about it sounds appealing to me at all.

Agreed about the Brian/Justin relationship, @te.

Despite my love/hate relationship with QAF lol, I occasionally tune in every Pride month when Showtime re-broadcasts it, but it seems like every year, I find myself side-eyeing the relationship more and more. Just because you truly love someone, deep down, and do nice things for them doesn’t give you the right to pretty much abuse them constantly. That’s just not a good message to convey, in general.

And yeah, maybe in the beginning, they should’ve made Justin 18 and in college instead of 17 and in high school lol

Btw, Cyndi Lauper survives the bombing. At the end, you see her carrying some guy out

Edited 17 minutes ago17 min by AbcNbc247

8 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Just because you truly love someone, deep down, and do nice things for them doesn’t give you the right to pretty much abuse them constantly.

Yup. Plus if Brian really loved Justin then he would've just let him go for his own sake. Brian wasn't going to change and Justin was way too young (he was what, 21 or 22 at the end of the series?) to get tied down to a 12 years older man, who he didn't even seem to share the same life goals with. You never got the impression that Justin wanted the "open" relationship that Brian clearly decided for them. Justin got burned by Ethan, but it doesn't mean that he suddenly wouldn't want a monogamous committed relationship. Him going back to Brian to be abused wasn't exactly moving forwards.

10 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

And yeah, maybe in the beginning, they should’ve made Justin 18 and in college instead of 17 and in high school lol

I don't think that would've made it much better lol. Just technically legal, but I think there's a point that both Justin and Nathan in the OG are just under the age of consent (16 in the UK). Justin / Nathan are hurrying to grow up and underscores the somewhat shady morality/recklessness of Brian / Stuart.

6 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Btw, Cyndi Lauper survives the bombing. At the end, you see her carrying some guy out

I must've been rolling my eyes so hard I missed it (and I'll admit at least killing a famous pop star would've at least brought the death toll up in the QaF universe)! 😄

Edited 9 minutes ago9 min by te.