Author: Brandon Kirby

John P. Johnson/HBO

Jonathan Groff, Russell Tovey

[Warning: spoilers ahead for this week’s episode of Looking, “Looking at Your Browser History.”]

Three episodes in, and the introduction of two new characters — who will hopefully stick around — is an injection of energy and possibility for new plot directions.

“Looking at Your Browser History” reveals Patrick’s working world as a video game designer, something that was only shown briefly in the show’s premiere. Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and his coworker Owen (Andrew Law) attend the wrap party for the game they’d been working on, something called Naval Destroyer. Side note: a later glimpse of the game makes it look like a weird, low-graphics sailor arm wrestling game. Isn’t this game development of the present day?

At the party, which is aboard a real battleship of some sort, Patrick takes a jab at the gaming industry’s underrepresentation of women, noting that he plays as female characters whenever possible. When asked by a British guy, Kevin (Russell Tovey), why he does that, Patrick responds: “Women are the outsiders in games, and I relate to that.” A smart response, but the sassy tone that accompanied it sends Kevin walking.

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After a few more drinks — Patrick sure does like to drink — he bets Owen that this newfound Kevin guy is gay, judging off his “very gay laugh” from afar. Patrick follows him into a back room where he’s playing the newly finished game and joins in, straddling a torpedo to boot. He casually asks Kevin if he believes his theory on playing a female character in games, basically his way of asking him if he’s gay. Kevin catches on. And just as Patrick’s about to go further, Kevin drops the “I have a boyfriend” line, followed by announcing his new position within the company, which makes him Patrick’s new boss. Oops.

As predicted, confronting Ethan has revitalized Dom (Murray Bartlett), much to the confusion of roommate Doris (Lauren Weedman) who’s taken aback by Dom’s summery mood. While bouncing around in a Zumba class, Dom announces to Doris he plans on finally opening his restaurant.

Just as we see more of Patrick’s work, same goes for Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez). Franklin (O-T Fagbenle) pushes him to work on his art more only for the suggestion to be brushed off. Then, at work, as Agustin dismantles the furniture tower monstrosity of the artist he works for, he has no qualm against telling her he doesn’t like it. A millisecond later, she lets him go.

STORY: Looking: TV Review

Meanwhile, we see the opposite coming from Patrick: pure ambition toward his job. He marches into Kevin’s office and pitches himself and Owen to be on his team for the new video game. Even in the face of around the clock work, Patrick says he’s up for the job. Kevin politely nods and then brings up Patrick’s internet activity at work, which contains sites like Manhunt and OKCupid (we later see Patrick deleting his OKCupid account). “Be careful what you look at during work hours,” Kevin says.

Playful or no? Dom thinks the former, reminding Patrick that Kevin took the time to look up his internet browsing history. He should be flattered. Patrick, still frustrated, delivers the most memorable line from Looking‘s original trailer: “What’s wrong with having a life outside work? If I didn’t want to have a life, I’d move to L.A.”

Agustin, jobless, avoiding Franklin’s calls and eating cake with a glass of milk in a cafe, sits next to a brawny, bearded guy who has an interesting phone conversation that includes the line “$220 per hour.” Agustin’s intrigued by the hefty hourly wage, and it turns out the guy is a self-proclaimed sex worker.

Later, Patrick and Agustin have some BFF catching-up time back at the apartment where Patrick lays out his work woes. Agustin takes his time revealing he lost his job only to then shrug off Patrick when he tries to pry for more information. There seems to be an understanding among those close to Agustin that you don’t prod him on his career aspirations. Agustin does, however, bring up the sex worker. His interest in this guy doesn’t stem from wanting to become a prostitute, escort or whatever he’d call himself; it’s more so admiring the pride he takes in his work, something Agustin can’t say for himself.

“I can’t call myself an artist because I don’t do shit,” he tells Patrick. “I don’t know if either of us are very good at being who we think we are,” Patrick responds, noting that it seems all he does lately is give guys the wrong impression, his boss Kevin included.

STORY: HBO’s ‘Looking’ EPs: ‘Obviously It’s More Than Just About Being Gay’ (Q&A)

Dom visits a steam room where he immediately gets eyed by a younger guy but is then chatted up by the older Lynn (Scott Bakula). He runs local flower shop mainstay Buds, and after Dom’s hesitancy at first (and unintentionally aging Lynn by suggesting what San Francisco must’ve been like “back then”), they share an easy chemistry. Dom remains oblivious to it and instead goes to hook up with the younger guy courting him earlier. Portrayed by Bakula, Lynn is left with the look of a guy who’s probably more familiar with such such a situation than he’d like to be.

Back at work, Patrick confronts Kevin a second time about being recruited for the new team. Kevin admits to messing with him earlier — Dom was right! — and Patrick’s job is secured. “Let’s play,” Kevin slyly says to Patrick.

We see both Patrick and Dom with guys who take subtle interest in them, but something about each makes them appear undesirable. First is Dom’s apparent blindness to older guys, taking into account accepting the courting of the younger guy in the steam room, not to mention his spritely Grindr hookup from last week’s episode. For Patrick, it’s Kevin’s obtuse method of flirting(?) and, of course, the facts that he a) is his boss, and b) has a boyfriend.

But in both instances, we sure wouldn’t mind them getting together, would we?

Email: brandon.kirby@thr.com
Twitter: @bkkirby

John P. Johnson/HBO

“Looking”

Domesticating, circumcision and Refresh tea: all points of debate in Looking‘s second episode, “Looking for Uncut,” written and directed by Andrew Haigh.

While Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and Dom (Murray Bartlett) are packing up the car to send off Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez) to Oakland, Patrick reveals his meeting with Richie (Raul Castillo) at the end of last Sunday’s episode. Upon hearing Richie is Latino, Agustin jokes that he’s likely uncut. “You make it sound like I should take an evening course,” Patrick quips back.

Agustin also reveals his three-way with boyfriend Frank (O-T Fagbenle), much to the surprise of Patrick — less so for Dom. They talk open relationships vs. cheating over a shared cupcake, naturally, and leave Agustin to his Oakland basement apartment. But not before parting words from Patrick in the form of The Golden Girls theme song.

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Dom meets up with his “so L.A.” ex-boyfriend, Ethan (Derek Ray), working in high-end real estate and ordering Refresh teas from Starbucks. “Somebody’s going to get a neck-punch. That is so annoying to me,” roommate Doris (Lauren Weedman) later bemoans to Dom.

Dom is blindsided by Ethan’s niceties and wanting to start over and be friends; he also notes that last time they spoke, Dom was a waiter at local restaurant favorite Zumi and wanted to open his own restaurant. “So what are you up to now?” he asks. Dom is silent.

Taking a cue from Girls‘ Hannah Horvath, who in season one Googled “what about the stuff that builds up around the sides of condoms,” Patrick Googles a similarly sexually awkward thing: “uncut Latin cocks.” 

Perhaps it was Richie’s forwardness on the Muni, but Patrick goes into his first date misconstruing exactly what Richie wants out of him. He downs beer, eagerly suggests they go back to his place and all around, yet again, gives a guy the wrong impression. “My friends think I’m this boy from Colorado fresh off the bus and I’m not that guy,” he tells Richie. “I have had sex before. I can do it. I could do it right now in the toilet!”

Meanwhile, the domesticated Agustin watches RuPaul’s Drag Race with Frank back in Oakland and the frustrated Dom cruises Grindr (what would a gay show be without a reference to this app?) for a quick and dirty hookup.

STORY: HBO’s ‘Looking’ EPs: ‘Obviously It’s More Than Just About Being Gay’

The true reason behind Dom’s desire to reconnect with Ethan is the exorbitant amount of money he lent him, the money he was too shy to ask for during their first meeting. There’s clearly a history of Dom getting walked all over by Ethan; turns out he lent him $8,000 when they were together to get sober from his meth addiction. Ethan has the nerve to retort, “You made that choice, didn’t you?”

We’ll likely never see Ethan again, but this exchange works as a device for Dom to let go, move forward and maybe even open that restaurant. Though he doesn’t get the money from his ex, he at least gets to properly tell him off.

Back at Patrick’s apartment, a drunk Patrick gets all up in Richie’s business, gets down to business and then pauses. “Oh,” he mutters. “I just thought maybe you’d be uncut.” Richie gets weirded out, as he should. Patrick backpedals, but it’s too late.

Groff, in an interview with Indiewire, made an important note about this scene: “When you’re watching, it’s not ‘Oh look, it’s two men in bed taking their clothes off,’ you’re like, ‘Oh, god, Patrick, what are you doing? This is so awkward!’ ” Awkward is right.

The next line uttered by Richie cuts to the core what Looking likely strives to be all about: “You know what, I think we’re looking for different things.”

We leave with Patrick alone lamenting to Agustin over the phone, not to mention shoveling in spoonfuls of mac and cheese — I mean, kale salad.

HBO

Looking has impossible expectations stacked against it. It’s the first show since Queer as Folk, which ended eight years ago, to aim in representing an honest slice of the gay experience.

What stands out most of all in this first episode, “Looking for Now,” is the desire from creator Michael Lannan to — rather than encapsulate a broader what-it-means-to-be-gay overarching theme — show these characters just as they are. The importance here is the creation of a gay experience, as opposed to the gay experience. Its nonchalant style and realism reflect this.

“It’s about the lives of these characters,” Andrew Haigh, of British gay drama Weekend and the director of the first episode, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. With this notion, we are dropped right into their lives with no real formal introduction. And the show allows its characters to be gay without calling attention to their inherent gayness.

So when 29-year-old game designer Patrick (Jonathan Groff) goes cruising in the park as a joke with his friends, 31-year-old Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez) and 39-year-old Dom (Murray Bartlett), viewers may catch themselves thinking, “Well, that’s not my experience!” It doesn’t have to be, and it’s not meant to be.

Patrick is hooked on OKCupid (a nod to what has basically become the unofficial dating site for gay men), and ends up going on an unfortunate date with a doctor. Patrick misguidedly reveals the earlier park-cruising trip, which throws up a red flag to his date. It’s, of course, not the impression he intended to give. The scene captures Patrick — a well-meaning but bumbling and charmingly awkward guy who’s looking for a lasting relationship.

TV REVIEW: Looking

Agustin, an aspiring artist, decides to move in with his boyfriend, Frank (O-T Fagbenle), in Oakland. But an intimate encounter with a third guy one night while Agustin is working late with Frank puts into question whether they’re committing to each other further or exploring an open relationship.

Much to the dismay of his roommate, Doris (Lauren Weedman), the strapping, mustachioed Dom considers reconnecting with an old flame, who has a successful job in real estate but also who, Doris reminds Dom, is a complete narcissist.

After the sour date, Patrick gets approached on the Muni by a guy named Richie (Raul Castillo). The guy is cute and nice, but in the moment he clearly comes on too strong for Patrick. Considering Patrick was headed to his ex-boyfriend’s bachelor party, however, afterward when he decides to meet Richie at the club where he works the door, it makes perfect sense.

With all of Patrick’s dating woes, he takes Dom’s advice to heart: “Stop giving a shit what anyone thinks.” It prompts Patrick to take Richie up on his offer to hang out.

By the end, we see each of the three guy’s scenarios set in place: Patrick stepping out of his dating comfort zone, Dom wrestling with his past and Agustin debating the fate of his relationship’s future. These are life struggles and choices that everybody could be navigating — no matter gay or straight.