Sunday, February 8, 2015

Somewhere Down The Road (Television Review: Looking S02 E04 Looking Down The Road, HBO)



I always say this, But I mean it tonight more than usual: this episode of "Looking" is the best ever. A lot of emotions get to head, and a lot of the characters find themselves in crossroads, and you can't help but feel like all this will end in tears, and they usually do. Patrick finally is in that all-too-familiar situation: when you realize that you are in way too deep in something, and you know it's wrong, and you know it won't end, but you still have hope (mostly blind) that things would work out. Because you're in it, and as WIlliam Shakespeare once wrote, "For lovers are blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that they themselves commit." I mean, don't even deny that you have never been in this situation. Everyone who has ever been in love has. And now, enter Ritchie. While Ritche and Patrick have smoldering soulful chemistry, I truly hope they don't end up together. I love the fact that they are now becoming friends. Exes most of the time end up as friends: they share an intimacy that is unique within themselves, and only someone with stunted emotional intelligence would comment that when you are friends with an ex that you desire to be back together with that person. Look at how easily Patrick tells Ritchie about his affair with Kevin - there's an easiness there that's different from his relationship with his friends. Look at how, in the middle of Esta Noche, Ritchie senses that there's something wrong with Ritchie: he mouths to him "are you ok," out of the, blue. Exes will always be connected. This is just one of the few things in this episode that the writer, Roberto Aguire Sacassa,  gets right. Elsewhere, Dom is also at a crossroads, as he realizes that things with Lynn may not be working out, as evidence by his reticence to the idea of their "open" relationship. Even Agustin is in one: an easing of his relationship with Eddie, which is in the best phase of a slow burn. And really, Groff should get an Emmy for his performance week in week out: just look at his face when he finally meets Ritchie's new boyfriend Brady - in a single expression he is able to convey at least a thousand emotions, and damn it if all of us don't identify with each of those feelings.  It is easy to say that this is one of my favorite shows, but this one always gets emotions right, and it always makes me wanting more. After tonight's episode, I couldn't help but just sit in silence, contemplate about the characters, contemplate about me, contemplate about life in general. Looking always makes me look deep.  

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