“It’s San Francisco. It shouldn’t be so hard to meet cool people in this town,” said charming Patrick (Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff), who’s trying to find the right guy for him and figure out what has gone wrong on his search. This solidifies the focal point of HBO’s new series “Looking”: looking for love as a gay man in San Francisco. With his best friends by his side, looking is only the start of their journey for a happy ever after.
Set in modern day San Francisco, Patrick is a 29-year-old successful video game developer along with his two best friends Agustín (Frankie J. Alvarez) and Dom (Murray Bartlett). All three of them are gay and are trying to figure out their love lives. Patrick wonders where he goes mistaken, due to a history of bad dates. Dom is approaching his forties, is still single and is saddened how he can no longer attract younger men with ease. Agustín, with his boyfriend are exploring whether to be monogamous or not.
The pilot episode, “Looking For Now,” opens with Patrick having an erotic encounter with a stranger in a park because he is desperate for companionship and love. He soon realizes that this isn’t his style. He has just been invited to his ex-boyfriend’s bachelor party, which triggers emotions of loneliness and wonder. He begins to question his dating life. Dom is hung up on his ex and Agustín is experiencing minor growing pains with his boyfriend. Anybody and everybody can relate to them and certain experiences of these characters already, no matter what their sexuality is.
The cast blends nicely together with a magnetism of appeal. They are likeable and realistic characters. Their efforts are seamless and flow smoothly to convey these characters truths. Leading man Groff steals the show with his charisma and very relatable journey to find love. His soft, easy-going voice with a hint of vulnerability is hard to not be charmed by. Alvarez and Bartlett add some extra spice with their sharp wits. All three main characters mix together in a modern and amiable fashion.
Many have already assumed that this is just another “The L Word” or “Queer as Folk” from Showtime, which were shows about the lives of gay men and women. Their explorations of their sexualities were common amongst storylines. “Looking” is different, because these characters are not struggling with their sexuality, which was a major storyline for certain characters on those shows. These men all are already “out of the closet.” Of course, each show is different with some similarities. Just like those other shows, “Looking” wants to capture the authenticity pertaining to characters, places, issues etc. and does so nicely. It wouldn’t be hard for many people to see parallels of perhaps themselves, a family member or a friend in the show.
This show is by no means the next big thing from the looks of it so far, but it is worth a viewing. It is lightly sprinkled with modern technology references (“Instagram filters ruin everything. I can’t tell if this guy is cute or not,” Patrick said) and humor. It can come off dry and dull at times, but that does not mean that it is a bad show.
It has heart and does not try so hard to be something other than what it wants to be. It wants to be a show that gives perspective of life as a gay man in San Francisco. In fact, they shoot the show only in San Francisco to enhance the validity, especially since it is a sexually open place. Unfortunately, many other places are not as open and accepting as San Francisco, a city notorious for its acceptance of the LGBT community.
“Looking” airs Sundays at 10:30 pm on HBO. Although it is capable of having a wide range of viewers that will be interested in watching, “Looking” is rated TV-MA for mature audiences only. Language and sexual natures within may not be suitable for younger audiences.
Give “Looking” a shot. It may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but what show is arguably liked by everybody anyway? It has a realness to it that works and hopefully many can relate to the characters and themes within. It may have you glued and looking for it every Sunday.
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