EJ Moreno reviews Queer As Folk 2022…
Living in Central Florida my entire, going to college in Orlando, and being part of the gay community, I always knew about Pulse. It wasn’t the most prominent gay nightclub ever, but it was memorable and served as a home for queer individuals in the area. Its legacy was cemented in a much more tragic way on June 12th, 2016, when a shooting took the lives of 49 people and wounded 53 more. It took a while, but there’s finally a piece of pop culture the community can use as a reflection. It comes in the form of 2022’s Queer As Folk, a new series heading to Peacock.
It surprised me to see the creators go this route; the original Showtime series handled a similar story with a bombing but never built the whole story around it. This Queer As Folk uses a shooting at the gay club Babylon as its crux…for better and worse. After watching the series, it took quite some time to find my feelings for this. During the first episode, when the show’s shooting took place, I had to pause and take a moment to regroup myself. It’s insanely hard-hitting and handled in such a blunt way.
I don’t fault the filmmakers for going this route. Still, there’s no denying it will be painfully unsettling for many viewers: the look of the shooter, someone we never fully see, harkens back to the killer of the Pulse shooting, the direct aftermath is insanely tragic and feels so chaotic, and we see our main characters changed forever cause of this. There will be a backlash as many will feel this is exploiting the tragedy, and I can’t deny that I felt that way at times. But as the series went on, I felt the story was used well to progress stories and a reminder of how mass shootings seep deep into the souls of those affected.
Every episode reminds you that you don’t quickly shake these things off, and you also need to handle your trauma head-on. There’s even a lovely shoutout to specific individuals who attempt to profit off the tragedies in the name of good. Many bases were covered, and while it’s messy, I found the whole thing oddly refreshing.
Part of me wanted another R-rated Melrose Place where it’s just bitchy gays being bitchy. That made both the original UK and the US Queer as Folk so camp and perfect. It dealt with real things like addiction, infidelity, and gay-bashing but never lost its edge. Peacock’s Queer As Folk doesn’t have the same early 00s grittiness, but I was surprised by what they got away with. The first moment of the series is a sex scene featuring Devin Way’s Brodie having sex with a man who is obviously looking at him as a fetish. It’s genuine and modern and not something I’d expect from NBC/Universal.
Creator Stephen Dunn’s platform is being used very well, and it shows he wants to use mainstream services like Peacock to showcase queer stories in a different light. The sexuality of the series is also used in insanely uplifting ways. There are multiple love scenes with disabled people, we see queer bodies depicted in a sexual yet respective manner, and the whole thing attempts to “normalize” a lot of ordinary things.
Seeing characters like Ruthie (Jesse James Keitel) get prominent stories about her trans identity is rare but still comes off very new here. We see Ruthie work as a teacher, live her life as a mother with her partner Shar (CG), and it comes off wholesome. When Jesse James Keitel expertly curses up a storm or plays a hot mess, you are reminded that Ruthie’s wholesome side is driving her mad. These stories add to the pantheon of queer stories we can tell, which helps Queer as Folk 2022 stand out even more. Ryan O’Connell’s Julian is another example, but fans should know that O’Connell nails queer life for his community ideally in his series Special.
The series isn’t always perfect for characters, particularly some leads. There will be a fandom for Brodie x Mingus, and I know the future stans will defend both characters hardcore, but they don’t do it for me. Separately or together, it’s hard dealing with their very young adult novel plots. Brodie suffers from irritating lead character syndrome; think a little Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. Just someone you can’t find yourself rooting for, and if that’s the intent, then Brodie Way nails the role.
Mingus is also a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but Fin Argus is a much more charming performer. They work well when it comes to scenes with their on-screen mom, played by Juliette Lewis. Honestly, you can have all the young adult drama; give me Lewis’ Judy partying with the gays.
A promising sign is there are also a handful of characters I want more of in another season. While Queer As Folk 2022 Season 1 doesn’t flesh everyone out, it gives me just enough to crave more. CG’s Shar is a great character, and I expect way more from them in Season 2. The same goes for Kim Cattrall as Brenda, criminally underutilized this season. Between her interactions with Ruthie & Shar and being Brodie’s adoptive mother, it feels odd we didn’t get more. Johnny Sibilly’s Noah character also needs more time to stew for me, but there’s a lot of good here.
After a while, these characters feel like your friends, even those that annoy you a bit. With the friend group of Queer As Folk US being the lifeline of the series, it’s good to see them attempt that here. There’s still room for more of the entire group to hang out a bit, but it’s something I can easily see happening in more seasons to come. And yes, I would watch a few more seasons of this show.
When the shooting isn’t the center of everything, where could Queer As Folk go? It does worry me that the story of a shooting affecting a group of friends could only get so much mileage, and it would be painful to see the series attempt more tragedies to get viewers in. Peacock’s Queer As Folk never slides into tragedy porn or a real “let’s make them cry” series, and I don’t think that could work. You want the show to feel like the friend group you want to hang out with, not the self-help group you’re forced to attend.
Queer As Folk 2022 swings for the fences, and it mostly knocks it out of the park. There’s so much that could’ve gone wrong with a reboot of a beloved cult series, and it’s refreshing to see a series avoid it. In a time where we’ve been shot at or silenced by the government, we need any transgressive and proudly gay content we can get. Not every TV series gets lucky enough to work for another generation, and if people come into this with an open mind, the end product is one of the juiciest and must-watch queer shows.
EJ Moreno
