1x04 Your Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire

The writing on this show is still clunky as fuck but somehow still compelling. Tim and Hawks relationship (in the 50s and the 80s) hasn't progressed passed this same circling of the i love you, i can't be with you, back and forth introduced in the pilot. And every complication doesn't add new layers to their dynamic so its just tedious. One of the things that makes their relationship tedious is the predictable hooks of tension that are immediately resolved. Questions like Does Hawk have AIDs?, or Will Hawk pass his polygraph? aren't allowed to simmer so true tension doesn't build in the show. The closest wehave is the 80s storyline just witholding information from us (What was Hawk's mysterious loss?, How and why did Hawk and Tim break up?) but again this isn't genuine layered storycraft but cheap hooks to keep us watching. But look at me complaining like I'm not gona watch the next episode.

I will say i have warmed a little to the mccarthy politics in the background. Again The Secret Queers of HUAC isn't the most engrossing plot ever but the ludacris-ness of Cohn, Schine and McCarthy's behavior is occasionally fun. I especially love how dangerously down bad Cohn is and the pompous vanity of Schine. And I love that my unproblematic faves Marcus and Frankie. They get to just be in love and have hot sex this ep so good for them. (even if the racial writing here isn't particularly complex or interesting.)