Looking:
The Complete First Season
(2014/HBO Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B Sound: B- Extras: C Episodes: B+
HBO
presents the story of 3 gay men living in the heart of San Francisco,
their story is bound by their friendship, lovers, and their dreams as
they share their happiness and sorrow with each other. In a world
without tolerance and fear of homosexuality, happiness for them does
not come by as easily and they can only take comfort with each other.
But on the bright side, while there is no laws against being 'gay',
it also means are no limits or rules on what they can
do. Looking:
The Complete First Season
(2014) tells their story.
And
then there are the friends with different strokes: Patrick is a 29
year old video game programer who believes just having one partner
but suddenly finds himself tempted by his new boss; Agustin is a 31
year old 'staving artist' and rejects the idea of monogamy but his
relationship becomes strained when he gets enamored with a gay
prostitute; and finally there is Dom the oldest of the 3, at the age
of 40 he dreams of starting his own restaurant but then he falls in
love with his sponsor who is old enough to be his father. While I
say live and let live, this series paints very stereotypical world of
homosexuality. All the men in the series look like men from GQ, and
you can always tell if a man is gay if he is well dressed, has well
trimmed hair/beard and talks saying 'Oh my God!' or 'I just love
that!' (But then I guess its better for the ratings to have a series
with good looking characters than out of shape ones).
The
drama is about their various sex lives and who they want to sleep
with, and while there is no frontal nudity (yet) you still get to see
a lot of naked men in bed together in this series. Will that be
enough to launch a long-running series? We'll see.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is fine and consistent
throughout, but the DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) 5.1 mix can be on the
laid back side. Extras include commentary with cast and crew and
digital HD download.
Episodes
include:
Looking
For Now -
Agustin moves in with his new boyfriend Frank, while Dom is thinking
about his ex boyfriend.
Looking
For Uncut -
Agustin and Dom questions Patrick if he would be happier if he had
multiple partners.
Looking
at Your Browser History - Patrick
flirts (unknowingly) with his new boss. Agustin gets fired from his
job.
Looking
For $220/hour - Patrick
starts bonding with his boss, lines of friendship begin to blur.
Agustin finds a new interest, male prostitution.
Looking
For the Future -
Patrick calls in a sick day to have date with Richie.
Looking
In the Future -
Patrick brings Richie to Dom's 40th birthday party.
Looking
For a Plus-one - Patrick
and Richie relationship falls apart. Dom gets involved with Lynn.
Looking
Glass -
Patrick has to decide who he wants to be with, Richie or Kevin.
Frank finds out Agustin is cheating on him. Dom commits with Lynn.
-
Ricky Chiang