Queer as Folk: Queer as Folk (2022) - Full Season
June 21, 2022 6:03 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Set in New Orleans, the series follows a diverse group of friends who find their lives transformed in the aftermath of shooting at a queer nightclub called Babylon. The group struggles with vulnerability, addiction, grief, and relationships.
It's a reboot of a remake or a remake of the original. It's a hybrid of both the original UK series and the first US remake.
It's a reboot of a remake or a remake of the original. It's a hybrid of both the original UK series and the first US remake.
I really struggled with this. I have a lot of affection for the original UK version and the Showtime series and I was looking forward to another remix of the central premise. What I got was a weird mix of trauma and soap opera, like a show that started with its own Very Special Episode and then showed us what it was really like.
The cast were great - so much more diverse than the previous two versions and with interesting relationships between the characters. I liked a lot of what the show tackled in the first few episodes, post-shooting, exploring the trauma olympics, people fundraising for the clout, sponsorship as support for community grief. Really hard-hitting stuff.
And the episode "Fuck Disabled People" was really eye-opening. In so many ways, the reason representation is important, is because new stories get told and people get to see themselves on screen.
BUT - a lot of the writing was bad. Characters talked to each other in exposition, telling each other things they must already know. Character turns that didn't make sense (I absolutely didn't buy the Brodie/Ruthie tension in the Mardi Gras episode) and by the end of the series, I wasn't even convinced I was watching real people.
It's a real shame that this great cast was so badly served by uneven writing.
The series got great recaps in Vulture, so maybe I'm missing something. And the sex scenes were great. But tonally, the show was all over the place. And in retrospect, starting with a nightclub shooting feels totally exploitative if you're going to push the soap opera so hard by the end.
Really interested in hearing what other people think of this latest incarnation of QAF.
posted by crossoverman at 3:53 AM on June 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
The cast were great - so much more diverse than the previous two versions and with interesting relationships between the characters. I liked a lot of what the show tackled in the first few episodes, post-shooting, exploring the trauma olympics, people fundraising for the clout, sponsorship as support for community grief. Really hard-hitting stuff.
And the episode "Fuck Disabled People" was really eye-opening. In so many ways, the reason representation is important, is because new stories get told and people get to see themselves on screen.
BUT - a lot of the writing was bad. Characters talked to each other in exposition, telling each other things they must already know. Character turns that didn't make sense (I absolutely didn't buy the Brodie/Ruthie tension in the Mardi Gras episode) and by the end of the series, I wasn't even convinced I was watching real people.
It's a real shame that this great cast was so badly served by uneven writing.
The series got great recaps in Vulture, so maybe I'm missing something. And the sex scenes were great. But tonally, the show was all over the place. And in retrospect, starting with a nightclub shooting feels totally exploitative if you're going to push the soap opera so hard by the end.
Really interested in hearing what other people think of this latest incarnation of QAF.
posted by crossoverman at 3:53 AM on June 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Only watched the first episode but so far can't tell if it was great or I'm mad at being so manipulated. The show builds up 20-30 minutes of this wonderful queer world, all these friends and lovers hanging out at the club Babylon. And then the shooting there. Both my partner and I were really angry then, mostly of course at the gun violence and homophobia. But also at the show itself, it just seemed like a lot. I'll hang in there for another couple of episodes because the show seems well produced and I like some of the actors but I'm hoping it calms down a bit and we get some more positive stories without trauma.
Like porpoise I queued this up because of Keitel in Star Trek. Then I forgot about her appearance and this whole episode I was like "who is this magnificent actress I'm enjoying so much?" Funny to put that back together. She's got a amazing screen presence.
posted by Nelson at 8:33 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Like porpoise I queued this up because of Keitel in Star Trek. Then I forgot about her appearance and this whole episode I was like "who is this magnificent actress I'm enjoying so much?" Funny to put that back together. She's got a amazing screen presence.
posted by Nelson at 8:33 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by porpoise at 6:28 PM on June 21, 2022 [2 favorites]