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On The Sea (UK)

By Golu
This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
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EastSiders: Seasons 1 to 3 (Web Series)

By Golu
Finally I finished watching all 3 seasons of this web series. Apparently the show started on youtube with its first 2 episodes and now the season three premiered on Netflix. This itself tells us the growth and trajectory that the show , cast and story has followed. I try to keep my expectations real low when I am watching US based gay content, because more often than not, it disappoints. The hugely popular show “Looking” had left a void which I think a lot of folks are trying to fill in. This series comes to a very close and I would highly recommend.

Touted as a dark-comedy, the show primarily focusses on the couple Cal & Thom. Cal is an artist with a very rich mother and Thom is a writer. The series starts with Thom’s admission that he has been cheating on Cal with another guy Jeremy. Not sure how to deal with this, a series of events lead to both Thom and Cal sleeping with Jeremy separately. Jeremy likes them both but eventually they both don’t want anymore to do with him , just so that they can salvage their own relationship. Cal’s best friend is Kathy , who herself is dealing with fair hare of boyfriends. But now finally she is with a landscape artist Ian for a few months, till one day, she decides that she has had enough and she wants to break up. Between the first two seasons, we see how Thom and Cal, live together, then separate, then start dating again, realizing their love for each other. In fact, they open up the relationship and have amazing threesomes plenty of times. This soon becomes a problem when all they can think of is threesome and also get STD’s. We are later introduced to Cal’s sister Hillary who moves in with him after her own personal issues. Soon she starts dating Ian and they even move together. Lastly we have  Quincy and Gomorrah Ray, a gay party promoter and an aspiring drag queen who are friends with the couple and add charm to the overall storyline. By season 2, Cal moves to New York to pursue his photographer’s dreams but just a year later in season 3, they both decide to move back to LA while taking a road trip across the whole country. Kathy comes back in season 3 and creates a weird dynamics between Kathy, Ian and Hillary.

Summarizing the story, and my thoughts over 3 seasons is a tough task but overall I would say that besides an episode here or there, the series overall did not disappoint me at all. It was funny in places, thanks to Quincy and Gommorah Ray and weird quirks between Kathy, Hillary etc. Cal and Thom had amazing and excellent chemistry which adds tremendously to the charm and is so very important in such stories. We becomes parts of lives of the couple. They discuss daily what they should do for their relationship next and we are there with them every step. It feels real. They both ask all kinds of questions including cheating, open-relationship, escapism; talking us through their viewpoints but never making a decision one way or the other. The friends all share amazing relations with each other. Hillary was quite annoying in the first episode when she is introduced but then you get used to her character. I was super happy to see an entire episode dedicated to Quincy and his love in Season 3; but the last season was overall slightly disappointing and couldn’t match the expectations that the first two seasons had created. There was way too much talking and discussion without actually moving the storyline ahead. I expected more. Regardless, because of the first two seasons, this show still rates quite good. What makes the show refreshing it that you can recognize more of real people in these kinds of characters, than you can in glossy prime time shows. People are flawed, but realistic. Great acting by everyone in the cast and wonderful chemistry makes you love the series.

The show is definitely worth a watch, especially if you missing something good in the gay web series space. (7/10)
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Comments

Sailor Maan said…
Loved the first 2 seasons. 3rd was a bit dull (except the first episode). Too many existential crisis for me. However I found the characters and situations were "too much" to be real (couldn't connect on most situations at all, maybe I just live on another planet lol). But in a excellent and funny way so I was very happy with that!
June 26, 2018 at 6:41 AM
Golu said…
lol. I hear you man. Sometimes its a great feeling that you cannot connect with some seemingly weird characters in films/TV. That helps our own confidence that maybe we are normal :):)
August 31, 2018 at 8:10 AM
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