I read somewhere that this is an anthology?
So does that mean if it gets picked up for a season 2 - there won't be any more Lukas and Philip?
Finally a TV show that had LGBT characters where being gay wasn't the main focal point of the story ...
and then they're dropping it. Lame.
The whole LGBT angle to the show was superfluous and stale by the third episode and never should have been in the show. It added very little to the plot. I couldn't imagine them continuing to milk that angle the entire season let alone continuing it if it's renewed. It trying to be like American Crime, but not as interesting.
shareAdded very little to the plot? It's the whole reason they don't come forward in the first place. It's the whole freaking point.
shareAdded very little to the plot? It's the whole reason they don't come forward in the first place. It's the whole freaking point.
shareAdded very little to the plot? It's the whole reason they don't come forward in the first place. It's the whole point.
sharePlease top responding to stuff you don't know about.
shareI'm gay and I was born, raised and live in a small town. I know all about it.
shareI do not care about your sexual attraction or where you were raised, not relevant to the topic in discussion.
shareIt is when you say that the main characters being gay added 'very little' to the plot and it was the whole reason they didn't feel they could go to the police in the first place. It is whole plot otherwise they would've gone to the police instantly and the whole series would've been one episode.
It's relevant to understand that in the setting the series takes place having to reveal themselves is something Luke just can't handle. It's why he goes to the lengths he does to avoid the truth. Even going so far as to let his dad think he needed money for his girlfriend to get an abortion.
He would rather his dad think he got his girlfriend pregnant than find out he's into guys. Without this plot element there wouldn't be a show in the first place.
Amen!
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I am and I can tell you it can be dangerous (even in this day and age) to be openly gay or forcefully outed in a town like that.
The fact that it turned out that his fear (especially of his father) proved to be unjustified is just Hollywood happy ending. Odds are, in real life, a guy like his father would've, at best, kicked him out of the house and, at worst, beat the crap out of him.
I don't know if the show spelled it out or I was filling in blanks myself but I thought the show made it clear that his father was a drunk and, judging by how he acted around his father, there may have been past physical abuse.
True or not there is clearly some level of fear or discomfort between them.
Add into that the whole gay thing is totally new to him and that he clearly had a level of status among his peers and in the school that he didn't want to lose either. He was trying to have it both ways and was afraid to let go and what would happen.
Thing about a small town is they're very good at being involved in everyone else's business, making judgments and gossiping.
Even if Phillip was known to be gay (although I get the impression he was, given how he was treated by most of the kids at school) we know they knew his mother was a druggie and that they assumed he was too.
Even if they could've gone to the police and lied about what they were doing in the cabin Lukus' reputation would in danger and if Phillip was known (or even suspected as being gay) there would be talk.
Hell, after they both missed the field trip together there was already talk, just from that, if it came out they were hanging out in a cabin alone the rumor mill would be out of control.
I don't know if the show spelled it out or I was filling in blanks
I saw it too and we're not alone either. It was shown that he was drinking heavily (we don't know how often), implied that he was abusive with Lukas, spelled out that he was cold and emotionally distant and we saw him demanding to know why Lukas always had to be so different (before he even knows how different Lukas is, but we do, so that is supposed to alert us to how impossible it would be in Lukas' mind to come out).
I think even if Lukas were to say he was alone in the cabin, the fear was they'd somehow find out from that half-truth the entire truth of Philip being there as well. Plus, Lukas was scared to tie himself to the scene because his prints were also on the gun and he did fire it. In his mind, there's no choice but to lie for way more than one reason.
Unfortunately the show did not show much any threat coming from anyone, so the tension really wasn't there. Unless they explicitly show or state that Lukas's father was abusive, it serves no purpose. Also, unless anyone else stated that there was suspicion that Phillip was gay, it didn't exist. The only one who picked up on it was Lukas's beard, who had the advantage of being close to Lucas in an intimate way as well as observing Lukas's idiotic behavior. All you are doing is adding in elements that did not exist in the show.
shareGiven how small town high schools work and given that there was exactly one person who gave him the time of day in public and that his own secret boyfriend didn't like talking to him in front of other students and freaking punched him in the face just cover himself, there was something going on.
Anyway, the risks don't have to be real to scare him. Even if the town was the most accepting and open place in the world the fact that he was afraid of what would happen would be enough for him to be silent.
There are plenty of real life examples of the dangers small town and small town thinking can be for someone in his position. Just run an internet search on Mathew Sheppard if you doubt how dangerous it can be to be openly gay in some parts of the country.
I would also add that there is more than enough sub text and clues going on as to how Phillip is though of by the community and that, legit or not, how afraid Luke was. Again, the threat doesn't have to be real just believed to effect how he acts and Luke was the driving force behind them being silent for so long.
If anything it's Phillip I feel the worse for given how he was treated by his peers at school, this boy he clearly had feelings for, was made to look like a liar and nearly forced to leave the best home he actually ever had I'm just glad Luke finally came forward and all it took was the chance that Phillip was going away forever and Luke would never see him again.
Would've been nice if it had been sooner.
The whole gay element felt contrived and did not really do anything but make Lukas look like a complete retard. If anything his actions brought more attention than if he simply said he saw what he saw without mentioning him hooking up with Phillip. I suppose stupidity goes with the location, is that also an element you relate to as well? The motive to not tell anyone needed to be more definite in terms of people automatically knowing something if they exposed the murder. It was stupid and not crucial to the plot. Sorry can't understand the rationality of stupid people. They were old enough to have the intelligence to know that disclosing the murder would not have suggested a homosexual affair, that's why it was not needed.
shareSo easy t judge these characters when you're not in their shoes and decide that it's stupidity that motivates them rather than irrational fears that cloud all logic and judgment, isn't it? Not to mention, now you're apparently condescending when it comes to the IQ level of all small town residents? "I suppose stupidity goes with the location" And how old are you, that you don't know better than to be so judgmental? Have a look at the posts on this thread, I think they do explain a little bit how this is a frightening situation to a kid caught in what he sees as an impossible situation that, while not being stupid, does lead him to the wrong decision.
shareYeah, it seemed pretty clear that Luke both fears his father and yet is desperate to please him at the same time.
The lengths he goes to to keep the only life he's known and the fear about what could happen if his big secret came out.
Even if it turned out he was wrong his fear was real and he was the driving force behind not coming clean with the police right away.
There are plenty of reasons, given the show's setting, not to come forward but it is a good mark for him that when things were really bad he did come forward, at least with part of the story.
You say irrational fear and cloude logic which basically translates back to stupidity. I am old enough to know the truth when it comes to small towns out in the middle off bumf%&'K New York, these are people that voted for Trump, but now that I think about maybe Lukas's action were spot on. Lastly, from looking the posts, I see two groups that consist of people who are either perplexed about the characters action and people who like the show merely because of the illogical homosexual angle of the show.
shareDon't waste your time on these people, they always whine when there is a gay character in a show, as if gay people don't exist, I know 7 gay and lesbian people and 87% of people know someone who is gay, so why wouldn't it be on a show? Plus every writer and director, puts their own artist touch to a show. Maybe they didn't wanna be basic and follow the same standard like every other show. It's like people complaining about Blackish, instead of doing the standard white family show, they do one with a black family and it's suddenly racist?
And like you said, that's the whole reason the boys can't tell and the whole thing gets out of control and finally it opens Lukas up. They definitely weren't doing it just for ratings or anything, if anything it was bold to do so, because of people like this. If you notice, they did not feature Lukas and Philip in sex scenes much, only in the end briefly, only a little kissing here and there. It was great watching that story, because you had no clue where it was going, like I was going is Philip finally gonna be done with Lukas?
Well, I don't think USA does a lot of graphic stuff, but then I was surprised at the level of nudity and sex TNT did "Animal Kingdom", first episode had one of the brothers walking down the hall to the kitchen totally naked and there was a subplot about one of them being a closeted homosexual with a really twisted relationship with one guy which led him to have his crazy brother nearly kill some guy he was going to leave him for, then (and apparently this happens all the time) break into his boyfriend's house and pretty much rape him (or at least play at it since it's not entirely non-consensual and he wasn't angry after).
Then there's also the age of the characters. I recall MTV having a pretty graphic series with high school kids called "Skins". They had to pull that show because people were calling it one step up from kiddie porn.
uh huh. As Metallica says nothing else matters!
suzycreamcheese RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008
Did you really think we'd be seeing more Luke and Philip? I was quite concerned with how this show would continue after the whole cabin ordeal as I was positive it would wrap up by the end of the season. I thought this would be a limited series, but if there's going to be a Season 2 then it'll have to touch on something different unless they plan on having the boys witness something else. Seems like an interesting angle to pull off every season but a stretch just to keep them around.
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