The new Showtime drama is a stunning reminder that television can—and should—be art.
Remember when the phrase “prestige TV” meant something? It wasn’t all that long ago that we all turned into HBO and AMC each week to watch serial television at its highest form—less than a decade, if you think about it. Thebriefly fooled us all with their instant gratification and wildly expensive series, suggesting that great new television would forevermore be only the touch of a button away., and our greed for more of the best, in turn, increased demand.
You’d be excused from wincing at the opening of the show, which establishes that it’s straddling two timelines: one in the ’50s, the other in the ’80s. That conceit has beenas of late, tarnishing many a series’ promise by jumping around periods without properly fleshing any of them out. Butuses this device sparingly and to great effect, introducing us to Hawkins Fuller and Tim Laughlin as they meet for the first time, then giving viewers an idea of where the show will take them by its end.
This, of course, means that Tim is technically working against his own best interest as a gay man toiling under McCarthy’s mission to root out “sexual deviants” in government jobs, lest their “sensitive” disposition make them subject to Communist influence. It also means that Hawkins has a man on the inside, that’s able to dig up a little dirt for his own boss, a Democratic senator opposing McCarthy’s agenda.
Even for all its showmanship and technical prowess—this is one of the few modern shows that deserves to be described as “cinematic”—it’s Bomer and Bailey who makesuch essential viewing. They have a rare kind of alchemy that helps the show transcend its few weaker moments, elevating it to new heights with each stolen glance and affectionate expression. It’s some of the most realistic acting that I’ve ever seen, true tenderness that glows from the screen and straight into your heart.
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