I haven't watched many of Rob Lowe's recent tv shows or movies; I had the impression that he wasn't entirely gay-friendly. But he stars with his son, John Owen Lowe (below),in the 8-episode Netflix sitcom, Unstable. I reviewed Episode 4, "Pilgrims and Sex Parties," since sex parties are a gay community thing.
Premise: "Unstable genius" Ellis (Rob), who owns a biotech company, spirals out of control after the death of his wife (red flag!), so he brings his son Jackson (Johnny) aboard to smooth things out. Except Jackson is a flautist. How would that even work?
Scene 1: The biotech company. A lady in a business suit complains that a photo of Ellis with a hawk on his head has gone viral, creating a meme where he's called the Wizard of Odd. Ellis doesn't care: he's busy channeling his inner child and monkeys.
Left: Lowe butt
Meanwhile, the obsessive Smithers to Ellis' Mr. Burns, Malcolm (Aaron Branch), has a meet-cute with the new HR Guy, but is too flustered about HR regulations to flirt. A gay character in the first scene! I stand corrected.
Scene 2: Ana, Ellis's main ally on the board of directors, asks how he's handling the grief over his Dead Wife. Not well , he says: after losing the most wonderful person in the world, life is meaningless. After four episodes? Usually Dead Wives are mentioned once to establish that the guy is heterosexual, then dropped. Is this a show about grief?
"So," Ana says, changing the subject, "About the hawk-on-your-head story, that reporter screwed you in the ass with a King Kong dick?" Sounds like a fun date, but I think it's just a homophobic reference to the hawk-on-the-head story.
Scene 3: Ana the Board Member runs into Ellis's son Jackson, the flautist-biotech scientist, and asks how he's handling the grief over his Dead Mother. Not well;, he says; the grief comes in waves. She notes that she's still playing the harp, so why doesn't he stop by with his flute for some "pluck and toots." That sounds dirty.
Scene 4: In the lab, scientists Luna and Ruby are looking through microscopes, trying to shame some cells into dividing. They discuss Luna's never-seen "loser" boyfriend Brian and Ruby's ex-boyfriend - Jackson! A heterosexual flautist? How odd!
Sycophant Malcolm comes in all flustered over his meet-cute, so the scientists offer to create a litmus test to determine if HR Guy is actually interested.
Ellis enters the lab, announcing that he's ready to go back to work: "If we can get some reductive oxidant on the anode..." Uh-oh, he peers into a microscope and starts crying. Too soon. Strange -- usually working helps you deal with the grief. Maybe the Dead Wife was a scientist.
Scene 5: Business-Suit Lady approaches the mansion of JT and Chas (JT Parr, Tom Allen, left), who are trying to destroy Ellis. Boyfriends? No, brothers: they mention their father. She orders them to back off, or she will post an embarrassing video.
No, actually she has a film of the two pretending to be Pilgrims. If it gets out, no girls will come to their sex parties, so they'll have to have sex with guys. "Ugh! Gross! Ok, we'll back off." So these are heterosexual sex parties? I've never heard of such a thing.
More grief after the break
