I reviewed an episode of the Hulu series High Potential earlier, but it didn't get enough page views to keep on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends. The G-rated version is still up, on NySocBoy's Beefcake and Bonding.
Most likely the problem was representation: the show -- about genius cleaning lady Megan (Kaitlin Olson), a "flashy girl from Flushing" hired to help the staid, stick-in-the-mud cops solve murders -- was skittish about identifying gay characters, with only "no expressed heterosexual interest" to go on.
So I'm trying another, Episode 1.13, "Let's Play." It has an open, out gay character -- an interior decorator, yet -- played by Broadway actor Adam Kantor, who is queer in real life, bulged on the cover of Next, and showed us his backside, although I can't find a c ock.
Scene 1: Obligatory "home life" scene, with Megan's ex-husband (Taran Killan) teaching her daughter to drive. She almost runs over the whole family. Don't you take driver's ed in high school?
Cut to the police station, where Megan is asking the homicide detectives to pull over her daughter, because when she was a teenager, she got in a lot of trouble while driving, har har.
In other news, everyone is required to attend the big, important Police Gala, so the higher-ups can see that they're all team players.
Time for the case of the week: They got an email saying "Spencer Wallace wouldn't play with me, will you?" And a photo of the scared, tied-up Spencer. "Two hours to make your move."
They look up Spencer: 37 years old, unmarried. Gay. Interior designer. Gay stereotype.
The cops insist that it's just a joke or a weirdo bondage scene that got out of hand, but Megan thinks that they should at least contact Spencer to see if he's ok.
Scene 2: Spencer's apartment. It's daytime. Wouldn't he be at work? They find a black box with a jigsaw puzzle and a note: "Let's play."
Back at the station, Megan completes the puzzle in a few seconds (she's got all types of intelligence, apparently). It's a map of Mulholland Trail, with a piece missing. That's where they have to go for the next clue.
Scene 3: Megan and Detective Karadec hike to the spot, and find a lot of Loco Ocho (Crazy Eights) cards hanging from a tree, with a note: "Pick a card, and then you'll go down a path and through the shade, before dear Spencer starts to fade." The cops at the station call to reveal that Spencer is diabetic, and needs insulin by the end of the two hours, or he'll die.
Left: Spencer's backside
Megan and Detective Karadec play the Loco Ocho game. The last card is two, so they have to take the second path. Wait -- wouldn't that vary, depending on the starting card?
They find a hopscotch game with numbers. Megan plays and adds them up to -10 and 240, the coordinates they have to check with the viewers: it looks directly down onto Valley Days Storage. Spencer is in a storage locker! This is ridiculous. Who would set up a series of games like this? There's one chance in a thousand that the cops will figure it out.
Scene 4: The cops banging on storage locker doors and yelling for Spencer. Then they get the bright idea of asking the manager: Spencer rents Unit L-4. Yep, he's in there. And they brought insulin from his apartment to administer. He'll be fine. Wait -- we're done? That was a short episode.
Scene 5: In the hospital, Spencer tells the cops that he doesn't know who kidnapped him. They grabbed him, took him to a dark room, and tried to get him to play board games, but he was too scared. Then they got frustrated and started the game with the cops. Description: wearing a white anime mask, rosy cheeks, big eyes.
Megan: "Why was your storage locker empty?"
Spencer: "I rented it with James. He was my partner for nine years. He died in an auto accident four years ago" Gay identity established at Minute 8, except for the interior designer stereotype. They were going to fill the storage locker with their stuff while they traveled to Europe, and now he can't bring himself to get rid of it.
With that revelation, Stuart leaves the show. But we still have two victims left.
Scene 6: At the station, the cops figure that Spencer was a random victim; the Kidnapper was actually targeting them. So who has a grudge against the LAPD?
Megan isn't so sure. The Kidnapper wanted to play kids' games with Spencer. Maybe a childhood friend, or someone who wanted to be a friend and was rejected?
Scene 7: Detective Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) comes in early to stare at the suspect board. They have a lead at the Marina Park Hotel, coincidentally where the Police Gala will be held: a carriage full of scary dolls, and "The fun has just begun" written in Scrabble letters.
At the station, Detective Oz, reveals his connection to the case: He lost his Dad last year, so he's been going to a grief group. He doesn't go all the time, so he didn't recognize Spencer at first, but he's a member, too. And he told them all the story of the empty storage locker. Somebody in that group is the Kidnapper!
Scene 8: Detectives Oz and Daphne go to the grief group and interview the members.
I predict that the Kidnapper will be group leader Chris, played by Maurice Hall (the one with the bulge, not the chest).
Back to the grief group: one woman says that she had a crush on Spencer, before "I realized I was not his type." Just say gay.
In other news, Group Leader Chris is worried because member Sierra, an ASL interpreter, never misses a meeting, usually comes early, and she's not there.
The group member suggest David as a lead. He hasn't been there for several months, but he used to be a regular. His family played board games all the time, until his sister died, and then they stopped. He was more and more upset about it every week.
Megan is skeptical: dude tries to reclaim his childhood innocence by forcing Spencer to play board games? Doesn't make sense.
Well, just before he left the group, he invited everyone to trivia night at a bar. No one showed up. Well, they're grief-stricken. What did he expect? So maybe he's hurt, and forcing them to play?
Megan is still skeptical: why would he force the police into the games?
More after the break
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