Y’all, I’m so glad there is more of this. I would seriously watch this if it were a real show! Well… wait. Okay, it is real! I meant that if it were on the television! Regularly! With full episodes! Like a real show! Anyway, let’s talk about the second “season” of Husbands.
This was commissioned by Anna! The video for the entire season is located here. All my Mark Watches videos are now indexed in this Dropbox folder.
- Okay, so I sort of have a thing for cameos? Like, I totally understand if they’re not your kind of thing. They can be distracting! I get that! I’m pretty sure this preference of mine came from my obsession with The X-Files. Pretty much everyone who is anyone has had a guest/cameo spot on that show. Luke Wilson. Giovanni Ribisi. Jack Black. Kathy Griffin. Michael Emerson. Terry O’Quinn. (IN THREE DIFFERENT ROLES WHAT THE HELL.) Mark Sheppard. Tea Leoni. No, seriously, the Luke Wilson episode of The X-Files, called “Bad Blood,” is one of the greatest things in the history of the universe.
- So, yeah. To say I enjoyed the cameos in Husbands is an understatement. OH MY GOD, AMBER BENSON AND MEKHI PHIFER AND JOHN HODGMAN AND FELICIA DAY AND JOSS AND EMMA CAULFIELD AND THE BEST CAMEO BETWEEN DICHEN LACHMAN AND TRICIA HELFER EVER EVER EVERÂ H E L P.
- Like the first “season,” season two follows the sitcom format while being quite emotional at the same time. I’ve never been one to watch sitcoms, actually! I don’t know, I guess they never have held my interest before? I mean, I’ve watched Arrested Development, but that show never felt like a sitcom. I watched the first two seasons of How I Met Your Mother before I bailed on that ship. (Which is not a judgment on the show. It just never grabbed me, personally, so it’s a matter of taste, not quality.) I did grow up on I Love Lucy, which has always felt like the pinnacle of an American sitcom to me. So, this is all a very longwinded way of saying that it’s pretty significant for me to enjoy a sitcom-styled show because it’s so rare that this happens.
- At the heart of this season is an exploration of the dynamics of a gay couple and how they relate to society’s expectations of gender. While this show is sometimes making a joke of it, it shows how this is something a lot of gay folks have to deal with. Internalized homophobia and misogyny leads to a really toxic environment for the community, and we see that manifested in how the general public perceives Cheeks and Brady’s relationship. Obviously, this is a satire that pokes fun of the absurdity of this idea, but it’s also based in a real struggle. I remember the first time I started dating guys and my college buddies would ask me point-blank if I was the man or the woman in the relationship. The gender binary was so drilled into these dude’s minds that they couldn’t comprehend the idea that two butch men or two feminine men could be attracted to one another. Now, there’s a bunch of shit that intersects here, too, and a lot of it goes back to misogyny. As we see in Cheeks’ example, his outwardly feminine behavior is openly criticized by Wes, who tries to be “professional” about his prejudices. As long as Cheeks is abiding by prescribed gender roles and acting like a “man,” then he’s acceptable. The same goes for the fact that Cheeks can’t hide the fact that he is gay.
- That’s the basis for this disaster, which I admit was EXTREMELY ENTERTAINING TO WATCH. It’s a very classic story of an exaggerated understanding, but it’s done so well because Brad Bell and Sean Hemeon are a riot to watch. Seeing them transform themselves into caricatures of one another is just SO LOVELY.
- I was stoked to see the addition of the character Mark!
- I love that this episode doesn’t even address the absurdity of this “live” interview in this format. Like WHO DOES THIS. What show devotes a half hour to a couple? The real question is WHO CARES? It’s so wonderful.
I hope there is more of this show. IS THERE? SOMEONE TELL ME.
