There’s always a trepidation when coming into a ‘farewell movie’ of a series that one has grown to love but was cut short on us. We find ourselves asking “Will we get the answers we want? Will it give us a feeling of a proper conclusion? Will we be happy with how we have to say goodbye?” Even in Looking’s two season short life span, those questions begged to be asked and required answers. Thankfully not only did we get our some answers but most fans should be able to say a final goodbye to a pack of characters we quickly grew to love.
Looking back, It’s been well over 12 months since Looking’s untimely demise. Patrick (Jonathan Groff) ended his tumultuous relationship with Kevin (Russell Tovey) and had all but destroyed any chance of any kind of relationship with his ex Ritchie (Raul Castillo). Dom (Murray Bartlett) rekindled his long standing friendship with Doris (Lauren Weedman) and was about to start a new professional journey while Augustine (Frankie J Alvarez) and HIV positive Eddie (Daniel Franzese) were on the cusp of starting a brand new relationship together.
The 90 minute farewell movie attempts to answer those looming questions but still leave enough open to assume that while Looking may in fact be over, Patrick, Dom and Augustine are still living their lives and making life changing choices even if it’s not visible to us.
Oddly enough while the series was about three gay men living life in San Francisco, this finale movie sees most of the narrative hinging on Patrick’s love life – or in fact, where he left off and what’s in store when he returns to San Francisco after a 9 month hiatus living and working in Denver. Granted the Ritchie/Patrick/Kevin triangle played one of the major arcs in Looking’s second season, but the force of pushing this right into the main story for the movie sadly left Dom and Augustine relegated to side characters that only either offered a reason for Patrick to even be back in SF or give him a reason to question his own motives.
It’s a odd move by writers Michael Lannan and Andrew Haigh who seemed to assume viewers were only invested in Patrick and his life and not that of Dom and Augustine’s. It’s a shame really as of the three, Augustine was shown to be the one that had grown the most from the pilot episode to the second season closer.
Yes, we’re offered answers and you know what, while not everyone will be satisfied, we should be happy with them even if certain elements are not clear cut in stone. There’s enough there for us to make up our own minds as to which way the story ends for Patrick. Perhaps that was the intention all along? Give us the equation, hint at a resolution but allow us to find the answer that sits the best with us.
I for one am happy we got one last outing with Looking even if it was a bit too much focused on Patrick at the expense of the other players.
Looking: The Movie is currently screening on Showcase via Foxtel.
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