The Rivalry We Recognize: Why Gay Men Can't Stop Watching Heated Rivalry
What happens when validation exposes what you're avoiding.
Three weeks in, my friend texts at 2 AM: “Started episode one at 11. Finished the season. What the f&%k just happened to me?”
I know exactly what happened to him.
The same thing that’s been happening to hundreds of thousands of gay men since late November, the same thing that made this show Crave’s biggest original debut on record, and the same thing that has people rewatching episodes they watched two days ago.
Not because the show is perfect.
Not because it breaks new ground.
But because it does something much of mainstream queer media rarely does.
It lets desire be complicated without apologizing for it.
And then it forces you to look at what you’re doing with your own.