There are a couple of big revelations in this week's episode of Looking, not the least of which is that Patrick's sister Megan (Kelli Garner) is kind of a mega-bitch. (But we already knew that from her wedding last season when she tried to get John, Kevin's ex, to propose to him in front of everyone at her reception, which is just rude.) And so, much like last season, the writers saved a lot of good plot development for the very end of the season, and thus fans are left torn about whether they're dying for this show to return for a third season (still an uncertain prospect) or if they're just expecting to be half-bored again for the first five episodes.
Quick sidebar: Did anyone else notice that Comcast/Xfinity jumped the gun on announcing that this was the season finale this past Sunday? Yeah that shrill woman who narrates the On Demand screen thing was saying this was the finale, which had me concerned that I'd had a stroke and missed a week, but in fact they've got one more episode left, and the finale is next week.
The plot has, in the penultimate episode of the season, thickened and gotten more intense for everybody concerned. Augustin and Eddie take the next step in a rather awkward scene, given how incredibly reluctant Eddie has been all season about this relationship, Augustin finally makes Eddie say "I want you to be my boyfriend," and exactly zero of us are convinced of this. Also, they go to a cafe, Augustin proposes something for a mural at the youth center, and then he runs into Frank, who has nothing but hate in his eyes, but still manages to seem impressed that Augustin is less of a Narcissistic dick these days, and says, "We should get together sometime."
For Dom, this is where Doris drops the bombshell, foreshadowed in the preview last week, that her asshole uncle is contesting her dad's will, and therefore the money she promised Dom for the chicken window is going to be tied up in litigation for a while. Of course Dom was the fool who jumped the gun and maxed out his credit cards before having any of the money in hand, but he flips out on Doris, and this pisses her off. Here's the thing, though: The subsequent tiff where she decides to leave the apartment and spend the night at Malik's after he tries apologizing seems about as believable as Eddie being in love with Augustin. These two love each other, and in 20+ years of friendship they've surely had tensions before when one or the other of them had a boyfriend, and somehow I just don't buy that smart, intuitive, salt-of-the-earth Doris suddenly has a freakout about being Dom's "hag." C'mon, writing staff. You really could have done better with this cliché. Not to mention the fact that Dom has legitimate reasons to be stressed about the money, and the money argument does not lead directly to this thing about her being single and overly attached to her gay best friend. But I digress.
Most of what's important in this episode, as we move toward what may or may not turn out to be a series finale, involves our (sometimes) dynamic duo, Patrick and Kevin. Kevin is on the hunt for a fancy new apartment, and he lands at the extremely pricey new Stanley Saitowitz-designed 8 Octavia (which in real life is condos). The real estate agent (the marvelous Christine Estabrook, best known as Joan's mother on Mad Men) is awkwardly too gay-friendly in her commentary about the place and the other tenants she mentions "his and his sinks" that aren't even there in the bathroom shot but sure, that probably happens in this town. And Kevin immediately says, "I'll take it."
Kevin and Patrick then head to dinner with Patrick's mother Dana (Newhart alum Julia Duffy, who gets far too few good lines), and Kevin mentions that Patrick's awful sister de-friended him on Facebook "even though it has NOTHING TO DO WITH HER IT'S BETWEEN JOHN AND I!" Well, Megan decides to skip the dinner because she's a "conscientious objector" to their relationship, because her husband is John's best friend by some fluke coincidence that was really just a convenient writing solution to get Kevin to appear at the wedding by surprise last season. So, it's just the boys and Dana at the Tonga Room where, by the way, one really shouldn't go for the food, just the fake thunderstorms. And in the course of the meal, Kevin charms Dana thoroughly, and says he's "the luckiest man in the world to be with your son." Dana, foreshadowing what's to come, says, "Well, it's always a bumpy ride, isn't it?" referring to his recent breakup drama. She also tells Patrick, later over Cognac, "He's lovely," and she commands him to come to the zoo the next day with her and Megan (Patrick, rightly, asks, "Why are you and Megan going to the zoo?") in order to broker a peace between them.
In between, Patrick goes mattress shopping with Kevin, and Kevin asks him to move in. Fast, right?! Any good friend would tell Patrick, "No, sweetie. Way too soon. He's a serial monogamist and you've barely been together a month!" (Dana mentions she's on her annual Christmas shopping trip in SF). Patrick doesn't immediately say yes, so he is not completely insane.
What follows is a perfectly awkward family moment at the SF Zoo, in front of the giraffe savanna, in which Megan first makes a bitchy comment about how all gays are always watching their weight, "With your juice cleansing and your CrossFit." (Neither of which Patrick has ever done.) Julia gets a good line in here to Patrick, following on her pot-brownie eating last season, "Do you want a Xanax, honey? Cuz I got some." Then Megan flips out on Dana and Patrick saying, "I'm so over Patrick getting a free pass because he's gay! You get to not give mom and dad kids because you're gay. You get to live in San Francisco with your friends chasing your bliss and making your video games because you're gay. You get to break up a relationship because you're fucking gay."
Megan does, though, make a good point about Kevin and the fact that he asked Patrick to move in so fast, and this is the vital role that caustic judgey bitches play in all of our lives. "Oh," she says, "So he's that guy."
Meanwhile Julia Duffy gets scolded for feeding the animals, and then she drops the bombshell that she's divorcing their father and going off with Dr. Alexander, whom she's in love with after helping him get over the loss of his wife last year. She explains that she's "yearning for something else, something more," and Megan totally judges her too. But Julia Duffy shuts her down, saying, "You've been married how many months, Megan? Three?"
So, we have parallel stories for Patrick and his mom, and what does this push him to do? He immediately decides to tell Kevin he's moving in. Brace yourselves for World War III with longtime roommate Augustin, and let's hope Patrick just decides to sublet his room like a sane person.
