Juan Llamas Rodriguez

He’s also a really astute user of social media. Have you seen his latest project ‘Night Call’? He is holding personal poetry readings to anyone that applies, either in person if they live in NYC or through videocall if they are farther away. Interesting stuff.

I agree that there needs to be a better tonal balance (or contrast, even) between the characters’ stories. That’s definitely something they will have to figure out moving forward.

Thanks for reading Patsy!

I think the half-hour has to do with HBO categorizing it as a “comedy”, like Girls, which are only half hour.

Great article. I think you bring out and address some of the most salient criticisms of his work rather well. I wonder if tied to this implicit critique about contemporary gay life is also a concern about identity and struggles for identification. I like his recent poem “Lindsay Lohan” (http://www.theawl.com/2014/01/a-poem-by-alex-dimitrov) not only because of the autobiographical element that she was arrested when Dimitrov moved to NYC but also because it rethinks the celebrity fascination as a search for guidance, or as mirroring one’s own disconnect and/or uncertainty.

That is true, but I argue that the point of the show is to be contemplative; only some people find that boring.

That’s definitely the norm, and I think it would be the case if this show were on The CW, but HBO is not afraid to target a niche (even here, a niche within a niche). So I am excited to see where they take this focus on a character over 40.

I totally agree, Marie. I do wonder, however, whether this aesthetic approach will be sustainable across seasons. As we’ve seen so far, a lot of people tend to not like this lack of continuous tension. Guess time will tell.

Thanks for reading!