Eastsiders

Set in what appears to be Silverlake in LA, Eastsiders describes itself as a "dark comedy"...but the writing had nothing worth laughing at. The ACTING on the other hand was in fact laughable in a face-palm kind of way-- an example being one of the leads, John Halbach, obliviously miscast as a straight character...because his boyfriend, the writer and other lead (surprise!) didn't have the courage to say, "oh, honey...no...you don't "do" straight very well". This is one of those projects where all the parts were written as vehicles for these aspiring writer-director-actors to showcase their particular abilities (or lack thereof) to potentially catch someone's eye for future projects (an example being a scene where one particularly bland actor, Matthew McKelligon gets to speak Schweizerdeutsch..to show he can). Luckily, however, this forum did appear to help a certain brilliant and amazing star, Constance Wu (who was the ONLY reason I watched this mess). Although the writing for her is pretty much as predictable and stale as the rest of the characters (all of whom seem to be written in the tone of an ultra-liberal male feminist), she is the only actor who actually carried the scenes and personalized the character to any depth (she is the only one who really stands out as having formal training). In fact, these 4 VERY generous stars are only because of Constance, who I'm hoping will not have this mess come back to haunt her, in what I hope is a very long and successful career.

Inspiring, real people, real life sensitively portrayed by the series 4 cast. There are so many relatable scenarios, the viewer has to watch again & again as these are brought to life in so many different ways.

Genius!

Season One: 7/10

Themes: Drama, LGBTQ+, Gay Couple, Cheating, Hurt & Relationships.

Review: These characters were honestly all extremely unlikable. They constantly did things that would frustrate me and generally just annoyed me. Sometimes it was also a little hard to understand their thought-process since the editing and writing of this series is done in a way that leaves out a lot of details. Not only are the episodes short, but the dialogue is also not very revealing. I genuinely felt like I was missing certain information and feelings. Nonetheless, though, I did find the lives of these characters interesting and I was pretty emerged into the story. I honestly think this all had the potential to be a lot better if the writing had encompassed more detail.

Top three characters: 1) Thom, 2) Kathy and 3) Ian.

I was hooked on Eastsiders from the start! The emotional roller coaster that is Cal and Thom soars from the beginning of Season 1 to the end of Season 2. The Eastsiders characters are authentic, entertaining, and most importantly likable - yet flawed. I find myself pulling for Cal and Thom while also rooting for their shared exploration to find purpose in their relationship and in their lives in general.

The richness of the supporting characters - Cal's Mom and sister, Quince, Ian, the Silver Lake setting - completes the tapestry of the Eastsiders universe. The club scenes feel genuine - hilarious and at the same time meaningful. I loved the cameos from Johnny McGovern, Jai Rodriguez, and the local drag performers. I couldn't stop laughing during the scenes in the free clinic.

The production quality, writing, and cinematography of Eastsiders is impressive not only within the LGBT genre but across the entire drama and comedy spectrum.

I think the younger you are (if you're gay) the more this will resonate with you. The writing is uneven, but the starting premise is interesting. It's infidelity but not just simple infidelity. And the production values and photography are both fine.

Overall, the gay characters are better done than the straight characters. The gay characters are more underwritten, e.g., the actors communicated with their faces/bodies a lot, which is a good thing; it wasn't so dialog driven. The straight characters on the other hand seemed overwritten and, frankly, unconvincing.

As the episodes progress, some of the coincidences are a bit much. And the way people relate to each other doesn't always seem real. A lot of the time it does, but a lot of the time it doesn't.

For those of you with a lot more life experience this will be harder to take. For example, the art gallery/art world shown is like somebody's idea of what that world is like, rather than what it's really like. That's true for a lot of things, including some relationships. However, most of the gay hook ups/relationships were plausible to me because, well, been there done that.

Still, I found this very watchable, even though I knew the quality was just above average. But like I say, the younger you are, the more likely you will be to enjoy it.