Eastsiders

EVERYONE should check out this show!!! It's about relationships....and love.....and life....and acceptance. It's funny... and sad ... and beautiful... and poignant.... and smart. When you love someone can you truly love them for the flawed imperfect person they are? Can you forgive? And what can that look like? Certainly it will be flawed and imperfect.... and beautiful. If you are looking for a well written show with great dialogue, fantastic acting and a killer soundtrack head over to Netflix and binge this show (and you WILL binge it)! EastSiders was funded with Kickstarter. Their two episode project on YouTube in 2012 created enough interest and donations to develop a web series. Now with four seasons streaming on Netflix and translated into more than two dozen languages - this is the little series that could. I have fallen in love with these characters as I laughed and cried with them and watched them develop over the years. Did I mention the soundtrack?!?! Song choices and placement are just fantastic. I had made myself a YouTube playlist of my favorite songs from the show (the closing credit songs from the first two episodes still being my all time favorites). Recently I found out the soundtrack is on Spotify and I am over the moon.

This show is a funny, dark, quirky gem filled with flawed and endearing characters. It has angst and laughs and love. I have enjoyed watching it grow and I will miss it. A two episode update every few years, in honor of their two episode beginning, would complete me.... just a check-in to see how they are all doing. Having just watched the final season, I think it's time to rewind to the beginning to see where it all started. Feel free to join me.

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.

Okay, not really, but there is one scene with some amusing concealment of - gasp! - male genitalia.

Eastsiders is the story of the relationship between Cal, played by Kit Williamson, and Tom, played by Van Hansis.

I had recently seen Van Hansis in something else, and really liked his performance, very natural, and unforced, and he was the reason I chose to watch this show. Mentioning why I chose to watch, as I don't usually watch relationship stuff, and comedy/drama rarely works for me. Also, based on reviews, I don't think I would have watched this.

In short, I really enjoyed Eastsiders, as an entertainment. It's funny. Also, sometimes sad, but for my tastes much more light than dark.

Yes, these people are whiny, and self absorbed, but other than the Dalai Lama, and Mother Theresa, who isn't?

Yes, the sex is unrealistic, but for those who want graphic adult situational type content, I understand there is some available on the internet.

Going off on a tangent, the visual highlight of this series was Colby Keller, who played Arlen, someone Cal and Tom meet on their travels. I think I have seen him in something before, but I have no idea, at all, what that was.

Loved Traci Lords as Val, Cal's mother, having a great time, swilling Martini's. Alcoholics are often fun, until they're not.

Enjoyed John Halbach's satirical representation of heterosexuality, as the character Ian. I think it's satire, due to how many times he calls his girlfriend "babe", as no one actually does that, right? Or do they? IDK.

It's a mixed bag for sure, but for me it was enjoyable escapism, with occasional touches of reality, the pain of being different, but then normal is what most everyone pretends to be, but no one is.

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.

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.