Things that are very San Francisco in this episode: Referring to the bass as an instrument of love. Getting tested for STDs regularly. Skipping work to hang out with the dude you’re into. Being tourists in the city you live in. Singing the songs of your childhood to others without irony. Bottom shame. Coming out stories. The elderly doing tai chi. Paying too much for gum at St. Francis Fountain. Ocean beach! I can see my house!
This week we are treated to almost 30 minutes of a perfect full-day date that none of us will likely experience. Possibly because no one’s writing scripts for us. I’m not bitter!
Okay, I’m going to be real: Patrick and Richie’s episode-long date is perfect and adorable and is making me wish I could go on this kind of date again. You know, when the hormones are raging and everything feels special and no one’s farted yet and it’s all just so, so magical.
Speaking of not farting, there’s a lot of butt in this episode. From the opening shot of Patrick’s posterior, to the shot of him in the shower reaching back to wash it, to the rim job Richie gives him about three minutes in (I think? There was a rimjob in that blowjob, right? Like a Turducken!), to the conversations Richie and Patrick have throughout about sexual positions and the meaning of the labels “top” and “bottom.” It’s just there, front and center.
The aforementioned conversation about sexual positions is where this episode really shines. First, I love that Richie is becoming a three-dimensional character, and second I love that he is not only making Patrick more interesting (Don’t front — Patrick has been more boring than a box of gay rocks for the first four episodes), but is making Patrick confront his own beliefs about sex and relationships.
Richie and Pat take a trip to the California Academy of Sciences — which is surprisingly empty (shouldn’t there be groups of school children here running around, overhearing their important, but kid-inappropriate sex talk?). They discuss anal sex and bottom shame (being reluctant to be the recipient of anal sex lest one be considered less masculine). While Patrick grapples with what it means to be a Ross (bottom) rather than a Rachel (top), Richie points out that position labels are for websites, not people, and when you’re with someone you’re into, they adapt, they (pardon the pun) open up. Damn, Richie! You’re the best!
And Richie continues being the best as he takes Pat all around the city, playing tourist at Ocean Beach, going to the Haight, and taking Patrick to see his Señora (spiritual guide) (they leave when they realize Patrick won’t understand the reading in Spanish). And then, during a touching moment back in Richie’s bedroom when Patrick promises one day to let Richie fuck him (Just not today. In the future. Is there a promise ring for that?), Richie rockets his way straight into boyfriendland and all the way to the top of “best character on this show list” when he doesn’t even bat an eye and still lets Patrick fuck him. Real sex: adaptable and open to compromise. Good work, show!
I’m looking forward to the last several episodes of this season, especially if they continue building on the relationship between Patrick and Richie, as well as Patrick’s struggle to be fully-realized as a character and to finally let someone in (emotionally as well as physically). You can do it, Pat! We’re rooting for you!
