Looking for a map

Published 21 days ago • 1 min read

There's a moment in the first episode of Looking that I didn't fully appreciate until I was on my, IDK, 15th rewatch.

After a catastrophically bad first date, Patrick (Jonathan Groff) gets on the Muni (San Francisco's public transit) to head to the bachelor party of his ex-boyfriend who he dumped for being boring.

But first, he looks at a map:

Like so much of Looking, it plays as completely naturalistic the first time you watch it.

Patrick is trying to figure out where he's going next.

But Patrick also spends the entire episode trying to figure out where he's going in a much larger sense — and realizing everyone else seems to have a map.

He doesn't.

The heteronormative one doesn't fit.

His friends are all pursuing different versions of adulthood.

And he gets multiple reminders in this episode that he keeps picking the wrong guys.

Then someone asks if he's lost.

"Looking at a map makes you look lost."

It's the second thing Richie ever says to him — who will become Patrick's love interest for the season.

And years later, it's hard not to smile at the fact that Richie is the one offering directions.

Not because Richie turns out to be the answer to Patrick's problems.

Far from it.

But because so much of their relationship ends up revolving around the gap between the life Patrick thought he wanted and the life that actually makes him happy.

The episode, directed by co-showrunner Andrew Haigh, and the season as a whole, is full of moments like this: tiny actions that reveal a lot about the characters.

You don't need to spot them for the show to hit, but it hits even harder when you do.

As Andrew Haigh told me:

"It’s always about trying to find those subtle details to help tell a bigger story.

Whether someone is looking in the mirror, or doing something with their hands...to me, that’s the plot points of the story. My films aren’t driven by huge, overarching plot.

So it’s the little, emotional action beats that I try to get right."

The Long Arc is all about finding those subtle details and asking what bigger story they're telling.

If that sounds like your kind of fun:

👉 Check out The Long Arc: Looking Season 1 here.

We start June 30, but the experience begins as soon as you save your seat.

Alex

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