Have you ever felt that none of the available versions of adulthood quite fit, Reader —

And you’re not sure what does?

That’s one of the central questions running through HBO’s Looking.

The show follows three gay friends in San Francisco navigating work, relationships, and adulthood — grappling with questions that still feel immediate now:

✨ What do I actually want — not what I should want or what I happen to want right now?
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✨ What expectations around me feel right — or might need rethinking?
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✨ And what am I going to do about it?

Every week, Looking puts the characters in situations that challenge the way they’ve been living their lives — and we watch them figure out how to respond.

That could mean:
— the kind of relationship they want
— the version of adulthood they thought they’d have figured out by now
— what success looks like
— who they become in different social spaces
— and what becomes possible when they stop trying to fit into a mold that doesn’t serve them.

This summer, I'm running a new program:
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​The Long Arc: Looking Season 1...

..to spend 10 weeks digging into how Looking explores these big existential questions.

(And how it does it with warmth and humour.)

Starting June 30, every week, we’ll watch one 30-minute episode and then meet for 90 minutes to unpack how the filmmaking — the blocking, the shot choices, the costumes, the editing — tells the story and shapes what we feel.

Because how the show is directed (half of it by Andrew Haigh of All of Us Strangers fame) — the long takes, the flirtatious endings, the way characters move around one another in space — is essential to the storytelling.

This isn't just a watch-an-episode-and-chat-about-it kind of experience.
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Here's some of what makes The Long Arc different:

✨ A lens of your own for the season — where you keep an eye on one element of the show week by week and become our resident expert on that thread

✨ Ongoing facilitated discussion that builds week by week — without it turning into a debate club — where I’ll bring scenes to rewatch, questions to open them up, while also letting us follow the group’s curiosity

✨ The rigour, structure, depth, and skill-building of a course — minus the lecturing, evaluating, and oodles of homework

✨ A clear rhythm each week — so you always know what we’re exploring, how to contribute, and what we’re building on from before

✨ A thoughtful space to listen, share what you’re noticing, and feel heard in return

If you think you might like to join us this summer...

👉 Check out the details for The Long Arc here​

Alex

P.S. If this sounds a little like The Long Take (including the name, which is intentional!), that's because it grew out of the same ideas:

• a recurring group for real community
• a deep dive into each episode
• an experience where each week builds on the last
• and time to synthesize and consider the season as a whole.