CAST

Thomas Mallon (Novel) & Ron Nyswaner (Creator)

Matt Bomer
Jonathan Bailey
Jelani Alladin
Allison Williams

Review

Bailey and Bomer brought my attention to this show, didn’t know what it was about when inquiring about the book – which was so close to the show’s premiere – that I decided to just jump in.

It starts in 1986 in a nice suburban area where we meet Marcus Gaines on his way to visit his friend Hawk Fuller to discuss Tim, a mutual friend of theirs who’s settling his affairs. Within these two minutes, you have a clear idea of what’s going on, you don’t have to know your queer history to have figured out what’s going on with Tim, what might be the thing that connects Marcus, Hawk, and Tim, and guess some of the choices Hawk must have made at some point in his life.

If you’re queer, you might have thought “Here we go again” because you at least know a Hawk, and you know what the 80s were about for queer people, but before you start imagining longing looks and shared regrets by a hospital bed the show flashes back to 1952. It’s an election night party and it’s obviously where Hawk and the mysterious Tim began. It gave the show a breath of fresh for me since it’s not an era where I’m used to seeing queer stories. The political backdrop also adds spice to it, I know enough of my American history to know what was happening at that time, and the idea of following a story about men like this in a situation like that is interesting with a great potential to become tense and deeply emotional.

The back and forth between these two specific eras (the 1950s & 1980s) is also great because they are both pivotal times yet not in the same way. So far the show seems to have a good mix of two eras, great acting, and the production value is amazing. However, I did notice that socks were specifically taken off for some sex scenes and I find that funny.

Fellow Travellers is definitely a hurt-comfort type of story with suffering gays, again, but the historical setting makes it make sense and gives the show a nice spicy history lesson feel.

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