Carlin James: The third thug, a gay three-way, a queer romance, and Pretty Dudes

 

  Link to the NSFW version.

In Episode 4.5 of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spin-off starring Bob Odenkirk as a sleazy lawyer, a flashback to 2003 shows the young Saul/Jimmy McGill working in a cell phone store.  He starts a side-business selling stolen burner phones (popular with drug dealers, gang members, cheating husbands, and so on). 

While scoping out customers at the Dog House sleazoid-favored hot dog stand, he approaches teen thugs Peewee, Skipper, and Scooter. They don't need any phones, but they'll wait until he's done for the evening and beat him up his profits. Jimmy kicks himself for not being able to foresee that the interaction would go bad.

In the next episode, Jimmy approaches the guys at their laudromat-hangout and offers to give them a cut if they let him sell without harassment: a more reliable dividend stream than robbing him just once.  They decide that they prefer robbery, and chase him -- into a trap!

Jimmy's allies, Huell Babineaux and Man Mountain, tie them up, gag them, and hang them upside down in a piñata warehouse.  They begin smashing the piñatas with baseball bats, while Jimmy asks the teen thugs if they prefer to be smashed to death quickly or slowly.  

The thugs are so terrified that they promise not to bother Jimmy anymore, and to tell all the other thugs to leave him alone.  He calls off the smashing, but his goons pretend not to hear him until the bat comes withn inches of Peewee's face.  "You get one warning," he tells them as they whimper.  "And that was it." 

Other than the gay-subtext potential of the three guys hanging out without chatting up girls, I was interested in this scene because I have posts on two of the actors: Tommy Nelson, left, and Cory Chapman, center.  

Both would go on to roles in The Righteous Gemstones, but in different seasons, and both have a substantial amount of gay and gay-subtext work.  

So what about the third thug, Scooter?  

He's played by Carlin James, a Filipino-American actor from Long Beach.  His on-screen career begins in 2009-11, playing college students in dramatic shorts and guys who get killed in thrillers.

His first mainstream role was in a 2016 episode of  How to Get Away with Murder: he plays Martin, one of the guys that main character Connor, played by Jack Falahee, invites home for a three-way.

More Carlin after the break

Left: Niko Pepaj, who played another of the hookups.

Then came a lot of heterosexual romances, like The Catch, What You Don't Say, Colored Hearts, and Asian Bachelorette, as well as a few sitcoms.

Season of Love, 2019, is a "queer lady holiday romance," with three queer lady couples negotiating Christmas.  I don't know who Carlin plays.

Four episodes of Pretty Dudes, 9-10 minutes long, about a group of gay men negotating love, race, and the other usual stuff. Mostly they just have conversations.  Carlin James, playing CJ, apparently just commented on the gay Asian-American experience. 

Left: Cesare Cipriano, who played Shane.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace, 2018: The gay fashion designer.

Turner Risk, 2019:  Robbie (Carlin) tries to prevent his roommate/best friend from going on a rampage to retaliate for constant bullying..strong gay subtext.

Left: Nick Fink, who plays Turner Risk.

Ok, we've established that Carlin is gay.  Now how about some beef....

Wait, he was a judge at the Miss Filipina International Pageant?  That sounds rather hetero...

"Mi con my valentine dime": Carlin dancing with a girl, who responds "love u beb."

Hey, that's sort-of-Spanish.  In Tagalog, "me with my significant other" is kasama ko ang kasintahan ko

At a Halloween Party, Carlin and his girlfriend as Popeye and Olive Oyl; "Eat your spinach, kids, and maybe you too can grab a super dime.

So this guy is...but...all those gay roles...commenting on the gay Asian-American experience...

Heck with it.  Let's take another look at him hanging upside down.

The full review, with nude photos, is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends