Sweet Magnolias: Ladies in South Carolina face problems, with three gay characters, Aidan Merwarth, and drama club d*cks

  

Link to the n*de photos

Aidan Merwarth played Spencer, who had a disastrous first date with Finn (Faly Rakotahavana) in a 2024 episode of Unprisoned.  I've been following him since, looking for more gay or gay-light roles, and I just discovered that he has an ongoing character arc in Season 5 of Sweet Magnolias.  Shows set in the South don't usually have gay characters, but this season the high schoolers are staging a play, The Taming of the Shrew.  Where there's a drama club, there are gay teens.  Let's hope that Aidan is one of them.

I'm reviewing Episode 5.6, "Smoke and Mirrors"

For reference, you should know that the Sweet Magnolias are three friends who support each other like the Steel Magnolias that they are named after.  From left to right, Dana Sue, who owns the restaurant Sullivan's, Maddie, a writer; and Helen, a lawyer.  They co-own a spa/gym. 

Scene 1: Night.  Everyone is crying and bringing toys and teddy bears out of a building.  Dana Sue and her husband, the couple whose house was gutted, learn that the fire started in the garage due to the "usual suspects": faulty wiring, greasy rags, and so on.  They divvy up who is going to stay with who.  Hey, there are no kids in the house, just Dana Sue, her husband, and their teenage daughter.  Surely regular viewers would know that, and be immune to the tearjerking of throwing out teddy bears.

There are different plot arcs involving each character, all interspliced, but I'll cover them separately.

Dana Sue's Story

Dana Sue and her husband (Brandon Quinn, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) are staying with Maddie the Writer and her husband.  They drink tea and cry.  Later, unable to sleep, they discuss the fire, and how "we can possibly get through this."  Don't y'all have insurance?

Husband feels guilty because the fire is his fault; as the man, he should have been taking care of whatever household item caused the fire.  Right, God forbid dainty little ladies know anything about home improvement projects.

In the morning, Dana Sue inspects the fire-damaged house.  Her Husband gets angry at her for just throwing things into boxes;  they have to check what can be salvaged and what can't be.  "I'm choosing what's important to me!" she exclaims.  "Like this old, singed cooking pot that belonged to my mother!"  Or you could look for photos.

He stomps off.

Cut to Dana Sue and her friends going to Flawed But Still Worth, where they have an appointment with Wally himself.  To buy used clothes?  Wally (Geoffrey D. Williams), a flamboyant middle-aged black man in a pink suit, is a fan favorite for his "powerful and uplifting scenes."  He has chosen some outfits to give Dana Sue "a little joy to get through the hard times.  It's what makes the darkness bearable."  And, by the way, they are on the house.

Cut to Dana Sue going through her new stuff, and complaining that her hair still smells like smoke.  Then she goes to her restaurant owns and makes quesadillas for her friends. I'm fast forwarding through the "friends stick together" tearjerking. 

In the morning, Dana Sue and her Husband are discussing things, when Fireman Leif shows up (Ben VanderMey, left).   The Fire Department has brought an offering for the 4th of July Barbecue.

Isaac's Story

The morning after the fire Isaac (Chris Medlin, left) gets a vistor, Michael (Kyle Findley, below), who tries to hug him and is rejected.  He came a day early so he can help the people displaced by the fire.  Hey, they start kissing.  They're boyfriends!  I guess Isaac rejected the hug because they were still standing in the doorway, and neighbors might see them.

They head to the bedroom.

That night, the guys get a visitor, a blond woman, maybe Noreen, and her young child, with teddy bear.  Michael explains that he arrived early, but don't worry, they can babysit together. 

Noreen watches until Michael leaves with the girl, and then asks for the dirt.  Isaac is hiding it, but extremely upset that Michael came early: "I work so hard to be methodical and organized, and this is how he repays me?  By being impulse and unpredictable?"  The scoundrel!  Dump him for not following the schedule!    

Plus he's trying to prepare a surprise anniversary dinner, and how can it be a surprise with Michael by his side every second?  I thought he was out helping the displaced family.

"No problem.  I'll help you."  Don't you have somewhere to be, which is why you needed a babysitter?

The next day, Isaac invites Michael to the coffee shop to explain where they source their beans and how he creates the staff schedules.  If I wanted to hear about that, I'd get a job.  Let's get back to the kissing. He gives Michael a drink called The Michael: Cold-brew, tonic, and cherry juice.  Yuck. 

That night, Isaac and Noreen set up for the surprise anniversary dinner on the high school stage, having transformed it into an Italian restaurant. Michael arrived; as they get their antipasto, Isaac tells him that he needs to share how he feels: "I love you."  The dance.  That's it?  I thought you were going to propose.

More after the break

The 20 TV shows that we watched in West Hollywood: a gay brother, some "confused" guys, squabbling drag queens, Seinfeld, and Mario Lopez (sigh)

I lived in the heart of the Gay World, West Hollywood, San Francisco, and the East Village, from 1985 to 2001.  There wasn't much time for television, with our part time jobs, classes, AIDS volunteer activities, church activities, and endless nights of cruising, but a few shows were not to be missed.  They had strong gay subtexts, actual gay characters, or lots of muscular men.

1. The Golden Girls. Everybody watched the Girls before heading out to the bars on Saturday night, but you had to be careful.  Usually they were relatively gay-friendly, but suddenly, without warning, Blanche would reject her gay brother, or Rose would be horrified to discover that lesbians exist.

2. Mama's Family.   Another pre-bar show, with Vickie Lawrence as the elderly, crotchety Mama, Ken Berry as her dimwitted son, and Allan Kayser as her grandson, cast for obvious reasons.

3. Brothers.  We had to go to a friend's house to watch this Showtime sitcom about three grown-up brothers, two macho, grunting types, and one gay.

4. Dynasty.  Squabbling rich ladies with drag queen hair, some beefcake,  and a "confused" guy who veers between gay and straight.

5. Murder, She Wrote.   My friend Alan forced me to watch Jessica Fletcher solve murders every Sunday night.  One episode had a gay-light character: a fellow mystery writer whose whodunits are filled with "Greek boys mincing about."

6. Pee-Wee's Playhouse.  Man-child Pee-Wee has hunky and drag queen friends, plus a genie who lives in a jewelry box. "Swish?  Did somebody say swish?"

7. Saved by the Bell.  Saturday morning teencom with Mario Lopez taking his shirt off.  'Nuff said.

8. Married...with Children.  A raunchy send-up of the heterosexual nuclear family, with occasional only-slightly-homophobic references.  Ed O'Neill would go on to play the patriarch of Modern Family, and David Faustino would bulk up and become a gay ally.

9. Eerie, Indiana.  I dig shows about quirky small towns, and Omri Katz, who would go on to star in gay films, had a gay-subtext buddy-bond with fellow paranormal investigator Justin Shenkarow.

10.  Mystery Science Theater 3000: Joel and the Bots riffed on cheesy movies every Saturday morning, and all day on Thanksgiving.

More after the break

Mr. Bigstuff: Short guy with big stuff isn't into ladies, has a gay boss and a psycho brother. With six big reveals and lots of backsides

 

Link to the n*de dudes

I don't have a lot of  luck with Britcoms.  The references have me scurrying to the internet, the jokes a little too droll, and I can never tell if the actions are meant to be sitcom exaggerations or over-the-top bizarre.  But I'm checking out Mr. Bigstuff, which just dropped on Hulu, because it stars Ryan Sampson, gay in real life and 5'4". 

"Bigstuff" is one of those culturally specific references.  There's no definition online. Does it mean that the guy is important, a "big shot," or that he's a "big dog," gifted beneath the belt?

Episode 1, Scene 1: Glen (Ryan Sampson) and his girlfriend parking in the car outside a horribly decrepit office building.  She consoles him for being unable to do stuff.  It's been a long time.  Maybe he's not into you, lady.  Or not into ladies at all.  But they're still getting married in 100 days.  

Scene 2:  Glen at his horrible, soul-destroying job as a carpet salesman.  He's pointing out some boring heterosexual stuff to a boy-girl couple, when the Manager comes by.  He asks for a promotion.  In response, the Manager pretends to shoot him.  He falls to the ground, "dead."  I guess that's a no?  

Left: The Manager is played by Adrian Scarborough (backside on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends), who I thought was in The Thursday Murder Club.  He's not, and I deleted my review due to low pageviews.

Meanwhile, a hand smokes cigarettes and drinks beer.  Eventually it turns into a burly bloke, who bursts into the carpet store and asks the receptionist if she's seen "this geezer," displaying a photo of a schoolboy. In the U.S. a "geezer" is old. She calls the Manager.  The situation escalates to Burly Guy choking him and demanding to know where the "geezer" is.

Glen hides behind some display cases, then runs out and drives home.  

Left: Burly Guy is played by Danny Dyer, who is straight but played a gay character in Borstal Boy (2000) and the father of a gay teen on East Enders.

Scene 3: At home, the Girlfriend from Scene 1 is lying in bed.  She explains that there was a gas leak at work, so everyone had to leave, and he explains that he just popped in to get his sandwiches.  I expect that there's a man hiding in the closet. 

Nope: "Get in here, you c*nt."  In the U.S., that term is extremely offensive, and it refers only to ladies, but I think here it's just a mild expletive, like "dope." 

Glenn backside is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends..

They discuss boring heterosexual stuff as Glen undresses (no beefcake).  She tries to get him to do stuff, but he refuses.  You're in bed with your lady at 10:00 on a workday.  Why wouldn't you want to, unless you're not into ladies?

Next Glen drinks something from a water glass by the bedside, then starts to gag.  Girlfriend apologizes -- she didn't expect him to drink it (then why was it on his side of the bed?).  They're both very upset.  

We never learn what it was.  Maybe Metamucil, or a lady supplement?

She rushes downstairs to fetch him some tea -- and finds the Burly Guy sitting on the couch!

Scene 4:  Glen throws the disgusting liquid at him, and Girlfriend runs for the pepper spray.  "You can't be here!  Get out of my house!"

"I just want to talk, Glen!" he exclaims.  

Girlfriend; "You know each other?"  Big Reveal #1

"No.  Not really...I mean, I used to."  This upsets Burly Guy, and he leaves.

Burly Guy's backside is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

Scene 5: Back at work, everyone is gossiping about what happened earlier "with that geezer and the Manager."  Is that a common phrase in Britain for someone under age 80?   

A woman is upset that she wasn't around to see him "get shanked."  In the U.S., "shanked" means being stabbed.  

The Manager calls Glen, crying: "You need to get here immediately! I'm sorry -- I didn't know!  I can't do this!"  Burly Guy comes onto the phone and tells him: "Dagenham, by the water, where he passed away.  You know the spot."  Darn, I thought they were old boyfriends.

Scene 6: The subtitles say Dagenheim, which sounds Norwegian, but it's actually Dagenham, a terrible industrial suburb of London, right on the Thames.  

Glen arrives and yells "Don't do this!  Don't kill the Manager!"

"Kill him?  I've just given him a cheese twist and a flapjack." Big Reveal #2.

More after the break

Gage L.: South Dakota wrestler poses in singlets a lot, posts nothing else. But they are really nice singlets, plus n*de guys named Gage

 

Link to the n*de photos

Another day, another Instagram recommendation.  This time it's a guy named Gage, from Kasson, Minnesota, near Rochester in the southeast part of the state.  He doesn't say anything in his tagline except that he's in the class of 2027, so just starting his senior year in college as of this writing. 

He attends the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where he is on the wrestling team -- go Cornhuskers!

Wait -- also the  University of Minnesota, Minneapolis -- go Golden Gophers?  

 

And now South Dakota State University, Brookings.  Go Jackrabbits?

You fill out those wrestling singlets nicely, buddy, but why do you keep changing schools?

More research reveals that Gage is a high school student being recruited by college teams, where he gets to pose in their singlets.   He chose South Dakota State, where he'll be wrestling (and presumably taking classes) in the fall of 2027.

More Gage singlet photos and a n*de SDSU student are on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

Gage lives in Watertown, South Dakota, a tiny town about 100 miles west of Sioux Falls -- the Minnesota photo must have been for a competition.

He wrestles for Watertown High School -- go Arrows!  And he has gone to the nationals four times, making him one of the greatest high school wrestlers of his generation.

More after the break.