"Two Summers": Ten Belgian Hunks, Lots of Straight People

 

Two Summers, a Belgian tv series: "A close circle of friends reunites for a lavish holiday, decades after one of them was a victim of a sexual assault."  The promo shows only guys, including two who are obviously romantic partners, so it's probably a group of gay friends. Sexual assault with male victims rarely appears in mass media, except as a joke, and sexual assault of gay men is practically unheard-of.  So this will be a groundbreaking series.   I'll watch the first episode.

Scene 1: Silicon Valley, USA.  Wait -- I thought it would be set in Belgium.  I can see the USA anytime, but I haven't been to Belgium since 2013.  An ultra-modern glass-and-steel mansion.  Rich Guy plays with his cell phone on the toilet, watching an old video of partying young adults (June 18, 1992).  Two guys kissing on an unconscious girl.  He's horrified.  "This can't be happening."  Hey, I thought it was a gay man being sexually assaulted, not a girl.

Romée calls in to ask if he's ok.  I have the mute on, so I can't tell if it's a male or female voice.  It had better be male.

The person who sent the video texts Rich Guy: "That was 30 years ago.  Now it's payback time!"  They waited exactly 30 years?  "Pay 100 bitcoin by Monday or the video goes viral."

Rich Guy  obviously participated in the rape, or videotaped it, but he thought that the tape had been destroyed.   He groans "Oh, fuck!" and splashes water in his face.

Out to the expansive living room.  Romée is a woman!  What about the four guys together in the promo, two of them nearly kissing?  Maybe there were gay guys at the party back in 1992. 

I figured out the Belgian angle: The party guests were all Belgian, speaking Flemish.  Rich Guy has moved to the States since.

All of the party guests who are still alive have different actors playing their older and younger selves.  I checked several reviews for the gay guests:

1. Rich Guy Peter (Tom Vermier, Lukas Bulteel) is one of the two guys raping the unconscious Sophie in the video from 1992.  He was dating Romée, another party guest, and now they're married. Straight.

2. Mark (Felix Meyer) is the other guy who raped Sophie.   The next day he died (presumably) when the house caught fire, and he was trapped in his room. Straight.

3. Didier (Herwig Ilegem, Bjarne Devolder, left) was dating Sophie at the time.  He watched, but didn't intervene.  Now he and Sophie are married. Straight.

4. Luc (Kevin Jannsens, left, Tijmen Govaerts), Peter's younger brother. didn't participate or watch, as he was in his room, recovering from cancer chemotherapy.  Eventually he married another party guest, Saskia. After they divorced, got a new girlfriend. Straight

5. Stef, aka Mowgli (Koen De Bouw, left,  Vincent Van Sande) videotaped the rape.  He was interested in Saskia in 1992, and now that she's not with Luc anymore, they can start dating. Straight.

6. The only other male cast member is Simon Verbruggen as Jens, who plays the special-needs son of Luc's girlfriend.  He appears in only two episodes.  Probably straight.

So the promo, with the four guy, two of them obviously a couple, was just a gay tease.

Figures.  But at least I got to research some Belgian hunks.