"Teacup": Body-jumping aliens, force fields, two boy-girl romances, a gay subtext boyfriend betrayal, and Rob's knob

 

Link to the n*ude dudes

Probably-gay actor Jackson Kelley notes that he had a starring role in the paranormal horror Teacup, on Peacock. I figured he would be playing a gay character, so I checked it out.

The premise: On a farm full of good country folk, animals start behaving strangely, then people start trembling and speaking in riddles.  The power and WIFI go out. 

An invisible "teacup" trap marked by a blue line appears around the property; any person or animal that crosses it dies a horrible death.  A guy in a gas mask keeps patroling and gesturing.  Sound doesn't get through, so he uses a board to say things like: "Stay behind the line" and "Trust no one" 

The people trapped inside the "teacup" are divided into heterosexual nuclear families:

Family #1: James (Scott Speedman, left, from Animal Kingdom), his wife (a veterinarian), sick elderly mother, teenage daughter, and preteen son.

Family #2: Ruben (Chaske Spencer from Twilight), his wife, and his teeange son, trapped there when they brought their horse to see the veterinarian.   

Soap opera plotlines: The wife is secretly having an affair with James, and the son has been in love with James' daughter since he was in second grade, but is trapped in the Friend Zone (but not for long). 

Family #3: Donald Kelley (Boris McGiver) and his wife from the farm next door also happen to be there when the teacup is  put up.

The Newcomers: While everyone is dealing with the crisis and soap opera stuff, preteen Arlo (Caleb Dolden) tells his sister and her not-boyfriend that the Assassin is coming to kill them all.  The only way they can escape is with a multicolored liquid from a crashed meteor, so they gather a vial full.

Gas Mask Guy wants the vial, and crosses the blue line to get it, whereupon they stab him.  

Meanwhile, James finds the injured Travis (Jackson) hiding in the basement, worried that he's "one of them" and ready to shoot.  As they have a standoff, Travis tells his story:

Gas Mas Guy at a Bar: Flashback to Travis as the new guy working at the bar, mesmerized by Gas Mask Guy, McNab (Rob Morgan).  Wouldn't you be?

Rob Morgan having coffee n*ude on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends

He's telling about the aliens who set force-field "teacup" traps that incinerate any complex organism that tries to get through.  They're non-corporeal, using human bodies as hosts.  They can jump from body to body. Often the humans aren't even aware of it, so anyone could be hosting an alien.

Bartender Big Al tells Travis to pay attention to the other customers; he'll wait on McNab himself.

The guy on the next stool (Ryan Dinnngs) makes fun of McNab for believing in Little Green Men, and jokes: "Don't let McNab follow you into the bathroom, or he'll probe you." 

Travis, who would like very much to be probed by McNab, returns to listen to him.  Hey, he pockets the money that McNab put on the bar to pay for his drinks.

The Hookup: Thinking that he's drunk, Big Al cuts McNab off and confiscates his car keys.

"But how will I get home?"

Travis: "Me!  I'l drive you!  Pick me!" 

As Travis drives McNab home, looking over to smile at him as they discuss the alien visitors, we hear:

Wear this ring with love forever

Wear this ring with love

This ring means I love you

It's "Wear This Ring with Love" by the Detroit Emeralds, which reached #91 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971.  

 Wait -- ths is just a hookup.  It's too early for wedding rings.  

They arrive at McNab's isolated trailer, and he stumbles inside.  Disappointed that he wasn't invited in, Travis hangs around the car and smokes a cigarette.  Finally McNab opens the door and says "For f*uck's sake!"  How much of a signal do you need?

More after the break

By the time Travis gets the courage to go inside, McNab is in the bedroom, already asleep.  Travis snoops around until he wakes up and says "I don't care if anyone else thinks I'm a liar, but you...I can see it in your eyes, Travis."  Yeah, he has nice eyes.  The scene cuts before they kiss...and you see McNab's d*ck.  Don't worry, I posted it on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

Living Together: In the next scene, Travis, now living with McNab, is on top of the trailer, shirtless, putting up a satellite dish. Dude, your arms are like toothpicks.  If you want to keep your man interested, join a gym.

 Then a montage of the two at the bar, having dinner, and looking up at the stars.  We learn that the aliens enter our planet by catching rides with meteors.  There are bad ones and good ones, both inhabiting human bodies.  But the bad ones try to kill the good ones by trapping them in teacup-force fields and then killing everyone inside. 

Travis wonders how McNab learned all this.  He goes to an internet chatroom where people who are tracking the aliens hang out.  If I didn't know that this was all real in-universe, I'd think the guy was wacky.  Why does Travis believe it all, or pretend to? There are plenty of BBCs in the world. 

Can He Use a Gun? A car pulls up. Olsen (Bill Heck), the police officer who appeared at the farm in an earlier episode, complains to McNab about the new boyfriend.  

"Can he use a gun?"  

"Let's find out."

They drive into the woods, and Travis tries shooting at pictures nailed to a tree. Olsen gives him tips. "But why are we shooting at pictures of you guys?" "Because you may have to shoot a friend."  Or boyfriend.  

They're tracking Mary Alice, who is inhabited by a bad alien.  And a good alien just landed in a meteor, so she'll try to kill it  We'll track her down and kill it -- by drowning Mary Alice.  Why would you need the good visitor for that?  Just grab her.

In the bedroom that night, Travis is having second thoughts.  What if this is just a paranoid delusion, and they kill an innocent person?   McNab tells him about his daughter Alyssa, who was inhabited by a visitor and then killed.  A person in an EMT suit came and took her away, and her body was found in a dumpster behind a convenience store.  So he's overcome with grief after his daughter is killed, and...oh wait, this is all real.

McNab's Betrayal: The next day they track Mary Alice to a farm, where she talks to several men with guns.  I'm confused -- this is not James' farm, where the good alien is inhabiting his son.   McNab and Olsen confront her, while Travis sets up the drowning pool. 

Things go wrong.  The bad alien shoots some people, then starts setting up the teacup trap.  McNab runs toward his car.  

"Don't leave me!" Travis shouts.

"Sorry, there's no time."  He zooms off.  Travis frantically calls him to ask him to come back.   I've done that after being dumped, too.  

The Bad Alien inhabits Travis, but then moves directly into Olsen, who shoots him.

In the basement in the present, Travis is dying.  

Geez, what a downer, abandoned by your boyfriend in your hour of need.  

Later McNab, trapped at the farm, finds the dead Travis and feels bad.  

My Grade:   Infinite space for James and his wife to rekindle their romance, and for their daughter and the friend zone boy to find love, but the gay guys get subtext only, and only appears in a single episode before dying.  Other people die too, of course, but I'll still thinking a "bury your gays" moment. 

 

Episode: B

Series: D.

Bonus: Bill Heck. The other site has another n*de dude.

See also: Jackson Kelly: A killer doll, a killer pumpkin, a paranormal trap, and Hicks' di*ck

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