Mason McNulty: Kayden's buddy plays a box of candy, a duplicated boy, and Billy the Kid, but is he really gay? With McNulty d*cks

  

Link to the n*de dudes

During the last six months or so, Kayden Koshelev has stopped posting about Alkaio Thiele on his social media, and started chumming up with a guy named Mason McNulty.  A new boyfriend?

Time to do some research.

Mason was born in Southern California in 2005, and began his career at age three months, as a model for ad for the State of Utah.  His on-screen credits begin in 2011, when he voiced Toothbrush on an episode of South Park, and go on to Modern Family, Glee, Teen Wolf, Danger Force, and Pen15.

His "best known for" projects on the IMDB include:

Schooled (2018-20), a spin-off of The Goldbergs, set ten years later, when minor character Lainey Lewis returns to become a music teacher at the William Penn Academy.  The shy, sensitive, gay-coded Toby (Mason) goes out for football, although he isn't very good; the coach tries to steer him into playing Pokemon instead; he dresses as a box of candy in the Halloween parade; he sings in the school choir.  The fan wiki doesn't mention an interest in girls.

And Assimilate (2019).  A teenage girl, her boyfriend (Joel Courtney, left), and her little brother Joey (Mason) fight "doubles" that are replacing their family and friends. And everybody else in the world, leaving only a few scattered survivors left.  As far as I can tell, Joey doesn't express any hetero interest.

So far, so good.  But once Mason moves into teenage and adult roles, it's "girls! girls! girls!"    Connor on Love XO, Adrian in Class of 1970, Andreas in After Them. Sam in Deadly Fiance. 

Even in Gacy: Serial Killer Next Door (2024), in which a fictional next door neighbor suspects that Gacy is a serial killer, and is constantly dismissed by the adults.  Most of Gacy's victims are gay, but as far as I can tell, Bobby (Mason) is straight. 

Mason's most recent project is Billy the Kid: Blood and Legend (2026): Sheriff Pat Garrett (Costas Mandylor) hunts his former friend, the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid (Mason).  They "are locked in a deadly game where survival and justice are measured in bullets."  What the heck does that mean?  I'm not into Westerns, but you can tell by the poster that there's a Woman of His Dreams.

In addition to acting, Mason is a singer/songwriter.  I checked two of his music videos: 

"Dust" is about losing the Girl of Your Dreams.

"Lessons of Love" shows two girls rejecting him, explaining what he's doing wrong, and finally agreeing to dates.  The first involves dancing, and the second running hand in hand through grass. 

Dude is straight.

More after the break

Scream Queens: Glen Powell and John Stamos compare dicks at a sinister hospital. And there's a serial killer. And some butts

 

I was recommended Glen Powell's shower scene in Episode 2.2 of the horror-comedy Scream Queens.  I watched ten minutes of the first episode when it premiered in 2015, and turned it off, but for a shower-scene why not give it another chance?

Link to NSFW version

The premise: this is a genre-bending horror-comedy about a serial killer stalking co-eds, all named Chanel, with the headmistress played by Jaime Lee Curtis, the Last Girl from Halloween.  

Scene 1: In the last episode, a swamp monster played by Jeremy Batiste killed a patient at the C.U.R.E. Institute, where "the incurable are curable." Wait, I thought we were at a college. The cop is not impressed, and thinks that Outcast Chanel did it..  Evil Dean Munsch, played by Jaime Lee Curtis, thinks that  thecop  is an idiot.

The other two Chanels also think that Outcast Chanel did it, out of frustration because she's so ugly no one will screw her: "The closest shes gotten to sex is when a bookshelf fell on her."  Why, did it have a book about sex? I don't get the joke.   And jealous because they scored hot dates with the Sleazoid Doctors, Brock and Cascade(Taylor Lautner, top photo, John Stamos).

Scene 2: The Sleazoid Doctors and Chanels are interviewing Tyler, played by Colton Haynes, who is covered with large orange tumors, actually not disgusting.  So the Chanels have graduated with nursing degrees, and all gone to work at the Institute, and the headmistress became their boss?  That's not at all unlikely.   

His  regular doctors say that it is incurable, but the Sleazoid Doctors think that  they can remove the tumors with a CO2 Laser.  Except they're too expensive; there aren't any at the center. So just transfer him to a facility that has one.

Scene 3: A non-Chanel nurse and Chamberlain, played by James Earl, wonder why, if Evil Dr. Munsch was upstairs during the murders, she didn't hear the screams and growling?  She must be in on it.

Last season, she was in charge of a college, and did some crazy shenanigans, but the Chanels foiled her scheme.  Dr. Munsch must have brought them here for revenge, sending the swamp monster  to pick them off one by one. So, what are her qualifications?  All she has is the honorary Ph.D. that the University of Pittxburgh took from Bill Cosby.

Scene 4:  Sleazoid Doctor #1 on his movie date with the Head Chanel. She reveals her favorite hobby: dropping popcorn on the floor, so the fatties feel bad about themselves.  He loves the idea!  

Meanwhile, Orange Boy and Outcast Chanel bond over stories of being the outcast in their cliques. He shows her a picture from before the orange tumors: he was hot!  She vows to get him the money for the CO2 Laser. 

More screaming after the break

Jeremy Renner: A gay serial killer, some gay subtext roles, some homophobia, and a penis

  

Like to the nude photos

I wanted to do a profile of Jeremy Renner, the one-time roommate of Kristoffer Winter, who may or may not have dated my friend Infinite Chazz in West Hollywood.  But there are problems: few nude photos, not much beefcake, and he's extremely homophobic. 

Addressing the rumors that he's bisexual because he was living with a man and a woman, he cursed "they're not f*** true!"  Same thing when he dumped both to move in with Kristoffer Winters, who may or may not have dated my friend Infinite Chazz in West Hollywood: "Believe whatever you f*king want!"

By the way, his favorite movie is the deeply homophobic Braveheart, which he's seen 35 times.  

Jeremy will not be playing a gay character anytime soon -- God help the agent who suggests it! -- but oddly, there are obviously unintentional gay subtexts in some of his movies, beginning with the first, National Lampoon's Senior Trip, 1995: stoner Dags has a buddy.

And A Friend's Betrayal, 1996. He's not the one doing the betraying, but he does have a buddy, Brian Austin Green.

How about a fey vampire who preys on teenage boys in a 2000 episode of Angel?

Or a 2002 biopic of Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer who preyed on teenage boys?  Why would the homophobic Jeremy accept such a role?

He gives us some rear nudity in Twelve and Holding, 2005:  "A 12-year old boy and his friends face the harsh realities of death, teenage hormones, and family dysfunction." 100 to 1 the "hormones" mean the 12-year old gets down with a girl.

More Jeremy after the break

Braxton Alexander: Three heterosexual boyfriends, three serial killers, one saxophone, and five bare butts

Born in 2007, actor and model Braxton Alexander had a busy child star career. Strangely, although of course he had no control over the scripts at age eight or nine, his movies and tv shows seem overwhelmingly heteronormative, if not downright homophobic.

Link to the bare butts

Four episodes of Mr. Mercedes (2017) as the young Brady Hartsfield, living through the horrific childhood that would turn him into a homophobic mass murderer with psychic powers.

 

(Left: Harry Treadaway, who plays the adult Brady)

The young Callahan in Tag (2018), about a group of friends who play an elaborate game of tag every year, while not making homophobic jokes and fielding gay panic.  

The young Callahan kisses a girl. So you can have boys and girls sparking at each other from the womb, but heaven forbid depicting a gay kid.

(Left: Jon Hamm, who playes the adult Callahan).

Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square (2020) is intensely heteronormative: the meaning of life is boys and girls gazing at each other forever. Brax (bottom) plays a singer.

The Black Phone (2021) is about a gay predator who kidnaps young boys (I'm not kidding).  Brax plays a bully, not one of the victims.

In I Want You Back (2022), a dumped boyfriend and girlfriend try to sabotage their exes' new relationships and get them back.  Brax plays a "middle school boyfriend."

The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022-4) features two brothers in love with a girl named Belly. Brax plays the young Conrad, falling for Belly at the age of 13.

More Brax after the break

"Chucky": Gay Kid, Murderous Doll, Small Town. What Could Go Wrong?

 I've seen one or two of the Child's Play movies, about a homicidal doll.  Some of them are apparently queer-friendly, with gay and nonbinary characters.  Most recently, the Chucky tv series (2021-) reputedly has a gay protagonist, so I bought the first season on Vudu and reviewed the first episode.

Scene 1:  Idyllic small-town Hackensack, New Jersey, a suburb of Manhattan.  At a late-autumn yard sale, Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur, a femme young man with big hair and an ostentatious ring), buys a vintage Chucky doll.  

On the way home, he listens to "Hackenslash," a podcast about the dark side of Hackensack.  Today's episode: Charles Lee Ray, who killed his family in 1965.  (I think he's the one whose spirit possessed the Chucky doll.)  

Scene 2:  Jake's room.  He's building a truly disgusting statue composed entirely of doll heads.  I can't even look at the nightmare.  Dad (former teen idol Devon Sawa) enters to complain about Jake "playing with dolls" and "why don't you ask a girl to a movie."  He's only worried about Jake being gay? The kid is seriously disturbed!

Scene 3: Dinner with Dad's twin brother, his wife, and his son Junior (Teo Briones), who "accuses" Jake of being gay.  This enrages Dad so much that he shatters glasses on the floor and yells "He's 13.  He doesn't know what he is yet." So he can know if he's hetero and "ask a girl to a movie," but he can't know if he's gay?

Jake points out that he's 14, not 13.  Big faux-pas, Dad!  (the actor is 16).

Additional plot dump: Jake's Mom died in a car crash (of course).  Dad's business is going under, but he refuses to accept aid from his brother.  Dad drinks.

Brother's Wife Bree says she has to go to the bathroom, but instead she sneaks into Jake's room to make a secret phone call.  She finds the Chucky doll lurking in a closet.

Scene 4: Dad bursts into Jake's room and smashes the nighmare statue (Good!), but only because he thinks that Jake is gay.  "No more dolls!"  

In the morning, Jake checks the internet and finds that mint-condition Chucky dolls sell for $1,500.  Surely Dad will make an exception for a cash cow?  To be safe, Jake takes Chucky to school with him.

Scene 5:  On the bus, Jake is bullied and laughed at. Well, you're a 14-year old lugging a gigantic doll around. He gazes longingly at Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), who hosts the Hackenslash podcast, but his abusive cousin Junior is already sitting with him. 

Scene 6: At school, Jake's friend asks to be introduced to his cousin Junior, but Junior overhears and says "I'm flattered, but that's not really my thing."  Not so homophobic today.  To demonstrate, he smooches his girlfriend, the Mean Girl Lexi.

Scene 7:  In biology class, Jake is skittish about dissecting a frog.  He zones out, and when he returns, the frog is hacked to bits!  The teacher confiscates his Chucky doll.

Meanwhiel, Mean Girl Lexi starts a "Go Fund Me" to humiliate Jake. The teacher keeps her after class to complain.  When she leaves the room, Chucky menaces Lexi.

Scene 8: At lunch, podcaster Devon sits with Jake, but only to ask to interview him for an episode on bullying.  This enrages Jake, and he storms away.

Scene 9: At home, prospective buyers are contacting Jake.  One happens to be Andy Barclay, Chucky's original owner, who warns him about "mysterious things" happening around the doll.  Jake checks the internet: lots of murders.  Wait -- I thought just one Chucky doll was possessed.  Is it all of them? 

Scene 10:  When we last saw Chucky, he was locked in a cabinet at school, but somehow he ended up at home, and Dad found him!  "You have to get rid of this doll, now!"  Tell him about the $1500.  Suddenly Chucky speaks -- without batteries!  Jake freaks out and throws him in the garbage.

Scene 11: School Talent Show.  Devon is not only a podcaster, but a pianist.  Later, Mean Girl uses her "talent" to humiliate Jake.  Suddenly Chucky is there!  Jake takes the stage, pretending to be a ventriloquist: "I'm Chucky.  We're friends to the end.  Only friends.  Not that there's anything wrong with that." 

He humiliates Lexi for dating both Junior and Oliver (Avery Esteves), and reveals a few more secrets, including Aunt Bree's obsession with Pokemon porn, to laughter and applause.

Scene 12:  At home, Dad is getting drunk.  Jake was suspended for his performance at the talent show: "You insulted your friends and family in front of the school!  Everybody thinks you're...weird." Does he mean gay?  Jake calls him out on his homophobia, and he responds by beating, strangling, and threatening to kill Jake.  

This annoys Chucky, who cuts the electricity.  When Dad goes down to the basement barefoot to check the circuit breakers, Chucky electrocutes him.  Jake is horrified.

Scene 13: Jake talking to Detective Evans, who happens to be Devon's Mom, and Detective Peyton (Travis Milne). You called the cops for an accidental death?  

"You will be staying with your uncle.  Are you sure you don't want to see the grief counselor?"  An hour after his Dad's death?  Give him a couple of days.

They ask how the Chucky doll got from a locked cabinet in the school into the house.  How would they know that unless they asked the teacher or Jake?  And why would they, unless they suspect the dolll?  Jake claims that he broke into the school to retrieve it to work on his ventriloquist act.

The body bag is carted out, open enough to give Jake a good look at his father's bloody face.  That's got to be against protocol.

Uncle Logan arrives.  Oh, that's why it's a twin brother -- so Devon Sawa can continue to be on the show.

Scene 14:  Uncle Logan has a palatial estate!  A giant chandelier in the circular stairwell!  Aunt Bree shows Jake his gigantic room and gives him a map to the upstairs guest-wing bathroom.  Hasn't he been there before?

Cousin Junior just stands there, glaring at him.  What is he upset about?  Does he suspect something?  Jake shuts the door.  

Chucky animates.  Jake yells at him for killing his Dad, but Chucky insists: "He was an asshole.  He got what he deserved. Now let's talk about that bitch Lexi."  The end.

Beefcake: None.

Heterosexism:  None.

Gay Characters: Jake's friend.  Jake, although at this point unclear whether Jake is actually gay or just "accused."  Devon has not been specifically identified as gay, either, but he becomes Jake's boyfriend later.

The Doll Head Sculpture: If Jake is not being presented as a psychopath, what was the point of the nightmarish sculpture? (I can't even bring myself to make a screenshot of it).

My Grade: A-.

The Top Gay Hunks of "American Horror Story: New York City"

 

American Horror Story, Season 11, is a refreshing change of pace in the long-runnning series.  First, they've covered all of the paranormal bogies, from ghosts to vampires to aliens, so in this season they're sticking close to Earth with an ordinary murder mystery.  It's about a serial killer stalking New York's gay community in the early 1980s: think Cruising, but less homophobic. Second, although  Leather/BDSM is still portrayed as decadent, wild, and violent, sex outside a committed relationship is even more likely to "draw the darkness."   Third, after several seasons with no gay characters, or gay-femme villains, or "gay" guys who only have sex with women, most of the main cast is gay and into men.  Introduced in the first two episodes:

Spoiler alert: I give away some surprises.

1. Patrick (Russell Tovey), a newly-out, divorced, closeted cop who doesn't want to investigate the serial killer for fear of outing himself.  Or he may be the serial killer: he has a secret closet full of leather gear and handkerchiefs of every color, from light blue (oral) to yellow (golden showers).

2. Gino (Joe Mantello, only with a ridiculous tan), his boyfriend,a reporter for a gay newspaper trying to research the story in spite of Patrick's reticence.  He is captured by a serial killer who acts like he's in The Silence of the Lambs. No doubt a red herring.

3. Adam (Charlie Carver), who lost his roommate to the serial killer, and caught a glimpse of a suspect: a muscular guy in a leather outfit (like everyone at the Eagle on a Saturday night?).  He launches his own investigation, and discovers that Theo (#4 below), has photographed him.

4. Theo (Isaac Powell), a photographer who specializes in disturbing scenes , like men in leather (think Mapplethorpe).  By the second episode, he's on the way to pursuing a "normal" relationship with Adam (that is, one modeled after traditional heterosexual courtship, where the first date ends with a kiss rather than a blow job, and you don't see him naked until you have celebrated at least three major holidays together). .     

5. Sam (Zachary Quinto), Theo's  manipulative, cocaine-snorting boyfriend, who may also be the serial killer: he invites random strangers home for BDSM scenes without asking what they're into or giving them a safe word.  Plus the mysterious muscular leatherman that Adam saw is his bodyguard/doorman.

6. Henry (Dennis O'Hare), an elderly, fey Quinton Crisp type who knows something about the serial killer: he 's somehow connected to anal sex, which also "draws the darkness."  Wow, no anal, no BDSM, no sex at all on the first date. My Sunday School teacher was less uptight. 

7. Big Daddy (Matthew William Bishop), the guy Adam saw, Theo photographed, and Sam keeps around for his aesthetic appreciation.   This is Matthew's first screen role; previously he worked in public relations, and was an amateur bodybuilder.  On the show, everyone who sees him is terrified; personally, I would be asking for his phone number.  

See also: Matthew William Bishop: leatherman, muscleman, LGBTQ advocate.

"American Horror Stories", Season 2: All Men are Straight, Evil, and Fully Clothed

 

The anthology American Horror Story, which goes through a single plotline per season, has a good but not great record of LGBT representation: the gay male characters are usually evil, or die immediately, or fall in love with women.  But at least there are always musclemen taking their clothes off.

The spin-off American Horror Stories is worse.  In Season 2 so far, there have been no gay male characters at all, just some lesbian and bisexual women.   The straight male characers are always evil, trying to oppress, victimize, or literally objectify the women.  And beefcake is as rare as nice guys.

Spoiler alert: I'm giving away the surprise ending of all of these stories.

Episode 1: "Dollhouse" In the 1950s, a crazy old guy notices that his son likes dolls, so he decides to turn some women into living dolls.  He's also looking for a substitute for his dead wife.  In an Easter egg, it's hinted that the boy will grow up to become a member of the witches' council in American Horror Story: Coven..  Presumably he's gay, but no sexual identity is specified, here or in Coven.

Episode 2: "Aura"  When she uses a new security app, a woman sees a crazy old guy banging at her door.  Her husband (Max Greenfield, top photo) thinks that she's crazy.  Turns out that it's a harmless (albeit creepy) ghost.  But hubbie is not so harmless.

Max Greenfield played a swishy gay villain on American Horror Story: Hotel.  But there are no gay characters here.  And no beefcake.

Episode 3: "Drive."  A woman insists on going out to clubs and picking up strange men (and women), even though there's a serial killer stalking partiers.  Turns out that she is the serial killer, with her husband Chaz (Anthony de la Torre) as an accomplice.  This one has a muscle guy in his underwear (Nico Greetham) tied to a chair before he's butchered.

Why is she a serial killer?  She's trying to get even with the dudebros who ridiculed her in high school, and their ilk today.  

Episode 4:  "Milkmaids."  Two women in a smallpox-ridden village put their faith in science and develop a cure (over 100 years before Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine).  Meanwhile the snarling, superstitious men of the village, recently widowed Thomas (Cody Fern)  and the Pastor (Seth Gabel), fulminate about witchcraft and plot homicide.  The women begin a romantic relationship, but the men are both straight and hetero-horny.  Even Thomas, though Cody Fern is gay in real life.

I had to just listen to this while pretending to be immersed in something on my cell phone, since the original cure involved...well, never mind. 

Episode 5: "Bloody Mary."  Four girls summon the urban-legend spirit, who orders them to perform horrifying tasks.  No boys around except for a predatory guidance counselor and the crush of one of the girls (JJ Batteast), who keeps smooching on his girlfriend in front of her.  Rude!

The transwoman Dominique Jackson stars as Bloody Mary, who started off as a cisgender woman with husband and son.  Nothing LGBTQ here.

Episode 6: "Facelift."  An elderly woman just wanted a facelift, but instead she runs afoul of a cult run by an evil (female) plastic surgeon.  Next door neighbor Bernie (Todd Waring) seems to be interested in her, but he falls for a prettier girl instead, and in the end tries to kill her.  Nothing gay here, and Bernie doesn't take off his clothes.

Episode 7: "Game Over."  Dr. Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott), who ran afoul of some gay ghosts in American Horror Story: Murder House, here is going on a tour of famous haunted houses (along with his wife, naturally).  He meets various ghosts from past seasons, including the lesbian-lover pair from American Horror Stories, Season 1.  But no gay men.

"Beyond Evil": Gay Cops Chase a Korean Serial Killer

 

Two guys face each other.  Younger: "I'm going to move here."  They get even closer.  Older: "What about me interests you so much?"  They get even closer, their faces inches apart.  Younger: "What about me interests you so much?" 

Whoa, palpable sexual tension!  The hottest scene I've seen in months.  Is this a gay love story?  

No, it's Beyond Evil, a Korean drama about two cops, a serial killer, yadda yadda yadda.  0% of the action-adventure movies released during the last 20 years have had gay leads.  Each must think that the other is the killer, so their closeness represents not attraction but threat.  

But what about this shot?  Standard Korean gesture of gratitude?

I'm going in.

Scene 1: Night, in the marshes.  A young cop finds something terrifying.  Panicking, he yells for middle-aged cop Dong-Sik, who comes running.  Close-up of what he found (I can't tell what it is).

Scene 2: Daytime, the year 2000.  A florist drives through the city and delivers flowers to a church. A choir is practicing.  Yu-yeon, a teenage girl, is playing the piano.  Two women discuss how wonderful she is -- intelligent, a good Catholic -- while her twin brother Dong-Sik is a lazy bum.

Cut to the young Dong-Sik playing the guitar and singing in an empty cafe.  The teenage girl in charge tells him to get out: he just bought one cup of coffee, which doesn't give him the right to sing for two hours.  They argue; he threatens to hit her, then leaves. 

Scene 3: The over-accomplished Yu-Yeon gets a text from her brother Dong-Sik, sneaks out of the house, and walks through the dark, scary marshes.  The street lights go out; there's someone behind her!  Cut to her body lying in the marsh, her hands tied so it looks like she is praying.

In the morning, Mom goes outside to get the newspaper, and sees all of Yu-Yeon's fingertips lined up!

Scene 4: 2020.  Top-of-his-class hotshot cop Ju-Won drive through town, passing a lot of posters about the missing girl (never taken down, even after 20 years?).  Meanwhile, middle-aged cop Dong-Sik (left) is investigating an altercation at a beauty parlor.  Suddenly one of the women grabs his hair, and he goes ballistic and arrests everyone.  "Him and his temper!" the guys at the station complain.  

At the station, the chief yells at Dong-Sik for wasting everyone's time. "They were gambling!"  "But only 10 or 20 won!" "So what?  Many a mickle makes a muckle!"  Where the heck did the translators find that obscure Scottish phrase?

Hotshot Ju-Won arrives.  He doesn't even start today, but he's so dedicated that he came early. 

While Hotshot is being processed, the other cops gossip.  He was top of his class at police academy, scored 100% on his fitness test, and he's handsome!  Plus his Dad is the deputy commissioner, the #2 Cop in all of Korea!  Dong-Sik fumes with jealousy. As a teen, he lived in his sister's shadow, and now this!

Scene 5: A man comes into the station complaining that his son didn't come home last night.  Maybe he was murdered, like that girl 20 years ago!  Dong-Sik tells him that in Korea, you can only report someone missing if they are a juvenile or mentally disabled.  They will have to classify his son as a runaway.  

Later, Dong-Sik is crossing the street when his hip injury acts up.  He takes his pain pills.  Hotshot Ju-Won, driving past, sees him hobbling along, but doesn't offer him a ride.  Jerk!

Scene 6:  Manyang Butcher Shop. Dong-Sik and his friends having dinner.  All men, including his "best friend," the rather feminine Jeong-je....hmm.  Jeong-je's sister Ji-Hwa joins them.  They discuss who the Hotshot Ju-Won will be paired with. Jeong-je doesn't want him: "Not my type."  Does that mean the same thing in Korean as in English?

Dong-Sik doesn't want him either, because his father, Deputy Commissioner Han Gi-Hwan, stopped the investigation into his sister's disappearance, back when he was a local police inspector 20 years ago.  Grr!

Flashback to the Deputy Commissioner having dinner with his hotshot son.  Every graduate of the police academy has to spend  six months in a boring hick town.  After that, it's on to glamour and excitement -- if he doesn't screw up.  Apparently Hotshot is not so hot after all.  

Scene 7: Morning.  Dong-Sik introduces himself to Hotshot, who refuses to shake hands.  Jerk! 

Inside the police station, everyone except Dong-Sik volunteers to partner with the handsome Hotshot (wouldn't you?).  Hotshot says he'll take anybody except Dong-Sik the "nutjob."  The Chief thinks that guys who don't like each other are more professional on the job, so he partners them.  

Scene 8: In the squad car, while the germophobic Hotshot (left) wipes everything down, Dong-Sik brings up the snub at the crosswalk.  He denies it until Dong-Sik remembers every detail, including his license plate number. "Be careful," he says threateningly.  "There are no secrets in this town. You are always being watched."

They get a report of Mr. Bang, an elderly man with dementia, wandering in the marshes, and set out to look for him.  Hotshot doesn't like swatting through six-foot tall reeds, or getting his brand-new spiffy shoes all muddy.  Eventually they find Mr. Bang -- someone Dong-Sik knew as a teenager!  He gets combative, and they have to roll around in the mud to subdue him.

Scene 9: They bring Mr. Bang home.  A middle-aged woman tells them that every October he goes berserk and tries to break into an old shed. "Aren't you sick of this?" she asks Dong-Sik.  "Don't you think he should go into a nursing home?" What does Dong-Sik have to do with an elderly man with dementia?

Scene 10: After they clean up, the other cops warn Hotshot about marsh duty.  "Didn't your friends tell you about it?"  Hotshot says that he has no friends, just people who try to cozy up to him because of his family connections. Awww, a poor little rich boy.  Dong-Sik thinks he has no friends for another reason, being a stuck-up jerk. 

The Chief says he was thinking of inviting Hotshot out to dinner, but he wouldn't want him to think he was cozying up because of his family connections.

Scene 10:  Hotshot hesitates, but finally decides to go to the dinner.  Dong-Sik and some other cops are there.  The Chief introduces Jeon-je, the feminine guy from Scene 6, and makes sure they sit together.  Matchmaking?  Jeon-je's sister arrives and makes the faux-pas of mentioning Hotshot's famous father.  Hotshot tells them that he doesn't like hearing his father's name.  They make fun of him.

Scene 11: Leaving the dinner, Hotshot sees Dong-Sik working at the butcher shop.  He must not make enough money as a cop.  He asks what the woman in Scene 8 has on Dong-Sik, that she can call him with family problems, and he comes running.  "I killed Mr. Bang's daughter," Dong-Sik replies. When Hotshot gapes in shock, he says he was only joking. Or was he....

Dong-Sik: You're so gullible.  I like you.

Hotshot: I don't want you to like me.

Dong-Sik: It's not up to you, is it?  I'll like you if I want to.

Scene 12:  Hotshot having dinner with his former tutor Kwan Hyuk (that same night?).   Hyuk mentions a girl, and Hotshot says "I'm not interested."  "I know -- I meant for me.  I want to become the Deputy Commissioner's son, one who never lets him down."   Ok, that does it, Hotshot is gay.

Kyuk gives him the file on Dong-Sik's sister's disappearance 20 years ago, and he takes it to his elegant apartment to read.  Dad texts: "Keep a low profile until things calm down.  Do not disgrace me."  That does it, Hotshot is gay.

Scene 13: Nine months ago.  Hotshot lecturing to some assembled cops: 20 years ago, Dong-Sik's sister disappeared, and Mr. Bang's daughter was murdered, on the same day.  The cases we are working on now have the same MO.  It must be the same killer.  I believe that it's Dong-Sik!

 Scene 14: Dong-Sik supervises as they install a new poster about his missing sister.  Then he gets a call that Mr. Bang is wandering the marshes again, and sets out -- with his former partner, Ji-Hun!  The Captain sends Hotshot out anyway.

By the time he gets there, it's night.  We replay Scene 1: Ji-Hun finds the scary thing.  I still can't tell what it is, but Dong-Sik recognizes the remains of his sister. The end.

Beefcake: None during the show, but fortunately every Korean actor has some shirtless shots posted online.

Gay Characters: I think both Dong-Sik and Hotshot are gay.

Mystery: Who is the serial killer? Obviously not Dong-Sik, and Hotshot is too young. I'm betting on his father, the Deputy Commissioner who called off the search for the missing sister.

My Grade: A if they stay gay.  C+ if Hotshot gets a girlfriend,

(He doesn't.)