Husbands is the story of two out gay men, both well known in the public sphere for their respective careers, who spontaneously marry during drunken Las Vegas revelry and try to make their marriage work in order to support the cause they were celebrating: marriage equality. Last month, So So Gay interviewed Jane Espenson and Jeff Greenstein, creators of the web series. Starring Brad Bell, otherwise known as Cheeks (playing… Cheeks), Sean Hemeon (Brady) and Alessandra Torresani (Haley), the series is a romantic comedy split into bite-sized episodes. As of 13 September, episodes have aired every Tuesday and Thursday on the official website where the whole series so far can also be watched back-to-back.
With Buffy, Firefly and Torchwood writer Espenson on board and a succession of glowing reviews and several promo clips of the stars being generally charming and funny, Husbands was already promising great things. The genre makes it more difficult to stumble upon; it has to be something brilliant to make people watch it, and then go back for each new episode. It has to deliver wit, realism, interesting characters and plot twists in a space of approximately two minutes, and it has to be consistent. It’s not the sort of thing you can just watch because it’s on; it has to be good enough to keep drawing people back to find out what happens next. And it quite probably is.
The writing is punchy and succinct, with almost every other line of dialogue equally hilarious and well delivered by the actors. The characters are completely likeable and the dynamics between them are entirely believable. Cheeks seems set on being the star of the show from the beginning, until the arrival of best friend and adopted life coach Haley. Perhaps the close nature of this homegrown, intimate series is the reason for its warmth; there’s a real feeling of connection both between the three-part cast and to the viewers watching them.
As well as managing to be clever and funny, it’s also very sweet. There’s several genuine moments of emotional connection between reluctant newlyweds Cheeks and Brady, and beyond the comedy, the portrayal of the characters struggling to come to terms with their newfound commitment is put across perfectly. Each episode ends in a hook to draw back the viewer, but the real question of whether they can survive this marriage is what will keep people watching. It’s promoting equality in more ways than one, showing that gay relationships can be as complicated, as confusing and as thoroughly messed up as any other, and as equally worth watching and caring about.
Husbands is a series that is extremely watchable, very polished, and should be watched by everybody. It’s very short – catching up on the first half of the series takes less than quarter of an hour – so there’s really no excuse not to. The only problem is that, too soon, it’s going to have to come to an end.
About the Author
Subscribe with iTunes
