There is something immensely satisfying about being able to binge watch a complete web series even when you realize that with each episode a generous half an hour it’s the equivalent time of an epic movie. However having being so entranced with the first season of Jack Tracy’s HISTORY (see our review here) and completely invested in this group of young NY gay men and their roller-coaster love lives, we felt obliged to see what came next for them all.
Tracy the creator/writer/director and star whose relationships with his close friends and would-be lovers (and a handful of exes too) is the central theme of the show, has stepped up the melodrama quota more than a notch or two. His character Jaime is the lynch pin in this core group and he seems to be the one that always has a candidate for boyfriend in place.
He so over-thinks every single situation to the point of obsession and wants to use everyone else as a sounding board to his latest dating dilemma. He is however completely oblivious to the fact that the friends he is whining too are inevitably single and would love for the opportunity to have a relationship of their own to mess up. It is when the tables are turned and his friends William and Matthew want to share their own relationship issues, then a rather obsessed Jamie fails to be there for them.
Jamie’s set are comfortably off and all seem to have successful NY lives, so compatibility issues (which feature a great deal) are not over material or social differences but much more on sexual roles. Especially as Jaime a confirmed ‘bottom’ keeps trying to establish relationships with guys who need him to ‘top’. With him lust is important, sex is crucial, but mention the L word and panic just takes over.
Tracy excels as a writer not just with the fact that his plots cover many scenarios that gay men negotiating the dating world must deal with, where even in the world of PREP still makes for uncomfortable conversations about having sex with men who are HIV+. No matter how wrong we know that being remotely prejudice is, it is still a conversation that most gay men have had with themselves at sometime in their dating lives.
It is however his witty script peppered with more than its fair share of slightly caustic one-lines that contributes a great deal to the success of the series.
Tracy’s Jaime maybe the pivot of the piece, but that only works because all the other characters are well-rounded and extremely believable. His thoughtful and devoted ‘bestie’ William (William Cohen) has the best chance of keeping Jaime grounded although it is as obvious as hell that he is destined to be so moved up from the friends zone before the series ends; Matthew (the talented Jacob Seidman) is the gentle joker of the group and is blessed with an unceasing supply of optimism that usually means he can always muster a big grin to keep everyone in good humor.
Then there are the serious candidates for the tough task of being Jaime’s significant other, or maybe just his regular bed partner. There is young puppy-like doey eyed Collin (Misha Osherovich), or self-assured and well-endowed HIV+ Stephen (Roger Yeh) who wants Jaime to just become a homebody. The one thing they have in common (and as shallow as this must seem) they are both as hot looking as hell.
History is essentially an enchanting NY gay dating soap opera : highly emotional with more than it’s fair share of eye candy, and with such a talented cast that make this such compelling viewing. Its impressive high production values help mark this as one of the most watchable LGBT web-series around at present, and we cannot wait for Season Three.
