There is something to be said for catching on to a new web series some months after it has been launched, because when it is as excellent as ‘Caleb Gallo’ and you are so very intrigued as to what happens next, then you can binge watch all five episodes in one go and get totally hooked.
The fresh and charmingly funny web-series is written, directed and stars its creator Brian Jordan Alvarez, and without knowing much about him, we are guessing that the central character of confused love-lorn and totally adorable Caleb is based on his own life. Our apologies if our assumptions are wrong, but he writes and plays this young man who is convincingly in love with two men at the same time with such sheer conviction. One is his best straight friend Billy, (Jonathan Ebeling) and the other 20 year old Benifico (Antonio Marziale) who had to hot-foot it to Canada just two weeks after they had met.
Added to the mix is fiery redhead man-eating Karen (Stephanie Koenig), the curiously named Lenjamin (Ken Kirby) who claims to be going through a bi-sexual phase but seems to bail when push comes to shove, and the melodramatic gender-fluid Freckle (Jason Green) who quickly gets bored when she is not the centre of attention. All of them seem to be aspiring actors who for the most part never seem to land a job, so they vent their histrionics out on each other instead. They are all looking for love in some shape or form, but generally settle for having as much as sex as possible instead
Alvarez has created a wonderfully bizarre dynamic between this tight group of friends and it all moves along at a rapid pace that rarely eases up on the hilarity. When it does, he never shies away from getting quite deep and serious, which makes us warm to his cast of characters even more. There is faultless acting from his very talented cast, and also from the secondary players like his wonderfully funny college mentors.
Great production values too for each of the 5 episodes which are approx. each 20 minutes long, and so deserve to be picked up and showcased by a network service. We are convinced that there is bound to be one soon that is as totally smitten with The Gay & Wonderous Life of Caleb Gallo as much as queerguru is. We cannot wait to see what happens next.
Labels: 2016, Web series
