The party is called Ghost Fag, and it’s basically a version of every party you’ve ever seen in any gay show in history. Eventually, Brodie and his also-gay brother Julian (Ryan O’Connell) move into Noah’s huge apartment and decide to start their own party to reclaim some of the joy lost that night at Babylon. The group of friends makes fun of mainstream gays and attempts at applying flashy rainbow capitalist salves to the gruesome wounds of being publicly and homophobically targeted. Ruthie finds she can’t cum anymore, while Noah and Brodie grieve their mutual friend Daddius, who was one of the 9 casualties at Babylon-and who Noah was secretly fucking. It’s a lot, and the following episodes do their best to try and do justice to everyone’s specific trauma journey regarding the shooting. He ends the night at the legendary gay club Babylon, where he meets and is hit on by Marvin (Eric Graise) and sees teen Mingus’s drag performance before the night gets interrupted by an Omar Mateen-esque spree shooter. He also catches up with Ruthie, his childhood best friend and one-time lover, who is now expecting twins with her partner Shar. Without a place to stay, he drops into his ex Noah’s (Johnny Sibily) apartment, hoping the two can rekindle their flame: despite Brodie having left town right after the death of Noah’s mother some years earlier.
In the show’s pilot, we’re introduced to Brodie (Devin Way), a young gay man on the verge of dropping out of med school to return to his hometown of New Orleans, where all his old friends (and queer community) are still living. That is not, and has never been “Queer as Folk’s” job.
One show can hardly encompass the needs, desires, fears, and realities of an entire community. And unfortunately for me, it’s the most important aspect. But there was one element of the show that was conspicuously missing from the vibrant, glittery undertaking of the reboot. That said, we have other things to fight against.