Julian’s reticence - especially in contrast with Marvin’s exuberant confidence he has clearly found a great way to spend his survivor’s fund: a sex worker! - is a reminder that it’s futile to look at these people as stand-ins for any one segment of the queer community. He has already told us he’s not into the “gay scene” (unless that gay scene involves a glory hole in a mall bathroom?), and with the prospect of an inclusive sex party at Ghost Fag giving him a chance to maybe meet fellow disabled queers, he clams up even as he claims he’s not “anti-sex party.” It’s just … not for him. It’s also a perfect summation of Julian and how Brodie’s brother has come to wall himself off emotionally and sexually from the quote-unquote LGBTQ community. As I mentioned in my last recap, we’re clearly being encouraged to think of Buffy as a key intertext for how Queer As Folk (2022) is tackling its sprawling cast of characters, and that line has a quippy, zippy quality that would feel right at home at Sunnydale High.
I love a good moment of disclosure wrapped up in near-cringe-worthy wordplay. “How can his heart be accessible when the world around him isn’t?”