By now, their brand of self-love, self-care, self-improvement and self-acceptance is laser-focused. There is nothing that can surprise the gang – except maybe the mid-episode reveal that one participant is the brother of a famous pop star. The only real change here is that the headquarters have moved from Atlanta to Philadelphia. Jonathan Van Ness remains eternally watchable, even when he’s simply shouting “We love safety!” and “I love an alley!” Food expert Antoni Porowski even shows up in a T-shirt emblazoned with “Nothing irrational about my love for the National”, a knowing nod to his seemingly endless supply of band T-shirts. This is a format so good that the five of them know it doesn’t need a makeover.
In the opening episode, they meet Noah, a pastor who runs an evangelical church, who is struggling with his identity as a gay man. Through numerous heart-to-hearts, he learns to cook for himself, keep his appearance tidy and, crucially, he gets some major work done on his dilapidated parsonage
In the opening episode, they meet Noah, a pastor who runs an evangelical church, who is struggling with his identity as a gay man. Through numerous heart-to-hearts, he learns to cook for himself, keep his appearance tidy and, crucially, he gets some major work done on his dilapidated parsonage. Most of the participants in this show need some new furniture and a lick of paint, but in this case, the walls are quite literally crumbling away.
Even though there is a reveal, they resist milking it with any hugely dramatic before-and-after moments, instead showing most of the tweaks as they go along. Still, its narrative of transformation gives it the irresistible appeal of Changing Rooms combined with What Not to Wear, with the added benefit of 20 years of social progression.
If this is an accurate portrait of the US, then it is a hopeful one. There is a mobile dog-groomer who is the tallest woman in her family at 6′ 3″, a newly qualified paediatrician who gave birth six weeks before her final medical residency and an earnest teenager fully embracing politics and activism who is in danger of burning out. Ryan is a DJ on the Jersey Shore, at least by night, though by day he is a property manager for the family firm.
The nice thing about Queer Eye is that it pushes your feel good buttons in the way you would largely expect – the transformative power of a nice haircut, some carefully chosen and well-fitted clothes, a living space that suits the person’s needs is clearly not to be underestimated – but it also takes the occasional swerve into the surprising. You might be forgiven for thinking that the advice to Ryan would be to knuckle down, now that he is in his late 30s and wants to find a family, but instead, they encourage him to follow his heart, into the club.
This fifth season arrived with such haste that I checked my Netflix to see if I had finished the fourth. I still had three episodes to go. Five seasons of any show is a lot, in such a short period of time, but the beauty of Queer Eye is that it’s adaptable and could run for years. Perhaps it will. It seems churlish to object to a show as wholesome as this on the grounds that there is too much of it. It’s not as if there is an excess of love and understanding in the world. In its most poignant moments, and there are many, this show is compassionate, humanising and completely heartening.
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