We meet Benny, a former high school football hero and homecoming king who is struggling to accept that he is gay, let alone share his sexuality with anyone around him. Deep down he knows he is attracted to guys but he has deeply buried his sexuality under the weight of social pressure. He is now joining college at Yates where his older sister Grace and her boyfriend Peter. Peter immediately takes Benny under his wing, a committed bro’s bro, who initiates Benny into college life. According to Peter, the rules dictate that Benny has to get laid on his first night, or essentially he’ll be doomed for the rest of his time at Yates. Benny meets Carmen, another freshman and they both init off well. She is also feeling the pressure of getting laid on the first night by her roommate. They try but eventually just hangout and become very close friends. A very handsome boy Miles catches Benny's eyes and he secretly crushes on him, but at the same time he anxiously avoids making any eye contacts with openly gay folks in the campus. As the year continues, he keeps going into the closet even deeper, with his on again off again relationship/friendship with Carmen being the center. He also joins Yates’ hyper-bro elite secret society, Flesh and Gold alongwith Miles and they strike a very close friendship. Benny feels a romantic spark here with Miles and is very heartbroken to find that he is straight. Meanwhile Peter/Grace are going through their own issues and Carmen ends up sleeping with Peter a few times. Eventually Carmen also becomes first person that Benny finally confesses that he is gay. They both try to find a boy for Benny to hookup with, but with failed tries. When the whole gang goes back home for thanksgiving, thats when we are told how one of Benny's school friends was very close to him and they had a connection but when that guy tried to kiss Benny, he freaked out and snubbed him. And now when they meet again Benny apologizes and finally has his first kiss.
The central theme of the show is the deep friendship of Benny with Carmen, with Benny struggling about his sexuality. The two are pretty much allover the show and a lot of their scenes together are funny and poignant at the same time. Apparently the series is inspired from Benito's real life experiences. You have to watch the show as multiple events keep happening with Carmen and Benny navigating through college life. I was really hoping we will see something between Miles and Benny, but that soon fizzles out. It turns out Miles was really just looking for a close friend, which Benny confused for love. It happens. The lead actor is hot, handsome and charming; except I just found his acting a little over the top. And don't get me wrong. I understand this show is supposed to be OTT but just something about him that did not connect with me. Carmen and Grace's female perspective in this college show gives it a nice new dimension. The show very clearly shows us that there is an out community at Yates, and that Benny’s barriers to exit from the closet are mostly internal hang-ups, that he will have to work with. Benny is anxious and anyone dealing with so much change would be, but his fear leads him to treat people badly, which further complicates the viewer’s feelings about his journey. Ultimately, no one is really bad or good all the time, “Overcompensating” seems to tell us—we are all operating out of fear, especially in college. The show isn’t perfect. Benny’s one-step-forward, two-steps-back journey out of the closet gets wearisome and starts ti create a drag on the story pacing. And the comedy sometimes got too crass for my personal likings. Peter is another very important character here. He is loud, funny, man'a man, secret society head but also internally looking for that love. I believe in future seasons we will see more character development and also because season one ends in almost a cliffhanger where Carmen ends up kissing Miles. I am still rooting for Miles and Benny to eventually become a couple.
I feel like my definition of humor and comedy has evolved over the years and this show wasn't bad per se but I would say it was really funny. It had its moments but it also had its flaws. Hopefully the follow up seasons would be better as we would see Benny's growth and his acceptance of his sexuality. For this season, most comedy came from the toxic brand of bro-sculinity while humanizing characters that at first seem like caricatures. (6/10)
Comments