i have never, in my life, ever been moved like this by a show. i have never cried like this over a show. but that’s because this really is more than a show. this was reality for the thousands, millions of queer folk who came before us. it reminds us: we should always remember to celebrate those that made it possible for us simply to be able to exist and live and love freely. to be.
i honestly couldn’t think of many better ways to pay homage to those queer lives, especially the ones lost, who fought bravely even in the face of death than telling their stories like this; exactly as they were. intricate, raw and real. giving another voice to all that love. the fight might not be over yet, but their contributions have left a lasting impact on this world. telling these stories isn’t just necessary, it’s crucial.
i can’t thank the writers, actors and absolutely everyone else involved in creating fellow travelers enough for bringing this vital, beautiful, poignant, devastating and endlessly meaningful, impactful, important story to life. thank you thank you thank you
for a lot of scenes between lucy and hawk there is a parallel scene between tim and hawk that shows how surface level the relationship between lucy and hawk is. a few examples:
lucy was gifted a tiffany bracelet by hawk for christmas while a few scenes before we saw that tim was gifted hawks cufflinks with the initials h.f. on them. hawk gives tim something personal, a part of him while he gives lucy, while expensive and beautiful, something materialistic with no personality attached to it whatsoever.
episode six was full of these parallels. we see lucy and hawk having sex. they're both fully clothed, it's quick and unpersonal. hawk seems to have sex with her that night for two reasons: one, he wants to prove to her that he is, in fact, aroused by her. that he can be the man she needs. he wants to prove to her that he can be that man because he saw her flirting with Chet Stover. he saw them coming out of the house together during the firework scene. hawk is, after all, a jealous man that likes to claim his property. he does not want to be ridiculed by his friends and least of all by his wife.
if we compare that to the several scenes where we see tim and hawk being intimate, we can see a very big difference. first of all they're never fully clothed, this symbolizes that they're open with one another. there are no secrets between them, no barriers holding them back when it's just the two of them. secondly, they don't just "have sex" they're intimate. they play with their kinks, they tease each other; it's about pleasure between them, not about performance, like it is for hawk with lucy.
in episode six we also see lucy and hawk struggling with raising jackson. neither of them know how to talk to him, which results in frustrations on both sides. then we're shown jackson interacting with tim. tim understands jackson, he knows what the boy is going through (because he's been through the same; not feeling loved by hawk the way he wanted to feel loved by him). we get a glimpse of how happy a family tim, hawk and a child (jackson in this case) could have been. how great a team they would make if given the chance. the way hawk shows up differently for his son after his talk with tim, the way jackson opens up to tim and feels understood by him.
lastly, another lovely detail to show the personal relationship between hawk & tim vs the impersonal one between hawk & lucy. hawk gives tim the nickname "skippy" after 0.001 seconds of knowing him, while he keeps referring to lucy as "lucy smith".
i love how fellow travelers shows the hardships queer people had to face in the past. especially because it doesn't show just one story but different one's and includes poc voices!!
I really think fellow travellers had the best possible finale for all the characters on the show. However, I just really wish we got to see Hawk actually say I love you to skippy, it would’ve meant so much to him. And maybe Marcus and Frankie at the AIDS memorial quilt, showing a happy end after everything they went through.
"He wasn't my friend, he was the man i loved" This scene emotionally broke me. I cried a lot with Hawk. It was a beautiful ending that pays homage to the victims of AIDS. This story is a masterpiece. The love between Hawk and Tim is eternal. I'm so proud of Hawk for being honest with the most important person in his life: his daughter, for honoring the memory of the man he loves and for undertaking the difficult path of authenticity
Matt Bomer is a truly wonderful actor and deserves every award and recognition for his portrayal of Hawk Fuller