SERIES REVIEW: Queer Eye

A screen grab shot from the show's trailer. The 2003 series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is back, only this time it is rebooted and reloaded on Netflix as Queer Eye. PHOTO| COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Queer Eye is about doing makeovers for men.
  • The Fab 5, as they are known, are the ones in charge of these makeovers, taking over and covering different aspects of life.

The 2003 series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is back, only this time it is rebooted and reloaded on Netflix as Queer Eye, possibly because now they're not just rebooting straight guys only (in the third season of the show last time, they started making over women and gay men as well). Let's be honest, everyone at this point needs help, and not even in the way you are thinking. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Queer Eyeis about doing makeovers for men. The Fab 5, as they are known, are the ones in charge of these makeovers, taking over and covering different aspects of life. The Fab 5 in this 8-episode season are: Tan France, a Pakistani silver fox in charge of fashion, Karamo Brown, the only black man in the pack and of course, in charge of culture, Bobby Berk, who has a brown and a green thumb and does wonders with people's houses and gardens, Jonathan Van Ness, whose extra (EXTRA!) expertise revolves around hair and grooming, and finally, Antoni Porowski, recommended by the food expert on the last season of the show, whose personal chef he used to be.

UNLIKE ANY OTHER MAKEOVER SHOW

I know it sounds like every other makeover show you've ever seen, but it really isn't, and let me tell you why. First of all, this Fab 5 are in touch with the world and aware of the world in relation to gay people, which is a different stretch from the initial Fab 5. Not that the pioneers weren't aware – they were just pushing for a different message (we're here and we're queer). These guys are more of a We've Been Here, We've Been Queer, let's move on and also learn some tolerance and fashion sense while you're at it.

Then, generally, if you love makeover shows, crying after each episode is an easy sell but the difference with this one, in comparison to say, Pimp My Ride, or Extreme Makeover Home Edition, is that the changes and makeovers are actually sustainable. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Extreme Makeover, but there's no way that those people in their new gargantuan houses were going to ever be able to keep up with the maintenance bills on their mansions.

Not from the sob stories we were fed before about how little money they were making, which is why they needed the makeover in the first place. At a bare minimum, maintenance was going to be a challenge. And also, obviously, changing your house is kind of pointless if your lifestyle remains the same, no? I would end up renting.

And of course, we all know what happened with the scandal that was Pimp My Ride – where they would add things to the car for the show then take them out after the cameras stopped rolling. Honestly, the excess was much. An aquarium in the trunk? Really? Why? Who actually needs or wants that?

LITTLE BUT IMPORTANT THINGS

But I digress. QE manages to make small changes that can be continued after the show ends and the Fab 5 leave the makeover candidate to do their own thing. They teach little but important things, like lessons in confidence and where to shop to best flatter your figure while still remaining within your budget. They show you how with simple ingredients you can make the stuff you have in restaurants in your house – from a delicious citrusy guac to a mildly bourgeois grilled cheese sandwich.

GRABS YOU BY THE TEARDUCTS

And then there's the fact that the show-runners for this season decided that everyone must cry every single episode. The change that is so evident after the makeovers is so palpable, it leaps of the screen and grabs you by the tear ducts. Some of these guys just needed a little push in the right direction, or just needed someone to pry them out of their shells. Obviously there's the guys and the Christians and conservatives who are initially uncomfortable with hanging out with five gay guys, but they get over it once they realize what a change these guys make (see Tolerance!).

One of my favourite episodes is the very first one, where they're making over a guy called  Tom who is so convinced that he's too ugly to transform his life.

It's heart-breaking because he feels like he's been in a slump for the last 12 years of his life, unable to move, to feel motivation, or to get his ex-wife back. He keeps saying that they can do him up in all these clothes but it won't make a difference because 'you can't fix ugly'.

By the end of the episode he was a different guy – more open, better equipped to deal with his lupus, ready to love, and, his ex-wife came back (I follow them online so I know they're still together).

Queer Eye isn't about changing what's on the outside – it's about improving what's on the inside too, to bring out the amazing side that was there already.