Paid Post: TV Review--"Overcompensating"
The new Amazon series is a totally bonkers, but deeply poignant, look at the closet and the other prisons that keep young people from being their true, authentic, happy selves.
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Warning: Full spoilers for the series follow.
Oh man, where do I even begin with Overcompensating? This is the kind of show that just sweeps you up in its own ridiculousness and doesn’t let go, with a ludic sense of humor that is infectious. At the same time, it also has a genuine heart of gold, giving us characters who are messy and frustrating but ultimately good, even as there are also times that you can’t help but shake your head at their foolishness.
At the heart of the story is Benny, played with nervous and jittery earnestness by comedian Benito Skinner (who also created the show and penned several of the episodes). Our introduction to him shows him rewinding the live-action George of the Jungle so that he can watch Brendan Fraser swing from tree to tree in his leopard-skin bikini and, honestly, who can blame him? I know that I’m not alone in saying that Fraser in that role in particular was key to my own sexual awakening.
But I digress.
By the time that Benny goes to college several years later, he’s slowly begun to realize that he might be gay, though he finds it nearly impossible to admit that to anyone or even, at times, to himself. The majority of the season focuses on his efforts to come to grips with the truth of his sexuality, as well as his close friendship with Carmen (Wally Baram) and his unrequited crush on fellow freshman Miles (Rish Shah). Rounding out the main cast are Benny’s uptight and dissatisfied sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone) and her dude-bro boyfriend Peter (Adam DiMarco).