Sinful Sunday: Holding out for a Queer Antihero in "Prime Target"
Sulky and rude, with a doe-eyed beauty all his own, Leo Woodall's Edward Brooks is the queer antihero we deserve.
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Welcome to “Sinful Sundays,” where I explore and analyze some of the most notorious queer villains of film and TV (and sometimes literature, depending on my mood). These are the characters that entrance and entertain and revolt us, sometimes all three at the same time. As these queer villains show, very often it’s sweetly good to be bitterly bad.
It definitely seems like Leo Woodall is having a moment. After his memorable–and oddly poignant–appearance in the second season of The White Lotus, his star has only continued to climb. It’s not every young star, after all, who would be tapped to appear in the fourth installment in the Bridget Jones franchise (stay tuned for my review of Mad About the Boy very soon).
And, of course, he’s starring in his own Apple TV+ series, Prime Target.
In this series, he portrays Edward Brooks, a math prodigy studying at Cambridge who is absolutely invested (one might even say obsessed) with prime numbers and their potential to unlock the secrets of the universe. Unfortunately for him, his nascent discoveries are threatening to a number of global interests, many of which decide that he either has to be brought under control or killed. Along with Taylah Sanders (Quintessa Swindell), he globetrots to get to the center of some vaguely-defined mysteries, all while trying to stay alive. As if all of that weren’t enough, he also has a romance with a smoldering bartender, Fra Fee’s Adam Mellor.
If this all sounds quite bizarre and nearly batshit, that’s because it is. What the series lacks in any sense of narrative coherence, however, it makes up for in its compelling queer antihero, a young man who is so wrapped up in his pursuit of prime numbers that he has trouble seeing outside of himself. Woodall is at his sullen best in the role, and I think it’s safe to say that he’s going to become a beloved curmudgeon for many. I mean, who doesn’t love a sadboy math genius with puppy-dog eyes and a nice body?
However, lest you think that Edward is just your run-of-the-mill nerd, it’s worth pointing out that there’s depth to him. As he did in his characterization of Jack The White Lotus, Woodall allows us a peek into what makes Edward tick. Yes, he can be a bit of an asshole, and yes, he can sometimes get a bit prickly, particularly when someone invades his personal space (as Adam finds out when he looks through his formulas without asking). But, as we also find out, he has a troubled family history, with a mother who died when he was young and a father who has already started a new family and doesn’t seem to have much of an investment in his older son. This, in combination with the fact that his interests are constantly stymied by the powers-that-be at Cambridge give him good reason to be a bit of a frustrated jackass.
Things really start to change for Edward once he crosses paths with the (smoking hot) bartender Adam Mellor. Though the relationship is a bit touch-and-go at first–mostly due to Edward’s lack of trust in others and general dislike of people–it’s clear that the cheeky bartender brings out a softer side that Edward has so far successfully hidden from the rest of the world. The moments that the two of them share together are some of the most poignant and sweetly touching that the series have produced by far, since they give us a chance to see Edward when he’s not wrapped up in his own head. I really do hope that we get to see more of them together, both because it’s nice seeing queer male intimacy in this age of increasing sex-negativity but also, in a much more shallow vein, because they’re both very hot and look great shirtless in their underwear.
Say what you will about the illogical nature of the series’ plot, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun, and I find it refreshing to get to see a queer antihero like Edward. It remains to be seen whether his little romance with Adam is going to work out or whether his tendency to be a bit of a jerk will doom their romance (or, for that matter, whether one of the many groups after Edward decide to use Adam for some kind of sinister leverage). I do hope, though, that the series doesn’t go the lazy route and give us yet another “bury your gays” series. That whole thing has been done to death by this point and, while I’m not averse to queer characters dying if it’s in the service of the story as a whole, such a development would be particularly vexing in the current climate, in which we LGBTQ+ folks have once again become a scapegoat for society at large.
In any case, Prime Target is yet another show that deserves recognition for being willing to showcase less-than-pristine queer characters within the context of a thriller. Black Doves, the new Netflix series, did something similar with Ben Whishaw, who gave a remarkably soulful and haunted performance of a gun for hire who has to try to rebuild a life while never quite able to escape the pull of the dark world in which he has lived. Edward, of course, hasn’t gone quite this far down the road to perdition but, given the high stakes of his research and how dangerous it has already become, it’s probably safe to say that he’s going to have to make some tough choices going forward. And, given the fact that he doesn’t always know how to balance emotion with logic, and that he’s already proven to be a bit selfish, it’s entirely possible that he might face his own turn to the dark side.
It’s worth remembering that we queer folk are just as complicated as our straight counterparts, and it’s true that some of us are even unsocial jerks. Thankfully the series, so far at least, has done a good job of balancing his less likely qualities with a softer, gentler side of him, showing us just how many shades there are to his personality. Edward is like a breath of fresh air, and I can’t wait to see what more this season has in store for him.