I
recently watched the short-lived series Political
Animals, mainly because of its knockout cast including Sigourney Weaver,
Ciarán Hinds, Sebastian Stan, and James Wolk.
I liked the show, despite its problems, and especially enjoyed Sebastian
Stan’s T.J. I always like Stan’s work,
but here, I’m especially taken by the parallels between T.J. and my first and
still-favorite Stan character, Jack from Kings. (Character-related spoilers for both shows to
follow.)
The
same one-line description fits both characters:
the (gay) younger twin son of a world leader. Jack’s father is a king while T.J.’s was president
(with his mother planning her second attempt,) so the stories play out differently
– Jack’s plot, for instance, involves issues of succession that T.J.’s doesn’t. Still, it’s pretty close. Both are closer to their mothers and uneasy
with their fathers – former president Bud shifts between dismissiveness and
tough love, and King Silas is downright ugly.
Both are regarded as less put-together than their older twins; T.J.’s
brother Doug is a hard-working politico who ran his mother’s first campaign,
and Jack’s sister Michelle makes frequent legislative appeals before Silas’s council. The contrast between T.J. and Doug is starker,
since T.J. is an addict recently out of rehab who hits up his more
financially-stable family members for investment in his latest pursuit. Jack, an army major, is better positioned, but
he’s tarnished by misplaced blame for an ambush on his unit that resulted in
his capture, and he’s generally thought more frivolous than the dedicated
Michelle.
What interests
me most, though, are the ways the shows deal with the characters’
sexuality. In both cases, it’s a little
uncomfortable because the straight sibling is clearly painted as the “good”
twin, and Jack and T.J.’s orientations are involved in that dynamic to an
extent. However, it’s the extreme
demands of being the gay son of a
king/president, not being gay itself,
that causes most of their issues. Jack
is desperately closeted, masquerading as a womanizing party boy for the
paparazzi to deflect suspicion. Neither
of his parents are what you’d call allies.
Silas throws Jack’s secret in his face, threatens his future as king,
and makes some truly awful homophobic insinuations. When Jack, backed into a corner, confides the
truth to Queen Rose, she slaps him in the
face and then tries to make up for it with a hug. No wonder he’s fears the throne will be given
to Michelle and golden-boy David, why he thinks David is trying to steal what
should be his and looks for unscrupulous means of ensuring his place.
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