Highly anticipated gay romantic drama series Fellow Travelers is a big hit with critics ahead of its streaming debut.
The Paramount+ series finally premieres on streaming in Australia on Saturday (October 28).
The eight-part historical drama stars Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer as two gay political staffers. The “epic love story and political thriller” chronicles the clandestine romance of the two very different men, from 1950s McCarthy-era Washington to the 1980s.
Hawkins Fuller and Tim Laughlin enter into their relationship just as US senator Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn wage war on “subversives and sexual deviants”.
The pair romance each other during the extreme risks of the the “Lavender Scare” of the 1950s.
The characters’ story then spans three decades. Vietnam War protests in the 60s are followed by the “drug-fuelled disco hedonism of the 70s” before the heart-wrenching AIDS crisis in the 80s.
Fellow Travelers ‘briefly revives Golden Age of TV’
Fellow Travelers has received great reviews from critics, with a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
A review for Variety called the series “a complex, intimate, captivating and visually stunning portrait of anguish and desire.”
“The inherent heaviness of Fellow Travelers is alleviated by Bomer and Bailey’s electric chemistry,” Variety‘s review states.
A critic for TIME called the series “excellent”, adding, “Fellow Travelers doesn’t preach liberation. In its most romantic moments, the show does better: it embodies liberation.”
The Daily Beast also called the show “astonishing” and “a stunning reminder that television can – and should – be art.”
“The series stands to briefly revive the golden age of TV. And it’s for one damn good reason: sex,” the Beast‘s review raves.
The Hollywood Reporter agreed, “The sex scenes are plentiful and graphic. However frequently you might think, ‘I’ve never seen THAT position on TV,’ the frequent boinking never feels gratuitous.”
Fellow Travelers is streaming in Australia on Paramount+ on October 28.
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