by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
Q-Force is the newest adult animated show on Netflix created by Gabe Liedman. It is about a super spy named Steve Maryweather (Sean Hayes) who comes out as gay while graduating the American Intelligence Agency, the show’s parody of the CIA. The AIA doesn’t want to show support to Maryweather, so they send him to the West Hollywood location to forget he exists. After 10 years, Maryweather builds his team of agents who are also in the LGBTQ+ community, including the mechanic Deb (Wanda Skyes), the hacker Stat (Patti Harrison), and the master of drag/disguise Twink (Matt Rogers). Q-Force eventually stumbles into their very own case, in which the team uncovers a giant conspiracy involving the AIA itself.
The show has excellent humor (very adult humor), which is no surprise thanks to creator Gabe Liedman, who has written on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Kroll Show, and Pen15. This show also goes against the grain with the casting choices of the main LGBTQ+ characters by casting actors who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. It has a lot of heart and soul. Netflix has had several great adult comedy shows come out over the last few years, and this show elevates that list.
After the first trailer during Pride Month, several of the early thoughts were that this show would be filled with the same gay stereotypes we have seen in so many other shows featuring gay characters: that it would be just using gay characters as a cheap joke. But even though there are a lot of jokes about the character’s homosexuality, to me, it doesn’t feel like the show is laughing at the LGBTQ. Rather, it feels like it is laughing with us.
Taking some of the characters to the extreme helps make the show that much better. For example, the character of Twink, usually a term to describe a young gay man, is a character who is an insanely talented drag queen and uses his ability to help the team by being a master of disguises. The characters, even the aggressively heterosexual Buck (David Harbour), come to work together as a unit and a family. The production’s choice of casting the roles of Maryweather, Deb, Stat, and Twink with talented voice actors who are also members of the LGBTQ community is a step up from most shows. When shows are trying to break new ground like this, a lot of the time they will hire big name actors to fill all the roles, regardless of sexuality, and in doing so, hurt the representation that matters. Even though this is an animated adult comedy show, the representation matters to everyone in the LGBTQ+ community.
With most of these animated adult comedy shows on Netflix like Disenchanted, Paradise PD, and Big Mouth, Q-Force doesn’t fall into the line of old animated adult comedy shows where a new thing happens to our characters each week. Instead, it has a running narrative to follow throughout all 10 episodes where in the first half you believe the force is taking down Uranium smugglers, but then they stop them and it leads to a foreign dignitary using allies within the force to uncover a plot of the AIA to brainwash past gay members. It then leads to the dignitary trying to take over the world. This whole series reminded me a lot of Burn Notice, and not just because of the spy angle, but how with each episode the plot grew more and more. Having a twisty plot that can keep your audience entertained for 10 episodes is no small feat, and Q-Force pulls it off well.
Q-Force is not for kids, and that’s all because of the adult humor, language, and nudity. Just because this is animated doesn’t make it a kids show. Rather, this show is made for adults and can be enjoyed as such for just a fun quick watch.
If anything I have said persuades you to check it out, then by all means do so. It’s a recommendation from me. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I 100% give Q-Force my stamp of approval.
Grade: B+
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