TELEVISION
“The Politician” Returns on June 19
Ben Platt’s OCD student now seeks New York Senate seat
BY MATT TRACY
Warning: This article
contains spoilers from
the fi rst season of
“The Politician.”
Will it be Manhattan State Senator
Payton Hobart?
Just when it seemed like Hobart’s
fantastical presidential ambitions
were crushed, the wild world of
politics has afforded him another
chance to keep the dream alive on
the other side of the country.
Season two of Ryan Murphy’s
“The Politician” is slated to hit
Netfl ix on June 19, giving viewers
much-needed quarantine content
just days before New York’s June
23 Democratic primary elections
take place.
Hobart, the young, obsessive,
meticulous political whiz portrayed
by out gay star Ben Platt, had been
dead-set on carving a career path
that will lead to the Oval Offi ce: He
engaged in a contentious election
for student body president at his
Santa Barbara, California, high
school, doing just about anything
to get his way, all while stubbornly
strong-arming anything in the way
of a collegiate future that aligns
with the educational pedigrees of
previous American presidents. And
yet, in the backdrop, he struggles
with his sexuality and suppresses
his feelings as he focuses more intensely
on politics.
Although Hobart succeeded in
winning the election for student
Will Payton Hobart’s path to the presidency go through the New York State Senate?
body president in rather anticlimactic
fashion, his future was derailed
when the explosive political
scandals behind his victory surfaced.
Entering the new season, he
is presented with a series of new
realities: He moved from California
to New York to attend college, his
mother (Gwyneth Paltrow) fi nally
started to fi nd love — with a woman
(Martina Navratilova) — and
Hobart’s fi lthy rich adoptive father
disavowed him and his mother,
leaving him in fi nancial limbo.
But Hobart, who has been demoralized
and drinking heavily in
the Big Apple, seems to have recaptured
some motivation after his old
campaign team and his one-time
opponents huddled together and
hatched a new plan: He would run
an insurgent campaign for State
GIOVANNI RUFINO/ NETFLIX
Senate in Manhattan against Majority
Leader Dede Standish (Judith
Light), who is accustomed to
running unopposed and is in the
mix to become a vice presidential
candidate. Standish’s chief of staff,
Hadassah Gold (Bette Midler), appears
to be caught by surprise
when she is watching television
and learns that Hobart would be
vying to unseat her boss.
For what it’s worth, Standish
represents the 27th District, which
is occupied in real life by out gay
State Senator Brad Hoylman.
Whether that’s intentional or not,
it is conceivable that Hobart would,
if elected, feel more comfortable
opening up about his sexuality in
that district.
But in order to get there, he’ll
have to navigate the rigors of a
campaign that will undoubtedly
touch on his previous scandals. As
it turns out, however, Hobart isn’t
the only one saddled with baggage
entering the campaign. The fi nal
portion of the fi rst season of “The
Politician” hinted at Standish’s secret
personal life, possibly fueling
an opportunity for Hobart to seize
the moment and expose his new
rival.
The show’s cast does features
additional queer representation
beyond Platt. James Sullivan, a
top aide to Hobart, is portrayed by
non-binary actor Theo Germaine,
while out lesbian actress Rahne
Jones plays a non-binary character,
Skye. Not to mention that
Hobart’s mother’s new squeeze is
portrayed by Navratilova, the out
lesbian tennis icon who has made
headlines in recent years for criticizing
the rights of transgender
girls and women to participate in
sports.
And, of course, any project featuring
Bette Midler and Judith
Light always has queer appeal.
Heading into the second season,
the looming campaign in a
new environment and city will certainly
shake up the show, all while
other storylines are set to play out:
What’s the latest with Hobart’s
mother? Will his peers from high
school succeed in propelling him
to public offi ce? Will he get one
step closer to his goal of reaching
the presidency?
We’ll begin to fi nd out the answers
on June 19!
➤ PRIDE PLAYS, from p.28
are shut down this year, what does
it mean to be able to celebrate with
Pride Plays?
“I’m so glad you asked that,” said
Mayo. “Parades won’t happen but
Pride can. There’s no reason why
we can’t use this time to come together
and look inside ourselves
and examine pride from a different
lens. We are such a colorful spectrum
of expression.”
“We don’t just parade, we do
many different things as a culture,”
he continued. “We tell stories, we
contemplate, we get inward, we
share outward. We gather in many
different ways. And this is the year
for us to explore other ways of expressing
that. For the month of
June, 150 artists will be in Zoom
rooms telling stories about the
LGBTQ community. There will be
pride in every one of those rooms.
“We will be coming together to
celebrate what we have in common,
and in a tough year, to remember,”
said Nevin. “The LGBT
community has many times been
such a source of strength for so
many people, and has had to overcome
so many obstacles, including
in an earlier pandemic. This is the
moment that we’ve lost so many
leaders, particularly arts leaders
— Larry Kramer, Mart Crowley,
Terrence McNally, Jerry Herman.
How do honor their legacy, how do
we pick up the baton and move forward?
I think that’s what Pride is.”
“There’s a real joy in the affi rmation
of that,” he continued. “That
doesn’t have to be about a parade.
That can be about what we are
able to do in our apartments, on
our laptops, in our social distance.
In that sense, Pride will be alive
and well this year.”
PRIDE PLAYS 2020 FESTIVAL|
In partnership with Playbill and
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater |
Access on Playbill.com | Free livestream
events Fri., Jun. 5, 12, 19 &
26 at 7 p.m. (check the website for
the rescheduling of “Brave Smiles…
Another Lesbian Tragedy”) | Free
Pride Spectacular Concert on Sun.,
Jun. 28
June 04 - June 17, 2 32 020 | GayCityNews.com
/Playbill.com
/GayCityNews.com
