STRIKING A‘POSE’ ‘P
FX series takes a (sequined) stroll down New York’s memory lane
OSE” is the most provocative show of the summer. The latest series from the inexhaustible and endlessly inventive Ryan Murphy takes us on a joyous, sequined trip down memory lane to the New York of 1987.
Like many New York stories, it’s a tale of two cities. Uptown, society’s outcasts — in this case, transgender adults and minority gay teens kicked out of their homes — form families called “houses,” putting on aspirational balls where they come decked out in fantasy fashion shows (much like Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary “Paris Is Burning”). The themes range from “Dynasty” night, “Business Suit” night or even just “Face” night. Each time they strut their stuff, they act out the lives they will never live. It’s a world with its own rules and rivalries. “Pose” derives much of its narrative drive and campy wisecracks from the one-upmanship between Elektra Abundance (Dominique Jackson), an imperious house mother meaner than a kicked hornet’s nest, and her protege, Blanca Evangelista (M.J. Rodriguez), a scrappy, compassionate survivor who has been diagnosed with HIV and wants to leave something of value behind. Flat broke and mostly unemployed, the girls do what they have to do to look fabulous — stealing museum costumes, robbing the Salvation Army Christmas donation basket in front of a department store. The other world is the Reagan-era Midtown Manhattan of Trump Tower. Here, the wealthy brag about their watches that cost nine grand and do a line of coke during a job interview. Our guide into this gilded hell is Stan Bowes (Evan Peters), a suburban guy with the whole Don Draper set up — wife (Kate Mara, excellent), two kids — and the same wandering eye. But Stan goes to places that would have made Don pull up his zipper. He covers the waterfront, as Billie Holiday used to sing, looking for sex with girls with something extra down there. The winsome-faced Angel (Indya Moore) catches his eye and he falls hard. Hovering over both worlds is the spectre of AIDS, still cutting down thousands of young men in their prime.
“Pose” tackles sexual, cultural, economic and family issues with a black-and-white mentality. The rich guys, as personified by Stan’s boss, Matt Bromley (James Van Der Beek), a faded blond prepster with a shark’s grin, are all bad. The poor people, even when they’re shoplifting or vandalizing museums, all have hearts of gold — and that’s all that counts (in one throwaway scene, Elektra and her crew are not even charged with any crimes for stealing those costumes).
The creators sweep aside these technicalities because what they’re really here to do is put on a show. And what an extravaganza “Pose” is — dazzling, hilarious and full of the kind of “realness” you have never seen on TV because nearly seventy-five percent of this cast is African-American and many of them are transgender or from the LGBT community.
Longtime Murphy collaborator Lou Eyrich has outdone herself in the staggering variety of costumes she produces here. The ball scenes achieve their heady ecstasy through these and the biting delivery of “Kinky Boots” star Billy Porter, who, as emcee Pray Tell — best character name of the TV year, period — is so sensational they should just give him the Emmy now.
Smart, acidly funny with a wounded glamour that belies a genuine sorrow, “Pose” was Murphy’s last series for FX before he decamped for the streaming pleasures (and abundant paycheck) of Netflix. It’s filmed all over New York (keen observers will recognize the Brooklyn Museum, the Loew’s Moorish movie palace on 175th Street and the Red Hook pier). You don’t want to miss it.