Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey are on fire! | Fellow Travelers E1 Gay Reaction 

We are so excited to go on this journey with you all! hope you are too ;) what did you think of episode 1? crying or sweating? lol x

This one hit home. I'm 68 and spent my career in DC. Although 1950s DC was before my time, I had many older friends of that era who relayed stories that matched these exactly. There was an entire gay underground. In Episode 1, the character, George, mentioned he was spotted leaving "The Chicken Hut." That is the name of a long-gone gay bar in DC. As a side note, it had another name but no one called it anything BUT the "chicken hut." That's because the building was at one time a fried-chicken place. It had a fiberglass chicken on the roof that no one bothered to take down. Hence, the name, "The Chicken Hut," came into common usage. Those of us "of a certain age" remember the stories of that time. This will be a journey for me to go through this period. When I arrived in DC in 1979, I had to obtain a top-secret clearance. I went through all kinds of questions. But, by then the only real concern was whether I could be blackmailed. I had been published in the local gay and straight newspapers as being associated with Gay Hotline and Whitman-Walker Clinic, so blackmailing me was ludicrous. I only wish young people today could see this series and grasp what we went through, and especially what the generation before me endured through the Lavender Scare. I don't think they have any idea how bad it was. I worked with many of those born in the 1940s and before. They were the original activists. I tip my hat to all of them for what they went through to gain the freedoms and rights we enjoy today. With any kind of luck, we will retain our rights despite the Far Right haters here in the USA and their goal to "take back America" which really means to turn back the clock to the 1950s. As an older gay activist told me when I was a young man, "Civil Rights need to be taught to every generation." He was correct. We can become complacent. We do so at our own peril.

I came out and grew up in the 80s, when AIDS was killing us. My mom had several friends who had been blacklisted by Joe McCarthy and his henchmen in the 1950s. Both eras were a craven low point for America. We need to remember our history or we are doomed to repeat it. This show is amazing and is doing a great job of taking us back to both of those awful decades. Thank you both for taking us along with you on this ride. Many gasps, tears, and pearl-clutchings ahead!

I am still recovering from RWRB and now this series is going to push me over the edge...lol. When i watch it, i find myself holding my breath, it is just so intense. You can almost see the sparks flying when Hawk and Tim are in the same room.

50 shades of lavender gays 😂 y’all, this show is incredible, the depth - so good ❤

To me Tim comes across like a true believer (doesn't matter the flavor of religion ) who is deconstructing . Those usually fall out of religion fast and far, while Hawk is the guy who goes to church on sunday because that's also where the community's movers and shakers are and where business deals are made . He doesn't believe in theology or doctrine and will gladly use any loophole. He made the situation work for him and so never questions why he needs to go to church in the first place. Tim can't understand how Hawk can put himself into multiple boxes at the same time and Hawk can't understand why Tim can't

I am very impressed with the show so far (I’m two episodes in). I’ve read a fair amount about this time period, which is not so far from a part of my life, since I was born only for years after the earliest scenes in the show. The attention to detail is very impressive, as is the writing, cinematography, acting, etc. It’s not going to be an easy show to watch, but very worthwhile in dramatizing the difficulties of gay life in the 50s (and 60s and 70s, I believe). It was difficult enough when I was growing up and in my young adulthood in the 70s and 80s. And frighteningly, there are plenty of people out there who seem to want to take us back to that kind of a world.

I am so glad you two are discussing how people, even today, are living in places where being outed can be a death sentence. I came of age in the 80s and it is only by luck and circumstance that I did not die of AIDS like so many others of my generation. I learned too late about the plight of my fellow travellers and did too little to make a difference. At the same time, so many of my generation have survivours guilt because it is only because we did too little that helped us live. And, you are right, I feel that every episode of this series will cause me to sob. Perhaps because you are watching with a friend and you are so young and you are doing a critique that you can be more detached but I hope you can both find time to watch again, alone, and fully immersed in what the characters are feeling. It is impossible to know our history, know of the time of AIDS and of persecution, and not have your heart break.

A great reminder to all as to where we have come from as a society

This show has been giving me... emotions that i will not explain! But the acting and Plot is amazing. I cant wait to watch more of your reactions to this.

I made the decision to watch the reaction before the show and I loved it! It’s so good. The cast, the costumes, production design, cinematography etc

That first sx scene made me lower the volume so fast lmao jumpscare

Just finished sobbing my eyes out to the finale after bingeing it all afternoon, so now I can watch all the reactions finally.

Alex and Josh , once again you did not disappoint! Great reaction and fun editing. Thanks so much Guys

this reaction is gonna wild,. I'm 2 episodes in and Im sweating needing to call my priest

I have already seen the first two episodes and I can say with certainty that, in my opinion, is the most representative series I have seen so far. The historical context makes you ponder about a lot of things like why they behave in certain way, the fear they felt all the time, how was so crucial that someone else tried to stand up for itself or the entire community and more. I really think it'll be a great series 🤍

Nothing, not even the teaser trailer could prepare me for the off the charts chemistry between Matt and Jonathan or how scorching hot their sex scenes were. 🥵🥵🥵

you guys are gonna love this series

AAHHH Thank you for finally doing Fellow Travelers!! I was a gonner for this show from just the trailer and after watching the first episode and the second on Monday I've been on a hunt for content on them.. Hawk and Skippy have me in such a chokehold😣🤧

I had to prepare myself mentally to watch the first episode, and I've got to regather what's left of my braincells to watch it again with you 😂 Also Josh's "We're going to need a cow!" and Alex's screaming just killed me HAHAHAHA nice to go through this journey with you, hope to see you alive at the end of this (I don't think I'll survive asdfghjkl *dying potato noises*)

oh i've been waiting for your reaction FINALLYY. tsm i love your comments, cant for u to watch the next episodes

Love y’all reactions!! I feel like our emotions are going to go through a lot of rollercoasters this season.

y'all captured my experience of watching this so well. I thoroughly enjoyed your vid and can't wait for more!

I really love the fact you spoke about what is happening around them because that really plays into Hawk’s behavior. He has to be careful to achieve what he wants to achieve in that time. People blame him a lot because Tim is innocent and wide eyed. But Hawk’s major crime is being realistic

That was really good, the nuances of feelings regarding the situation of timing in the past with the timing of them in the 80's where they had to do the work where it was publicly acceptable. He wished it was him when he was young but it's all about timing and that is the sadness of life, finding love, finding acceptance.

Fun rewatching this with you guys! Just subed waiting on E2! 👍

As ALWAYS! You guys knock it out of the park!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Your reactions are THE BEST!!! 🌈✨🦄✨🌈

This show had me sobbing for HOURS! 😭😭 Also, I’m pretty sure Jonathan Bailey is also going to be guest starring in Heartstopper so you’ll get even more of him 👀

Alex's cup " I can't Adult today " Me: Do you ever though? Don't worry that is why I am here for your shenanigans

We need this for every episode 😭😭

You two are so insightful! Loved your reaction.

I love this series so much & can’t wait for Episode 3 tomorrow (I’m in UK).. I love your review & have just subscribed ❤

Loved the show so much! It's great to see it once more through your eyes. :-)

I saw it yesterday for the first time, but l got more emotional seeing it again through your eyes 😢❤

Omg I’m so beyond ready for this reaction!

Your faces!😄😄😄 Oh my god! I can't stop commenting!!! I'm sure you both are gonna need a fan for the rest of this serie...😉

I usually don't watch shows set in this time period anymore bc i find it too sad, but I couldn't resist after seeing you were going to react to it.

Dorothy, Golden Girls and Fleabag - chefs kiss 💜

4:07 when I literally choked on my own saliva…. You two are the best ‘reactors’ I swear!!

from an african homophobic country and it is still like this in 2023. and even worse it is your gay lovers who will end up hurting you the most which is what i think hawk will do to tim in the coming episodes. They will be intimate with you and ignore and will cheat on you and say well it was a phase what were expecting. I've met so many guys and it was perfectly normal for me to think I like him but I am also afraid of him. I know it is set in the past but this show is painfully too real. even in 2023. IDK. Just my 2 cents. Sex scenes are hot though

You guys are great. I so like your energy and your reviews too.

Love you guys!!! So funny and campy😂😂😂.. btw love the commentary and everything British.

Yep, I’m watching again this afternoon!! 🪭🪭🪭

Helloooo from Australia. I'm enjoying this series, but it's so sad. Just watched E4, and I'm preparing to cry more in the upcoming episodes.such great acting from the two leads.

I absolutely loved your reactions to this series. It's very enlightening, indeed. I came of age in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS epidemic. I was your age then and my generation was so focused on the epidemic that we aligned gay rights movements along side the race for a cure and more government accountability. But, at that time I did have friends that were 20+ years older that often spoke of that time in the late 1950s to early 1960s and what it was like. Their stories were all I knew about gay life in that time period. I always recall several of them we're oftentimes self-loathing and unhappy even when they were now free to live their lives openly. I could tell how uneasy that was for them. They'd become so accustomed to looking over their shoulder. A constant distrust. And even though it seemed as if once the Stonewall riots and Gay Liberation Movement happened here in the U.S. in the early 1970s it all became a mad rush to where we were in the 1980s. And, it needed to be so. With that said I can see how your generation can't even begin to imagine what all that was like in the 1950s-60s in what would have been your grandparents day. It must seem like something out of a fiction novel. I'm so happy that it's like that for you. It should be. And, I'm glad to see stories like this being brought to life for everyone to learn more about OUR HISTORY. It's a history that belongs to us all regardless of age. Just because we may not have been alive in those years back then doesn't mean it's not our history as well. Let's all own it and never let it fade away. -- As always you two do a great job! Thank you all you do.

Loved the analysis and perspectives eh!

Omg your reactions are everything 😂❤

Literally the reactions on the both of you was exactly like mine on the spicy scenes! I was clutching my pearls! Lol

It's going to be quite a Rollercoaster ride, looking forward to it!❤

No one was ready for this one im afraid 😩❤️

i couldn't wait for you guys to review "fellow travelers."

Now I'm convinced. I will definitely watch it. But first I need to dig out my fan 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I would love to see you guys watch all three of “The Falls” movies. They are so good and y’all’s commentary would be on point. 🤞

You guys are superstars.. love and hugs from Australia 🇦🇺 ❤

If it wasn’t illegal, they wouldn’t be “susceptible to coercion” 😡🤬😭

I was literally just about to type in 'fellow travellers reaction' then this pops up

Here for it, and the big fan lol 😂

no dsoubt you are the best reactores on YT- you, fellow reactors...🥰

I finished watching it now (3am in Italy). Crying like a baby. SOBBING

Series is so damn good. What I love most about is that it is unafraid to be adult and explicit. We’ve been getting a lot more great representation the last few years, but it tends to be so damn chaste.

This show is the Matt's "Fifty Shades" that everyone was waiting for.

I cried 3 times the first episode...

Boys (I say boys since I'm 62 and you're like 21 or something obscene LOL), I grew up in Mormon Utah in the 1970s, which was prime "Smear the queer" era, and do remember whispers of scandal back in the 60s even. Replace the idolatrous version of Catholicism (Mary images etc) with the mercenary $$ centered Mormon religion and man do I identify with Jonathan's character. Add to that me entering the US Navy in 1984, and hiding for 8 years. I lost out on at least 3 potential lifemates because we could link up, get married and get stationed together. "And the Band PLayed On" and "Conduct Unbecoming" are critical Must-reads if one wants to understand what my generation went thru in the 80s especially.

How interesting watching the show through your eyes! I really love this show and it touches me indeed. I try to imagine how life could be, hiding yourself and pretending and wasting your love. It's such a big injustice, I can't believe that there are people who still think that being gay, or lesbian, or whatever it's wrong because of God or who knows what. And I'm glad that nowaday there are shows like this, to explain how the LGBT+ community had to get by and how they deserve to be proud. 😊

had a feeling the fan was going to make another appearance

9:12, 15:14, 15:16 we both said the exact same thing that's not the only reason I'm going to subscribe 15:39 I hope you'll have thoroughly changed your mind by now (E5 aired last night). I thought a lot about this the past few weeks. How each one dealt with their situation. Hawk is a sociopath. He only cared about himself and with each lie dug deeper. He hurt everyone around him, including those he loved deeply just so he could achieve his ambitions. He literally threw that innocent boy under the bus. It's one thing to hide your truth, another when you drag everyone in just so that you can get ahead. Not even all the trauma he survived justifies his actions. And for what? How happy is he in his life built on lies. I'm with Skippy on this one, Hawk is a coward.

50 shades of lavender gay 😂😂😂 that was perfect

It's like a gay version of Mad Men meets House of Cards AND I AM HERE FOR IT AND EVERY SINGLE SEX SCENE YES PLEASE!!!

I’m already on episode 4 😭

This episode is freaking amazing .Matt n Jonathan's chemistry was spicy n crispy tbh I didn't expect in initially they show such a steamy scene I must say every time the two of them their eyes meet into each other's eye.I can feel the sexual tension there .I like about this show where they're not focusing only two character or romance but they create an environment through we get to know what was happening on the political landscape. How gay guys manage living in society during that in time n I will definitely keep prepare fan 😂😂entertaining watching your reaction 🌟

Just finished ur reaction ! I know this is like the 1950's but Tbh this is how it is in some countries even in 2023..... I'm not a queer man but Unfortunately my country is still like this towards queer people ,queer men still have to see eachother not so openly because the judgement can be so vile and it's also ilegal to be gay here ... Nice reaction though ❤️. I'm really enjoying the show too 😊 but I do feel like it's going to have a sad ending .

Can't wait for your reaction 😁🔥😋

Imagine my horror as I realised that the show is not available in my region and no, I’m not doing illegal torrenting.

I don't have showmax or paramount so I will subscribe to you lovely people so whenever you react I will know ❤I will watch it here with you !!!

I’m absolutely torturing myself. Just started watching “Fellow Travelers” and I’m reading “My Policeman.” Double dose of 50s gay hell. Hey, you guys should really really do the Netflix movie of “Boys in the Band” with Matt Bomer and so many great gay actors. It’s an interesting point in between the hell of the 50s and the coming of the Stonewall era. The gays are still repressed, but they’re getting better at forming their own chosen families and standing together. And it’s so well done and well acted.

I am enjoying your reaction to this series, thanks. I lived some of it, although my time was the 1970s (got kicked out of Disneyland for dancing with another boy, our college GSU did it as a protest). I’m sure you don’t need yet another suggestion, but I just watched episode 3 of The Last of Us and it was one of the most touching shows I’ve seen about an older man’s gay relationship. Highly recommended.

I think Hawkins very much is giving Queer as Folk’s Brian Kinney. He’s got the duality of being both toxic but utterly sweet in contrast, with his person, slowly. He’s got the public persona down pat, excellent at lying, while also being very clearly proud and fully in ownership of his sexuality in private. I see more similarities as well bit that’s the gist I could think of off the top of my head

5:44 the blush😍😂😂😂

9:56 “he needs some milk” 😂

Hiii love your content. I recommend watching a league of their own. A lesbian show in the 40’s. Very interesting like to see what you think about that show :)

I really recommend that you watch the film Victim (1961)!!

The first episode emotionally *devastated* me. The second episode was oddly uplifting for me, or at least imbued the series with a kind of statement of purpose despite what are clearly dark circumstances.

I am so happy that we didn't get all the episodes at once ... it is A LOT emotionally

Matt Bomer is just such a phenomenal actor ! I've heard a lot about this show I'll deffo watch it Someone I know was like " Antonia just be aware ... its very hot! " 😂🔥🔥💋

I’m 87, and I’m a homosexual person. I love your wacky approach to most things you review, but I think your approach to this series needs an adjustment. Can’t say I’m shocked that most of this history is new to you, but I am a bit surprised. You could say I have much too serious an approach to this subject. I only came out, but not completely, in the late 70s, early eighties. I was in the army, stationed in Washington, in the early 60s, just into the Kennedy years. But the atmosphere then in regard to sexual “deviance” was as thick as the air often gets in Washington during the summer. It’s the stuff of melodrama if not tragedy. For a hetero version of the matter, see DeNiro’s film The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. I love what you’re doing, by the way.

Great review. This series is going to be emotional in so many ways.😢 Hawk and Tim are very sweet caughtnin a terrible and hateful time in history.😢😢 It reminds of "My Policeman" that came out last year on Prime. It was based in 1950s when gay were jailed if caught. The book was so good. The director insisted on an all gay cast. It is a sad, yet beautiful story of two men who just wanted to love each other. I hope you get to review it.

Matt could name me anything he wanted…😮

There is a book, "The Evening Crowd at Kirmser's" that tells the true story of a bar in St. Paul, MN in the years after WW2; it became an underground gay bar in the evening with the tacit approval of the owners. The author was dishonorably discharged in 1945 from the Navy for being gay.

I find it extremely ironic that McCarthy, Cohn and Schine met untimely ends. McCarthy of Hepatitis, Cohn of AIDS and Schine from an airplane crash!

Let's watch together i don't wanna be depressed alone.

I'm so curious how they will show hawkxlucy relationship. There are so many examples of stories where it's perceived only one way by general audience. How hurtful it is towards WOMEN. of course it's dramatic situation and both sides are really wronged here, but yeah, that's exactly what id like to see. How and why does it happen, and why there's no answer, it's not black or white. In other spheres theyre doing great job so far when it comes to creating that narrative, so im really excited. Great show, immaculate acting, great aesthetic, beautiful music, and important issues. As a Pole I'm not really familiar with what was happening in the US back then, I'm glad i get a chance to get to know that important chapter in history for our community.

It must have been so anxiety inducing to work so close to politics in this time while also being gay while also being sexually active with complete strangers, not knowing who you can trust. You never know who is trying to get information on you and private details about your life that they can use as proof that they know you when they turn you in. I think Hawk's issue was mostly him being generally afraid to get too close to people after losing his first lover, but I think he knows in the back of his mind that it's never safe to open up too much with his sex partners. It's so unfortunate but understandbale that he picked the life that didn't suit him because it was the life that would keep him safe. Wild to see that he lived through seeing all of the crap he did as an adult in the 50s but also get to witness other queer people be happily out....even with a new wave of horror in that decade.

FYI, This is dropping in 39 minutes, not tomorrow. haha

Racy but solid quality series that involves the LeGiBiTiQuA🪭💨 😳 😏 😈. Can’t wait to see your reactions to episode 2. It’s a doozy and only the 2nd episode.

There is an amazing podcast by NPR about thia story. Its incredible.

Wonderful reaction, i share some of your immediate reactions ;-)

I have seen the latest episode and am so glad we live in this modern life now😢

I don't think I can make it to the last episode!!!

Yes boys this is what i mean, the sex scenes and it's hard their was a time this was forbidden, i mean i grow up in east Germany but thx for your reaction ❤

You’re lucky to be young enough to not have to have been through anything similar. Probably also lucky to be in the UK. Things are still dire for queer people in much of the world & even in here in the beautiful, advanced US 🙄🤣, things are feeling uncertain, on the verge of backsliding, slightly terrifying. 2 years ago I was so cocky: wearing my “Your Prayers Make Me Gayer” shirt just wherever. Now I’m afraid I might get shot. I DO live in SC. If you ever feel yourself getting lulled into complacency, just remember that Alan Turing was only pardoned by the Queen in 2013. That said, this show is amazing. I want to wait & binge, but I can’t. Very intense. Sexier than I was expecting. 🖤