“No one ever looked at me the way that he does,” Brad tells Sam early in the third season of HBO’s triumphant series, Somebody Somewhere. Tim Bagley says the line simply and directly, but we know it’s filled to the brim with honesty and truth. Any time he looks at Jeff Hiller’s Joel, you can almost hear Brad breathe a sigh of relief as if to say, ‘I can stop looking…I found him.’
For other gay men around my age, Bagley is very familiar. At the start of our conversation, I admitted to how much Will & Grace plays in my house (still my absolute favorite show), and I even told him how I will say one of my favorite lines spoken by his nervous character, Larry. When he joined Somebody Somewhere in season two, I knew that he would take care of Brad immediately. As an actor, he brings an intelligent warmth to every person he plays, and that perfectly aligns with the show’s tone and spirit.
Season three plants Brad right into one of the show’s central emotional conflicts as Sam tries to move her life forward in a positive way. She sees how Brad and Joel have taken the next step in their relationship by moving in together, and we see how these two men deal with the growing pains of sharing that intimacy with one another. For instane, Brad keeps his kitchen countertop space free of clutter, and he raises the subtlest of eyebrows when Joel asks if he can put some items on their fridge. ‘On the fridge?’ Brad asks, his voice straight but his gaze marvelously pointed.
In one of the season’s highlights, Brad wants to express his love for Joel through song, and it’s entirely different from when we heard his robust singing in season two. He’s nervous as Sam encourages him to get the words out, but Bagley intuitively displays how difficult it can be to express yourself in that way. Singing in front of people, no matter how proud or exprienced the performer, is vulnerable and Bagley lets us feel the stakes. Saying I love you is different than expressing how you feel accepted by love, and Brad’s voice trembles because he confronts that in the moment surrounded by loved ones.
It can be difficult to articulate how special Somebody Somewhere is, but when you speak to another lover of the show, you can see how much they love it when they talk about it. That’s not lost on Bagley. His face lights up and he smiles slyly as we discuss the final scene where everyone is gathered at the bar. These are characters who live so fully and so authentically that I know they have a life beyond the screen.
I will miss them dearly, and Bagley’s Brad teaches us that we need to tell the ones we love how much they mean to us whenever we feel it. With words or through song.
Somebody Somewhere is streaming on Max.
