*quirks eyebrow*
Apparently there's a huge incidence of retardation among Southland fans who use Facebook.
I am basing this observation on the direct quotes used in this After Elton article about people's batshit reactions to the revelation that Cooper does indeed have a social life. Seems that many people were shocked to find out that the character is gay. Um... really? Seriously? Have these people been watching the show from the beginning? Because, and I'm not knocking the NBC press machine here, I am merely stating fact, before the damn show ever aired you knew that the character of John Cooper was gay. True there were never any gigantic neon rainbow signs on him stating that, but there have been subtle allusions to it. Like how the very first episode ended with Cooper having a beer in a gay bar. Subtle.
Or how about the episode in season two where he and Ben went to the funeral for a cop friend of Cooper's. During the course of that episode you find out Cooper and the man used to work together and that they had an affair together while both men were married to women. Cooper figured out that he was lying to himself if he stayed in the marriage so he confronted the fact that he was gay and got divorced from his wife. You find out that the friend never had that courage and continued to live his life in secret until it became too much for him and he killed himself. This is also the episode where the penny finally drops for Ben (Cooper's partner) about Cooper being gay. Cooper never hid the fact, Ben is just that slow ;)
So, you may be asking yourself, what happened in Tuesday's episode that set people off? Cooper woke up, got out of his bed that he was sharing with another man (both were asleep and both were clearly naked) and we get a great ass shot as he walks to the bathroom. That's it. They don't kiss or share any morning affection... hell they don't even touch! And if it had been the same shot on any other show where they'd have the gruff guy wake up with a naked chick, no one would have bat an eye. Even less reason for people to be shocked by this? Cooper was in bed with Caesar, a character that way back in season one they already established as someone he was DATING. Ya know, subtle.
I am basing this observation on the direct quotes used in this After Elton article about people's batshit reactions to the revelation that Cooper does indeed have a social life. Seems that many people were shocked to find out that the character is gay. Um... really? Seriously? Have these people been watching the show from the beginning? Because, and I'm not knocking the NBC press machine here, I am merely stating fact, before the damn show ever aired you knew that the character of John Cooper was gay. True there were never any gigantic neon rainbow signs on him stating that, but there have been subtle allusions to it. Like how the very first episode ended with Cooper having a beer in a gay bar. Subtle.
Or how about the episode in season two where he and Ben went to the funeral for a cop friend of Cooper's. During the course of that episode you find out Cooper and the man used to work together and that they had an affair together while both men were married to women. Cooper figured out that he was lying to himself if he stayed in the marriage so he confronted the fact that he was gay and got divorced from his wife. You find out that the friend never had that courage and continued to live his life in secret until it became too much for him and he killed himself. This is also the episode where the penny finally drops for Ben (Cooper's partner) about Cooper being gay. Cooper never hid the fact, Ben is just that slow ;)
So, you may be asking yourself, what happened in Tuesday's episode that set people off? Cooper woke up, got out of his bed that he was sharing with another man (both were asleep and both were clearly naked) and we get a great ass shot as he walks to the bathroom. That's it. They don't kiss or share any morning affection... hell they don't even touch! And if it had been the same shot on any other show where they'd have the gruff guy wake up with a naked chick, no one would have bat an eye. Even less reason for people to be shocked by this? Cooper was in bed with Caesar, a character that way back in season one they already established as someone he was DATING. Ya know, subtle.