Matt is TVLine’s Performer of the Week for his performance in the latest episode of Fellow Travelers, White Nights. Congratulations to Matt for this well-deserved recognition!
For much of the Showtime limited series, Bomer’s Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller has been juggling his public persona with his private life as a gay man in love with Jonathan Bailey’s deeply religious Tim Laughlin. But in the seventh episode, Hawk’s repressed grief about his son Jackson’s heroin overdose took center stage over his love affair, allowing Bomer to mine Hawk’s confident and suave veneer for emotional vulnerabilities.
From the moment Tim arrived at Hawk’s Fire Island home, it was clear that Hawk was on a destructive streak, consuming alcohol and drugs at a concerning rate. The real unraveling, however, took place when Hawk spotted his son’s photo on a nightstand while mid-threesome with his new boy toy Craig and Tim. On a dime, Bomer shifted from Hawk’s drugged-out, blissful haze to the kind of stilted expression that comes with being hit in the face with reality. With impressive finesse, the actor cycled through shock, anger and then, finally, devastating acceptance as Hawk curled up in an almost catatonic state, repeating, “My little boy, he’s dead.” What really sold Hawk’s breakdown, though, was the way in which Bomer gripped onto Tim like he was a tether keeping a sobbing Hawk from drowning in his pain.
When Hawk, at long last, started to open up about Jackson and Tim reassured him that the death was not his fault, Bomer brought a softness and fragileness to Hawk’s grief. Tim reminded Hawk that his family needs him, to which Bomer replied with a lovely hesitancy, as if Hawk feared the wrong answer, “Don’t you need me, Skippy?” Tim meaningfully answered, “I have you,” but unfortunately, Hawk was back to taking a hit the next morning.
A guilt-ridden Hawk may have been trying to kill himself with excess, but Bomer nearly killed us with a heartbreaking performance that showcased that while you can hide your true self from the world, you can’t hide from your own self.
TVLine