Boots: Netflix’s sleeper hit is a stunning indictment of military homophobia | television

HeyOne drawback of the streaming era is that many shows appear to be unadvertised. Last week, Netflix’s Boots seemed likely to be one of them, sliding into submenus without making any noise. However, thanks to incredibly positive reviews (“Best New TV Show of the Fall” according to USA Today) and frothy word-of-mouth, the military drama is now the third most-watched show on the platform. With each passing hour, it seems as if Boots is destined to become the next version of the Squid Game. So, with all that said, is it really that good?

The answer: somewhat. Boots is based on Greg Cobb White’s 2015 memoir The Pink Marine, which details his time in the US Army in 1990, a few years before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” became the service’s official position on homosexuality. It’s a theme full of potential — 2018’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace featured a theme about a gay soldier who was more powerful than the rest of the show combined — so hopes were undoubtedly high.

Indeed, when this element of the show is emphasized, it is truly excellent. The main character is Cameron Cobb, a young man with an overbearing mother who joins the Marines almost out of spite. However, the heart of the show is Max Parker’s Sergeant Robert Sullivan, a high-ranking non-commissioned officer whose promising career is threatened by an investigation into his sexual orientation. Parker’s performance is exceptional: taut, angry and repressed, until the moments when the circumstances are right Expose his weaknesses.

This part of the show deserves all the praise it can get. His ability to drive home a message through character beats is incredibly powerful, and it’s hard to watch him without feeling a burning sense of shame and contempt for the discrimination faced by those who wish to serve their country. It is a resounding indictment of the army.

The problem is that this only makes up part of Boots. The rest, confusingly, is about how cool it is to be a soldier. Although there are moments when the series threatens to move into Full Metal Jacket territory, with its aggressive, willful erasure of humanity in pursuit of the perfect fighting machine, these moments are almost always undone by slightly clichéd statements, as if someone has inadvertently copied an inspiring self-help book onto the pages of text without anyone noticing.

Except for a few superficial conflicts, everyone has everyone’s support all the time. Kubrick showed that military training was an unblinking torrent of hell. Here, everyone unites in a competition to see who can do the most poo. There’s a scene, and I promise I’m not making this up, where the conflict is resolved during a Bugsy Malone-style food fight. It’s honestly a bit like watching a long recruitment ad.

This seems to be the biggest problem with Boots. The angry, thoughtful moments are taken away by the slightly craven desire to become the next Orange is the New Black. The more Boots I watched, the more convinced I became that OITNB was its main touchstone. The speed with which a premise can be discarded, so that it can be turned into a piece of music about a fish out of water who finds herself part of a society that deliberately dehumanizes people, is astonishing.

Like OITNB, we get glimpses that humanize the ruling class. Like OITNB, we’re shown life on the outside in flashes that become less relevant with each passing second (Vera Farmiga, who plays Cobb’s mother, is underrated in this regard). And like OITNB, the series continues to tease flashbacks that explain why different characters choose to join the military. If he returns for a second season — a renewal would certainly be a formality at this point — it seems certain that this will be the new format. Quite frankly, this could end up being a pretty decent show.

There are few things worse than an intense comedy-drama about a group of men trying to get along in impossible circumstances. But this season came out of the gates with something to say. The fact that it’s been reduced to such an afterthought feels like a missed opportunity. Boots is two very different shows competing for space at the same time. Unfortunately, they cannot be reconciled into a satisfactory whole.