Mary & George, TV’s Historical Gay Love Story with Nicholas Galitzine’s Nude Debut

April 12, 2024
ALEXANDER

Mary & George: Our Review...and Skin

With so much new content out there, it's hard to keep track of them all. But one new show, currently streaming on Starz, should definitely be on your watch list. Starring Julianne Moore and the unbelievably hot Nicholas Galitzine, Mary & George is here to appease every one of your gay senses. It's a historical drama with bigger-than-life costumes and hair, it is intriguing with backstabbing and blackmail, it has lush cinematography and musical score, it has Julianne Moore as one of TV's best villains, it has plenty of gay sex scenes, it has biting one-liners that would make Karen Walker jealous, AND it has the naked debut of Galitzine - do you need anything more? The first two episodes are available on Starz, but we got our hands on the screener and binge-watched the whole season with wine and lube and are here to spill the details.

The limited series, with 7 episodes, is based on the non-fiction book The King's Assassin, based on the real-life affair between James VI and I and George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham in the early 1600s. Mary & George focuses on the dynamic between the scheming, murdering, vile, and fabulous mother Mary (Julianne Moore) and son George (Galitzine) who weaseled their way Court of England and King James. There is nothing these two won't do, even towards each other, to maintain their status in absolute greed. It is DELICIOUS and masterfully crafted.

The first episode is Mary & George's lightest fare for the full slate of episodes, even though there is a lot of heavy stuff to unwrap in the show's exposition. We get a glimpse as to why these lead characters act the way they do. We also get a lot of subtle comedy by way of Julianne Moore. She is chewing up the scenery and not apologizing for it. She is a real-life Maleficent here (from the original cartoon, not Jolie), using every line to drip evil and each sly look and upturn of the lip to snarl at anyone who gets in her way, even her husband or children. The first episode also alludes to and shows plenty of gay sex for the series. In this first episode, we get to see Galitzine's nude debut, although brief, as he partakes in a threesome.

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Don't let the first episode fool you. It is not simply a gay soft-core porn with pretty boys, nor is it just a bunch of delicious evil happening all over the place. Mary & George presents a perfectly paced arc, and the show, from the second episode, becomes so much more. There are a lot of levels to these characters, they are not one-dimensional and even though they gravitate towards fun watching, it evolves to psychological war and the horror at the power of greed. It also involves a lot of historical facts about a gay love story and time period that this reviewer was not aware of. Countries at war, how English politics ran, and the power of the rich all play an important in the story. There is a lot of tragedy here as well. It's a Shakespearean tale with a modern flair with enough skin and "fucks" thrown around to keep your gay heart beating hard. But it is never pompous or snobbish in its presentation. You get tangled up in the character's minds and soon even their evil doings seem valid, if not shocking. The show becomes an epic story, very well pulled off. So much so that the gay scenes stop being shocking and instead become an integral part of the story. But don't worry, they are still hot. It does make one question what is love? Love in family, love in friendship, love in romance, love in sex...do we truly love anyone, or are we just serving ourselves?