Five5Creative Anyone who vilifies this show because they feel it paints a "stereotypical" or "negative" portrait of what gay men are like are either painfully naive or living in denial. This show is not only frighteningly accurate but smartly written, beautifully shot, superbly acted and stylishly edited.As a 47 year old gay man, I found this (unlike many other gay-themed TV series) to, at long last, finally depict characters with which I am familiar and with whom I identify on many levels.It's both raw and honest and yet tempers the darker aspects of gay life with humor and respect.As much as we would like to be perceived as no different than our straight counterparts, the reality is we are different. And for good or ill, most of us gay folk do indeed behave in the manner that is depicted in this show. It was refreshing to not see our lifestyle sugar coated.In our fight for equality, too often we try to pretend that things are not what they appear. But they are. They always have been, and they always will be. Gay men are, after all, men. And men have a single-mindedness when it comes to behavior and desire. If this show was about straight guys, we'd all say, "Well yeah. Men behave like that." But because it's specifically about gay men, so many would like to say "gay men don't really behave like that." But we do. That is the harsh reality we need to accept.I've been out since I was 20 years old. In the 27 years of being an out (and proud) gay man, I have seen and encountered all of these characters in my life and still, to this day, see and encounter them. Stop cry-babying that this show perpetuates negative stereotypes. If you don't like what you see in this show, then don't watch the show. But you will see no different in the real world. This is gay life. We love, we lose, we win, we make mistakes and we have sex... a lot of it if we're lucky. And when we're not having sex, we're looking for it. Not because we're gay. But because we're guys. Cucumber depicts what men do and how men behave when those men happen to be gay -- the joy, the misery, the heartache, the loss, the triumphs, the failures, the sex and the never-ending quest for it.That is the reality of the world we live in. Sorry if you find that harsh. That's what happens when a mirror is held up and you don't like what you see. I personally had no problem with what I saw when I watched this show. I make no apologies for who I am and what I do. I'm far from a minority of one in that respect.The problem is not with what this show portrays. The problem is that the portrayal is accurate. And that problem is, quite frankly, our problem and no one else's.Learn to live with it.

a-svozil This show is widely criticized for its stereotypical portrayal of gay characters as over-sexed, immature, sleazy and shallow. I could not agree more - the main character (as well as almost everyone on the show) is unlikeable for exactly those reasons. Nevertheless, I feel that the show (just like any other morality tale, which Cucumber basically is) uses its anti-hero to convey a message that is, in its core, a warning. What we see throughout the show, are characters who are unable to truly bond and in a desperate calling for closeness (or is it regaining lost youth, at least for some?) chase after random sex. This chase usually leads them to pathetic begging or self-commodification which, in this fictional universe, is seen as something inescapable and "normal"( like in the subplot with the video- mogul nephew). In effect, their hunger to be loved (via sexual intercourse) leads one of the characters to his death, the other to a existence of vacuous survival and endless desire. The plight of the elder generation is mirrored in the story lines of the young (in Cucumber as well as in its spin- off, Banana), who don't even consider forming any kind of durable bond, let alone expressing any kind of basic human concern (as personified in the truly repulsive character of walking "emptiness behind a pretty face" Freddie.) What I see as emblematic scene of the show is when the protagonist suggests creating a 60'-style commune, only to be met with incomprehension and laughter. The sense of togetherness that once prevailed within the gay culture has been dismantled (is it because of the embracement by the majority culture?),the social interactions take place within a strictly competitive market. Or is it a battleground?All of this might be lost on some due to the strong comic nature of the show, but to me, the light over-tone of the whole thing only makes the tragedy more approachable to general audience.

nothingisforbidden My husband bailed on this show ten minutes in, but I (always eager for gay stories on the screen) decided to watch the whole thing. It has been an exasperating, unpleasant, and unrewarding experience. The technical aspects and the actors are competent, but the tone is all over the place. The writing is too insipid and the character too shallow for this to work as drama. It's much too unfunny to be a comedy, even a black comedy. Nor does it work as satire; there are no moments of glittering insight. It's really a horror show, I suppose, wrenching us from one unpleasant encounter to another, climaxing with the very ugly murder in episode 6.Trying to explain this "horror show" to my husband, he put his finger on the problem. "Where's the love?" he asked. And there you have it. There is no love in this show. The two older characters, together for 8 years, clearly do not love each other, or themselves for that matter. In the mean-spirited world of "Cucumber" there is no love at all. No love of each other. No love of parents for children, or children for parents. No love of one's work. No love of the place one lives. No love of oneself. No love of sex, either, though this show pretends to be all about sex. No love of the writer for his characters, only contempt.I find it very strange that Russell T. Davies, a TV creator so successful he can surely do whatever he wants, should choose to put this particular vision on the screen. Is he really so cynical and bitter that he sees not even a glimpse of love in the "gay world" he inhabits? I remember an interview he gave when the original "Queer as Folk" was creating a buzz, and I was taken aback at how unhappy he seemed, especially for a young writer achieving international success. That unhappiness is manifest in every scene of "Cucumber."I happened to watch this series after binge-watching "TransParent" from Amazon, which blew me away with its razor-sharp observations, quirky humor, and deliciously uncomfortable but all-too-familiar movements. I was hoping "Cucumber" would be that good. Alas, no such luck.

Aaron Dodo Why do we watch drama? Why do we watch movies, read books, listen to news? And why is it that the imaginary lives of distant people not even remotely related to us often bring us into deep thoughts or emotions?Because that is what we do. We extract and we associate. We learn. Because truth, the universal truth, MUST ring true wherever you look.And sometimes, because we're so adapted to our mundane life, it takes a story slightly outside of our comfort zone to illustrate these universal truth to us. Make no mistake, Cucumber is sarcastic and intense. It puts on a satiric or even comedic voice, but it should be immediately obvious to the audience that there is an incredible intensity behind it. Some people may be confused, thinking "a suicide is not funny" --- Exactly. It is not. It is not supposed to be. The suicide should make you feel uncomfortable, should make you question Henry's choices, and should make you question MORE than just Henry's choices. That's what satires are supposed to do, it should make us think and think BIGGER than what's shown on the screen. Seeing flashing moments between Henry burying himself in his own daily worries and fantasies, and the problem that others are facing, should shake us: it's not just him, it's all of us, so buried in the thoughts of picking up our children and saving 50 cents on the next grocery purchase that we don't bother to look up into the world. Then you should stop and wonder: can we change that? And then, some of you will be more optimistic, others may come to the sad conclusion that no, not all the time. The mundane WILL drown out the worldly voices as many of us have noticed in our own lives, and it doesn't matter how much you fight it, it's bound to happen at least occasionally. And THAT, is a powerful message, one that transcends simple do and don'ts and illustrates reality. It's a very sad message. So don't be confused, if you feel uncomfortable watching that part of the episode, it means you've picked up the right feeling that they're trying to send out. Throughout the whole series, there's a lot of very dark messages. For those who try to bound these messages to only gay men or gay men of a certain age, make no mistakes, what was described in the show can apply to anyone and everyone. Like the show said, we make roads, we make grids, and as long as we are confined in certain grids we are safe --- but anyone who ventures out of that grid either voluntarily or not, will find that it is you versus the wild. These gay men on the show just illustrates this point better, because they're often closer to the side curb than your typical happily married straight couples, hence they have a greater chance of venturing outside of the norm and discover the nature that we are not supposed to discover. The idea of "possibility", the illusion of a "dream", the enormous social pressure that many of us have already molded our lives for, and the fragile mind that cannot grasp at a few themes at any given moment, these are problems that are in EVERYONE's life. Or they will be. So, I disagree with some other reviewers that this show illustrates the dark side of gay life --- it illustrates the darker side of what humans typically praise, period. Lust. Envy. It's everywhere. And it's here to stay.