*The category is: season finale realness! The FX hit series that has taken mainstream media by storm, “Pose,” ended with a bang Sunday night leaving much anticipation for season two. The final episode did not disappoint, filled with glitz, glam, reconciliations, and major triumphs while telling the story of ballroom culture through the lens of the 1980’s Harlem scene.
Fans gathered at Studio 17 to celebrate this milestone at a private screening hosted by digital media outlets The Root and Jezebel. Emotions ran high as hopeful viewers banded together to see how the season would end and rally for their favorite characters.
Perhaps the greatest highlight of the evening was having two of the series’ breakout stars, Indya Moore (Angel) and Ryan Jamaal Swain (Damon), there to witness the viewing with their fans. There was an outpour of love and gratitude from those who have followed the pairs journey to stardom since the beginning.
Both Indya and Ryan spoke candidly during a Q&A session about their hopes for the future as well as the weight of their roles and what it meant for media today and the LGBTQ community.
“My prime most special moment would be when I received my character directions from Janet Mock. It was a spiritual moment,” Moore explains.
Mock, an activist and a prominent figure in the LGBTQ community, has played an instrumental part in the series’ success and even had a chance to write and direct an episode during the first season.
However, the true secret sauce of this show is not in the details of each character’s tumultuous circumstances but lies in the overwhelming sense of hope that each storyline provides. HIV, homelessness, racism, and poverty are merely the catalyst for each character’s rise to success.
Showing audiences that one’s circumstances do not determine one’s outcome. It is in each character’s darkest hours that “Pose” reaches new heights. Demonstrating to viewers, as Janet Mock explained in a recent Variety interview, ”what inclusion looks like, what community and family look like, what radically loving and accepting one another, especially those most rejected and discarded, looks like.”
Overall, season one of “Pose” receives a 10 out of 10 and reigns supreme.
