Gay TV Recap: "Picking Teams" is Greek's gayest ep yet

There are some spoilers below, though nothing major. The ep isn't available yet on ABC Family's site, but it should be eventually, as well as on iTunes.

Last night's "Picking Teams" was the gayest episode of ABC Family's quietly groundbreaking college dramedy Greek thus far, with our until-now stealth gay frat pledge (Calvin) revealing a little about his family and coming out to his first friend at school. Overall the episode was gay-friendly to a fault (more on that later) and a good sign that the gay supporting character is considered more than set dressing.

The main story dealt with a common underdog theme: not getting picked for sports. The two rival fraternities are locked in a competition (remember the beer pong episode) fueled mostly by posturing over a girl, but we won't get into that. The important thing is that our hero, Rusty (Jacob Zachar) and his only friend Calvin (Paul James) are both expected to play intermural hockey for their respective houses.

In an unexpected turn, Calvin's dad shows up. Uh-oh: typical scenario, right? The gay guy is bad at sports and his clueless dad is pressuring him to play because he's afraid his son is a pansy? Actually, no -- much as the show to this point has handled Calvin's story a bit differently than most gay teen plots, here the situation is unexpected. It turns out that Calvin was an All-State hockey player, and although he now doesn't have much interest in the sport, he was actually a total jock, which made his father proud.

But there's another twist...

Dad knows that Calvin is gay and has no problem with it. In fact, he's pretty supportive and talks about civil unions and stuff. Sure, he obviously still wants his son to be a "man's man," but it's one of those rare occasions where gay and manly aren't immediately dismissed as being mutually exclusive. Dad wants Calvin to get all the great experiences and friendships out of his fraternity that he did when he was there (if not the chair-sex that he rather ickily alludes to early-on), and he worries that Calvin's not being out in his frat might keep him from fully enjoying his time there.

Calvin replies that when he came out in high school he suddenly became "that gay hockey player" and he doesn't want that to happen again, because he hopes that being gay isn't the most interesting thing about me (he must be reading T.R. Knight's press releases!). But by the end of the episode, Calvin decides to tell Rusty, and the two have a very sweet scene as Rusty wrestles with processing the information while still making it very clear to his friend that he cares about him. We're left with a sense that Calvin has a lot of tough choices and hurdles ahead of him as he navigates his frat and school as a gay man, but he has his wits and his friend as support.

This was one of the most optimistic depictions of a coming-out that I've ever seen on TV. There were no tears or fights or disowning or suicide attempts or any of that -- if anything, the gay story is being handled too well, if there is such a thing. My boyfriend and I turned to each other several times during Calvin's scenes with his dad and said, "Yeah, right!" -- but hey, maybe things are getting easier for kids these days to come out earlier and with more conviction, and really, we've seen the agonized approach plenty of times by now. Greek seems determined to allow its gay character to be more than just a coming-out story, and it's high time a teen-focused show took that step.

We also had another chance meeting between Calvin and his as-yet mysterious loverboy, who tackles him for a few moments too long during the game. Ah, foreplay. I just hope they keep a good amount of focus on Rusty and Calvin or change up the main sorority sister storyline stat, because it's getting a bit dull -- it's like a Bratz Doll Dynasty Playset. Otherwise, I've found my guilty summer pleasure.