IMHO: "Real World: Brooklyn" (Ep. 7) "Of Mice and Gay Men"

Separation of the sexes continues throughout episode seven in Brooklyn, only this time it feels as if JD is on the sidelines (and don't forget our interview with JD if you haven't already checked it out!). With a slew of visitors to the home (some with tails, some without), the roommates couldn’t be any sicker of each other.

But with JD’s manic swings of character and a stereotypical response to a mouse that might have set the gay community’s identity in media back a few years, I’m not giving this episode much love.

Why?

Well first of all, don’t get me wrong, we watch the Real World for drama. As a gay man, I’m secure enough to admit that drama is a form of sustenance, right up there with Power Bars and Sour Apple Martinis (I guess I can be stereotypical too). But the drama in this episode only served to further tarnish JD’s character. Four reviews into this season and I’m beginning to tire of writing negatively about the only gay boy in the home.

But I have no choice. Whether it’s the editing that’s painting an unflattering picture or JD’s true character that’s being exposed, we have yet to find out.

While much of this episode’s plot involves a visit from Devyn’s fiancé (who quickly becomes her ex-fiancé), and though the storyline is dramatic and good bad-TV, it’s nowhere near gay. So without getting our Ginch Gonches all twisted, I’d like to focus on Real World Brooklyn’s resident gay.

The new roommates

Like a lot of gay jokes involving certain celebrities, it all begins with rodents. It seems mice are infesting the Real World house, and who is the first to jump on the counters and the loudest to shriek? It’s JD, in a stereotypical drama queen display that’s usually reserved for homophobic teen flicks.

The counter top shuffle

When he’s had a chance to calm down from the critter-shock, JD approaches Sarah and asks for an apology in regards to a discussion from the last episode that IMHO doesn’t warrant an apology. She denies him his satisfaction and briskly walks away. Bent on revenge against her and the other girls, JD – who only a few episodes back was outspoken against pranks – pulls the guys together for a rattastic ruse: they plan to release a giant rat into the girls’ beds. (Side note: Read an AfterElton.com exclusive interview with JD, where he mentions the editing of his character and the pranks here.)

Up to no good

The boys purchase a typical white pet store rat, and quickly decide the girls aren’t smart enough to deduce its origins from its very un-sewerlike color.

Solidifying my belief that JD is just a drama queen and perhaps not afraid of rodents, we soon witness him caressing the rat in a sweet embrace, while saying, “I never thought I would be pulling all these types of pranks in my life.” He gets kudos from me for at least recognizing that his knack for pranks is in direct opposition to his earlier emotional pleas against them.

So the boys successfully carry out their mission and release the rat in both Devyn’s and Sarah’s beds on different occasions. They consider it a success, unaware that the girls are soon onto them.

What kind of cream gets rid of these?

“It’s weird to me that they’re all white,” ponders Sarah, the conspiracy theorist inside her begging to be released.

Devyn, whose mother tells her that white rats only come from pet stores, is also skeptical. “Who would have a reason to get you?” she asks. “Anyone who currently has a penis,” quips Katelynn, to applause from my sofa.

"Anyone who currently has a penis"

The girls conduct a successful search for evidence, and the issue doesn’t resurface for the rest of the episode. However, I feel a storm of revenge brewing, which I can’t wait to witness.

At the end of the episode, we follow JD as he returns the rat to the pet store, admitting to the clerk that he became closer to the rat than any of his housemates. How sad.

I’m simply ready for JDto redeem himself (or the editors to stabilize his character), hence the limp arrow.

Do you feel JD has made his bed and is now lying in it? Or do you think the girls have unfairly ostracized him? How do you feel about his starkly opposite reactions to the different rodents? Am I off for believing he’s a drama queen?