Davis' family visits The Real World Denver

On the latest episode of The Real World we saw Davis receive a birthday visit from his sister and mother. The moments before their arrival were tense, as we learn that Davis' relationship with his mother has been strained ever since he came out, "It was sort of like a death in the family," he says, "she always wanted a wife and kids for me."

Davis' mother, we learn, has only contacted him through the occasional e-mail and we see Davis reading one such e-mail to Alex. "Did you think that following (Jesus) who died sacrificially would require anything less than a sacrifice from you?" Davis reads. (The message he's reading densely fills the screen with text... it looks like Davis received a rather lengthy lecture from mom.)

At this point, it's looking like this meeting will be full of reality TV drama.

Their meeting, however, turns out to be far calmer than suggested and it quickly becomes clear that there's still a lot of affection between Davis and his family. His sister greets him with a tight squeeze and his mother shows pride in her son when they talk about his impending trip to Thailand. After giving them a tour of the house, Davis takes them out to catch the sights, where mom gives Davis a digital camera for a birthday present. It's a perfect gift for someone headed to a scenic destination and a moment that contradicts the all expectations I had from that e-mail message. Davis says good night and promises to call around nine-ish before heading to the celebrations planned by his housemates.

Davis' birthday party starts looking a lot like ever other Real World bar scene I've seen, except that somehow this party ends with Davis sitting in front of the computer, passed out and naked with his boxer shorts around his ankles. I'm left wondering what naked computer activity could be uninteresting enough that you could still fall asleep in the middle of it. Alas, the 'how' we got to this visual is never answered.

At 11:30, Davis makes the phone call he promised for nine-ish causing mom to express her disappointment that there isn't time left for them to spend together before returning home. Davis offers to drive them back to the airport. "Talking about things like my drinking or my being gay are hard," Davis reflects "so I think it's best if we don't talk about that kind of stuff."

Reality TV can sometimes catch genuine moments that reveal so much about how people approach social issues. In this episode, The Real World expressed the two-sided dynamic that some gay people experience with their families. On one hand, there's the kind of disapproval that inspires lengthy e-mail rebukes. Underneath that there's still familial love and affection, but the kind that sometimes asks us to wear blinders.

Did anyone else catch the episode? What'd you think?