Emmy Episodes: Pose

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the fourth year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Pose: Season 1, Episode 4 “The Fever” (B+)

This episode brought up something that is a true threat and reality for so many of this show’s characters with the introduction of a seemingly harmless fever. Damon didn’t seem to realize that any unprotected sex could leave him vulnerable, and Ricky casually mentioning that he had been with fifty partners didn’t do much to allay his concerns. Blanca was smart to suggest that they all go for HIV testing, though she couldn’t have known that the results would turn out to be good news for everyone except for Pray Tell. Watching him try to compose himself before going out to celebrate with the three younger boys was heart-wrenching. A character that we haven’t seen much of, Candy, also got a major spotlight in this hour as she tried to win prizes for traits her body didn’t possess and went to potentially dangerous lengths, with Angel’s help, to try to see them corrected. We also got to see a new side of Elektra, which provided some insight into how she got to be where she is. I remember seeing Emmy buzz for guest star Christopher Meloni, who recently appeared on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” for his guest role here as Dick, who has been keeping Elektra comfortable for ten years but always insistent, for whatever reason, that she not have the surgery to make her the person she’s always known she needs to be. Deciding she’s going through with it anyway made for a powerful scene with the doctor played by Kathryn Erbe from “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” signaling a future that might be happier for her even if it’s not nearly as financially glamorous.