phil tandy miller: totally and completely 100% straight, no interest in men here at all
y’know no-one asked for meta but Phil having a well-hidden, well-suppressed attraction to men makes so much sense, especially since it comes to the rift between him and Mike
like, Mike is basically a dumb immature frat boy who just happens to also be a space and science genius, he’s constantly ribbing Phil because that’s what he does and what Phil does back. you look at him and and you listen to the stuff he says (”this is you and me just goofing off”) and it’s obvious he has no idea whatsoever how cruel some of his remarks are.
(i’m honestly not sure this would have worked with an actor other than Jason Sudeikis)
anyway, the bit where Mike brings up the football player that Phil was apparently stalking, that makes Phil really rattled and it just – makes me wonder. we’re told Phil and Mike fell out over a girl but I always thought there had to be more to it than that, since the girl in question is never even mentioned again. maybe it wasn’t that. maybe Mike just said the wrong or the stupid thing at the wrong time, having no idea it was hurtful, just as he does when he brings up Phil’s “boner” for another dude. hahaha! it’s one of those weird things Phil just does!
like, having a brother who makes fun of your hygiene and general slobbishness, that’s one thing. Having a brother who makes fun of a part of yourself you desperately want to hide –
– that’s definitely another.
Bringing this back ‘cos of last night’s episode. I really, really hope the show addresses that Phil’s wanting to kiss his best male friend is bisexuality and not just, well, hahahaha one of those weird things Phil just does.
I know no-one really likes Tandy and I absolutely understand why, but… I really love that the show finally seems to have confirmed his attraction to men, after three series of it being implicit. (Mike’s taunting about Brett Junkins the football player really couldn’t have been anything else.) So even though it was done in this totally offhand played-for-laughs way, I think the foundations were always there.
a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.
I really love the TLMOE costume department for so many reasons, but one of them is this: Tandy’s t-shirts occasionally hint at the plot/resolution of the episode! (this is something I’ve completely failed so far to successfully gif, so you get this long post instead.)
Tandy’s shirt in The Open-Ended Nature of Unwitnessed Death is a messenger pigeon, and the episode’s all about trying to leave a message to someone.
Tandy’s shirt in The Spirit of St Lewis (the episode where Lewis dies) is birds flying out of a cage. Doves are sometimes released at funerals to symbolize the soul of the deceased being released. (I hate TSOSL, but I love that detail)
Then at the end of that episode Tandy’s wearing a sunset, because (what with Lewis being dead, Gail presumed dead and Melissa locked up) it’s arguably the group’s darkest hour. Except that you could also see it as a sunrise, meaning the opposite, and of course right before the credits Gail turns out to be Not Quite Dead.
Back to the sun again! In the series 3 finale, where everyone pours over maps to find a place to go and eventually decide to try Mexico, Tandy’s wearing a map marker with the sun inside it.
And finally, in the ending scene of Double Cheeseburger, where Tandy’s holding baby Mike, he’s wearing a t-shirt with planets on it. You can’t see it properly in the show, but it’s this one, the aptly named “You Are My Universe” tee –
i promise this asshole gets more tolerable plus it’s worth it to see erica and gail kiss and be cute
I think after S1 the writers and Will basically went “this… is really not gonna work in the long term” and over the course of S2 Tandy slowly went from Villain to Annoying Uncle in the eyes of all the other, non-Carol characters. He was such a massive dick before it was a total relief. Now he’s like a totally different person.
(Incidentally, all throughout the second series and beyond Tandy really reads as bisexual, to me at least. Towards the end of that series [a spoiler] shows up and he makes a minor deal of how Tandy might’ve once had a crush on a dude, which embarrasses him. But I don’t think they’ll ever really go there, alas.)
Hey Mike. I’m your dad. You know, normally Mike is a guy’s name. Other kids might give you a little flak for it. But… Mike was my brother’s name. And if you knew him, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind.
