Over 28 minutes, Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events, premiering at Tribeca Festival, beautifully captures life’s absurdities while never seeking to ridicule Kevin or his need to find a connection and some fun that doesn’t lead to a stressful, urgent exit.
In 2023, writers Asad Moghal and Daniel Mannheim, and director Rex Glensy brought us the anthology series Patterns, a delightful celebration of queer culture that delivered eight interlinked short stories exploring universal yet diverse life patterns, from unrequited love to coming out and a lockdown relationship from hell. One of the stronger characters we were introduced to in Patterns was Kevin, played by the brilliant Jake Watkins. Now three years later, Moghal, Mannheim, Watkins and Glensy have brought Kevin back to our screens in the fabulously flirtatious, farcical and fast-paced preview of Patterns season two, Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events, premiering at the Tribeca Festival.
We have all had our fair share of dating disasters. I remember having a date come back to mine for a coffee, only to strip off in my bathroom and walk into the lounge with the words “I’m ready for you now”, a small bottle of poppers in one hand, and his cock in the other! When I politely asked him to get dressed, as I wouldn’t want to spill my coffee on any delicate body parts, he protested before leaving the flat, wearing nothing but his boxers, the rest of his clothes bundled under his arm. We all have one, two, or three stories like that, right? Well, Kevin has a filing cabinet full!
By day, Kevin is a support worker at a local secondary school, where he plays the Online Safety Salamander, his green costume visible for miles around and his online safety rap a gift to the teenage students who like to ridicule him. Still, it’s not all bad; he spends most of the day in the sharp-tongued school nurse’s office, Vera (Cecilia Noble), who is quick to give him dating tips. At the same time, he is supported by the sharp-suited, well-meaning but unconfident Geography teacher, Dave Douglas (Ryan Sampson), who attempts to make conversation with him with little success.
By night, Kevin scours online hookup apps, looking for fun and possibly more, with disastrous results. From a date with a taxidermist who could well be a serial killer looking to stuff Kevin in more ways than one to an ex-convict looking to re-create his prison days with some handcuffs and a ball-gag, or an ex-English teacher who longs to relive their school days in a creepy role play, Kevin’s life is a series of dating and hookup disasters. But maybe everything he needs and wants is far closer to home than he thinks?
Moghal and Mannheim’s screenplay is a delight, with some genuinely brilliant reflections on online dating and hookup culture that so many of us will recognise. At the same time, Rex Glensy keeps the pacing tight in a comedy that combines humour and heart. Over 28 minutes, Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events beautifully captures life’s absurdities while never seeking to ridicule Kevin or his need to find a connection and some fun that doesn’t lead to a stressful, urgent exit.
At the heart of the action, Jake Watkins offers us a knockout performance. Kevin may be naive and unable to see what is right in front of his face, but his eagerness to please others and find love, or even some good sex, is endearing and sweet throughout.
I can only hope this tantalising glimpse sees Patterns season two find a distributor, because Kevin deserves his happy ending, and we deserve to follow the next stage of his dating life as a new door opens for our sweet but clueless salamander.
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