Review: 'Q-Force' is More Than the Sum of its Big Gay Parts

In a blend of "Archer" and "Big Mouth," the new Netflix animated comedy "Q-Force" dives into – and tears through – spy action clichés and LTBQ+ stereotypes.

The show's rousing prologue takes place in 2011, as American Intelligence Agency cadet Steve Maryweather (Sean Hayes, "Will and Grace") conquers a gauntlet of challenges with action man ease: "Hi bitch!" he sings out, getting the drop on a masked and armored opponent, before unlocking Rubik's cube-esque hand grenades and blowing up enemy tanks. It's all part of the final test before graduating the Agency's academy, and Maryweather passes with flying rainbow colors.

Somehow, no one has caught on that Maryweather is gay, so when, inspired by the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," he comes out in his valedictorian speech, he quickly finds himself demoted in the class rankings, with the top spot handed to a vacuous straight guy named (what else?) Buck (David Harbour, "Black Widow"). Worse still, AIA Director Chunley (Gary Cole) exiles Maryweather to a posting in West Hollywood, where he's allowed to gather a team of super-spies but not go on any field assignments.

Fast-forward to 2021: Ten years have gone by, Maryweather's mentor, V (Laurie Metcalf) has risen in the Agency's ranks, and Director Chunley is still blocking any field action for Maryweather and his crew... until, that is, Maryweather finally decides to take matters into his own hands and begin investigating the strange case of a foreign national with a suspicious lockbox and ominous tattoo.

When the case blows up into an imminent threat that involves nuclear weapons, V prevails on Chunley to give Maryweather and his team full agency support and allow them to investigate. As the crew follows one lead after the next, they uncover an ever-widening conspiracy that challenges every member of the team: Lesbian super-mechanic Deb (Wanda Sykes), draq queen master of disguise Twink (Matt Rogers), and hacker extraordinaire Stat (Patti Harrison).

But there's a new member of the squad, imposed on them by Chunley: Maryweather's academy nemesis, Agent Buck, is assigned to "Q-Force" (as Chunley calls Maryweather's team) to reign them in, keep an eye on them, and/or generally be irritating. Despite Chunley's bad intentions, chuckleheaded Buck becomes integrated into the team as things get weirder, and everyone's careers, and lives, take unexpected twists and turns.

The story takes the season's entire 10-episode run to unfold, but each episode has its own points of focus that blend the personal and professional, off-kilter humor and genre tropes, and a surprising amount of full-frontal male nudity. There's also a dash of romance, as Deb attempts to shield her wife from the truth of her secret agent career, Twink crushes on Buck (who, in turn, falls for the sovereign head of a foreign power), Stat becomes enamored of an AI, and Agent Mary (as everyone calls him) pursues a relationship with the gentle, sweet-natured Benji (series creator Gabe Liedman) while seducing the occasional bad guy and/or bystander in the course of his spy craft.

Early commentary on the series, based on the trailer, focused on the show's constant riffing on stereotypes: Twitter users voiced their skepticism, and one site called the series "cringeworthy".

Yes, "Q-Force" trades in tropes, but watching the ten episodes of Season One it becomes evident that's a feature, not a bug. In the same way "Bigmouth" uses crude and bizarre sexual humor as a way of addressing more serious issues around sexuality, sex ed, trauma, and relationships, "Q-Force" skewers anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, unflattering caricatures, and –�yes – suppressed straight-guy homoeroticism by using those things as satirical fodder.

Along the way the show calls out corporate faux friends and institutionalized homophobia. It also trashes the superhero myth of the spy genre: Maryweather is ridiculously competent, but he's also kind of a knucklehead about certain things. Conversely, Buck is witlessly juvenile, but he slowly starts to grow on you. (Maybe that's because he's the most frequent recipient of the show's urge to get its characters naked.) If the series has unpardonable miscalculations, they tend to involve Buck: One episode reveals his tragic background in a bid to simultaneously soften our hearts while poking fun at the sort of saccharine melodrama that too often passes for poignancy on TV. Another half-hour installment sees a gag in which Maryweather literally treat Buck like a dog – and the big lunk inexplicably falls for it. It's a moment that vaporizes all the good will the show has worked to build for its literal straight man. (It also paints Maryweather as an asshole, which is not a good look. We can get behind a flawed hero, but not a malicious one.)

Still, take the show's blend of modern serialized storytelling, throwback "workplace family" dynamics, plotting worthy of an old movie house serial, slightly left-field adult humor, and the atavistic pleasures of the Saturday morning cartoon... plus some actual character development... and "Q-Force" becomes more than the sum of its big gay parts.

"Q-Force" streams at Netflix starting Sept. 2.