Queer Eye came back to Netflix for a 3rd season. This series continues to change the lives of the people who get a makeover as well as anyone watching who needs to learn more about empathy, compassion, and acceptance.
The Fab Five Queer Eye men are Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, Tan France, and Bobby Berk. Between them, they help their clients with culture, food, grooming, style, and design.
The five men of Queer Eye offer an example of the best of masculinity.
I’m convinced every person in America (the whole world, actually) needs a team of 5 queer men cheering them on, giving them acceptance and building up their confidence. It would change everything if all people felt as secure and loved and ready to take on life as the people lucky enough to be visited by this team do.
This season they were in and around Kansas City, Missouri. They helped a grieving single father, a father-to-be, a young man stuck in his bedroom gaming, a woman who wore only camo, a man about to get married, two sisters with a family barbecue business, and more. There were 8 episodes in season 3.
Episode 5, “Black Girl Magic,” was my favorite episode. The Queer Eye team helped a 23 year old lesbian named Jess. Jess was their first lesbian. (Last season they helped a transgender man, an episode I also loved.) Jess had been kicked out of her house at an early age and was on her own ever since. You have to judge these episodes by how much they connect with your tear ducts and your involuntary smile. This one cause a major outpouring of emotion.
If you’d like a long, touching, recap of the “Black Girl Magic” episode by a Black lesbian writer, there’s one at Autostraddle.
The house and the clothes and the food and the grooming matter. They are very important. But what Karamo Brown does with each person is the beating heart of the series. He listens. He digs. He opens wounds and lets them air out. He finds physical metaphors to help people overcome their barriers.
The five men of Queer Eye are inspiring role models and leaders. They offer an example of the best of masculinity. I strongly recommend all three seasons of this series to everyone.