I'm a huge fan of Charlie David and his body of work. The latest project is a streaming show - Womb Envy. I leapt at the opportunity to watch the series. I love Toronto, I love queer stories, and I love drag. All those elements combined into a lovely show. I happily dove in and watched the entire thing in one sitting.
Just the perfect amount of entertainment.
I loved the story premise. Max is a gay party boy. He hangs out with his bestie Kyle and spends more time drinking than working. He's on the verge of losing another job when Maggie, his high school bestie, shows up. Maggie's pregnant, alone, and desperately wanting to leave Elliot Lake. They'd planned to leave together ten years ago, but Maggie felt compelled to stay behind to care for her alcoholic mother. Something totally relatable.
Now, though, Maggie needs to get away. So why not rope her bestie to play the role of father of the unborn baby?
This story has elements of mpreg (male pregnancy). Like, Max isn't actually pregnant, right? Well, that proved to be an interesting question. Men having pregnancy symptoms as empathy for their female partners is a thing - but developing a baby bump?
Oh, and the drag queen hallucinations.
I loved Champagna in Drag Heals, so was thrilled to see her back in this great role of Max's conscience. The scenes between the two were some of my favorites.
And, of course, the story needed complications. First, Maggie's mom. Second, Maggie's Lamaze coach.
Max wants to avoid Dorothy at all costs while he wants all the time with Patrick.
Patrick isn't just a Lamaze coach. He's an AA sponsor. And Black. And queer. And partially sighted. He calls himself the trifecta. Well, he's also perfect. It's pretty clear why Max falls for Patrick. But he's stuck in the lie about being Maggie's baby daddy.
So what happens when Maggie finally gives birth? What's going to happen to Max's baby bump? Well, you'll just have to watch the series to find out!
A quick note on the acting. I enjoyed the ensemble cast and felt everyone did a great job. Daniel F. K. Fernandes was solid as Max. Storm Steenson nailed her performance as Maggie. Jeffrey Hasse as Patrick and Helen Holtham as Dorothy gave strong performances as well. Finally, I have to say Champagna, as The Divine, really nailed her fabulousness. I'll be interested to see if there might be more, but this was just the perfect series to binge on.
