"Blue Mountain State" is Back and Just as Homoerotic as Ever

By Michael Jensen

While it would certainly be a stretch to say that Spike TV's Blue Mountain State is free from stereotypical gay jokes and gay panic humor, it probably is fair to say that it's far, far better than many of us expected when it debuted two years ago. Indeed, the show about a group of not very bright college football players, has actually managed to often be wildly homoerotic, while also managing to avoid coming off as blatantly homophobic. Sometimes it's even gay-friendly.

Given the network that it airs on and the audience it's aimed at, it's kind of a miracle.

And this past Saturday night's episode, titled "oh so subtly" "Dic Pics" actually manages to be ... progressive. (BTW, this is actually the second episode of the third season, which technically doesn't start until Wednesday night with back-to-back-episodes. But Spike TV ran it on Saturday night for some reason. Maybe a monkey is running their programming department.)

The episode revolves around the "best" way for the football players to convince women to sleep with them (okay, that's what half of BMS episodes are about) and things kick off when Harmon (James Cade) is accidentally sent a picture of Coach's junk on his cell phone. When he asks the other players why they think Coach sent it, one player suggests it's a way of saying "good job," while another suggests it means "practice harder."

Like I said before, these guys aren't bright. Thad (Alan Ritchson), with his usual Neanderthal thinking, says it means that Coach wants to "bang him. Duh."

The guys look puzzled but no vomits like they would in your typical Hollywood movie with this scenario. When the players then debate the best way to get a woman in bed, Thad says it's to send them a "dic pic" like Coach did. When the other players scoff at this, Thad asks Harmon, "Before you got that picture of Coach, how much of your day was spent thinking about Coach in a sexual way?" The answer is none, but when Thad asks how much time he's been thinking about Coach sexually since then, Harmon says, "He's the only person I've been thinking about sexually in the past eight hours."

What's interesting here is that no one freaks out or tells Harmon he's weird or a pervert for admitting this. Like I said before, it's kind of a miracle.

What follows isn't just a ton of homo-eroticism — Thad graphically demonstrates how best to take a "dic pic," Thad snapping a picture of Alex's privates, the whole team posing naked — but has Harmon deciding he's being asked to have a three-way with Coach and his wife. After sleeping on it, he decides to go through with it and, according to the "dic pic" etiquette, snaps a picture of his junk to send to Coach accepting his offer.

Unfortunately for Harmon, it all turns out to have been a misunderstanding, and Coach and his wife aren't really into the three-way. But the great thing is that Harmon is still interested and isn't doing it just because he wants to sleep with Coach's wife either. He clearly seems intrigued by the idea of having sex with a man.

Yep, Harmon is at the very least bi-curious, if not bisexual. Even better, no one on the team is particularly weirded out or judgmental about this turn of events. (Okay, Coach isn't wild about it) And even though the episode had tons of the guys looking at each others penises, they actually end up complimenting each other on their dicks "being beautiful."

Honestly it was quite surreal given where all of this could have gone. This is what gay humor should look like in 2011, but who on earth would've expected it from a show like Blue Mountain State? And that it comes from a channel like Spike TV only makes it seem that much more noteworthy.