'Looking' Returns for a Second Season Jan. 11

Season Two of "Looking" commences Sunday evening, January 11, at 10 p.m. EST on HBO. Following up on the storylines from the eight-episode first season, the expanded ten-episode second season continues the show's tone and style, offering sharp, intelligent writing that explores issues both timeless and contemporary.

Part comedy, part drama, and one hundred percent sexy fun, "Looking" follows the lives of three gay friends in San Franciso. The leads -- Patrick (Jonathan Groff), Augustin (Frankie J. Alvarez), and Dom (Murray Bartlett) -- continue their respective quests as set out last season, with Dom pushing hard to open his own restaurant, Patrick wavering between two romantic interests, and Augustin poised on the brink of a self-destructive spiral into drugs and other self-sabotaging behaviors.

This isn't a show about hooking up as much as hooking in to life's big themes: Love, success, creative fulfillment, personal agency -- all the ingredients to what we might call happiness. The usual obstructions and complications litter the way: Work woes, miscommunication, and the occasional dose of free-floating anxiety (HIV! Commitment fears! Bed bugs!). But the writing and direction, especially that of filmmaker Andrew Haigh, who executive produces and who both writes and directs the premiere episode, possesses a fluidly, and a fluency, that speaks directly to the current generation of gay men about all these issues.

Joining the core trio are a supporting cast of immensely charismatic performers. Lauren Weedman plays Doris, Dom's tough, take-charge roommate; she's been upgraded to a series regular, as have Russell Tovey, who plays Patrick's boss Kevin, and Raul Castillo, who plays Richie. These latter two characters are the romantic options that tug Patrick in two very different, and equally desirable, directions; both also have their downsides, but the show pulls off a consistent minor miracle in that every scene that finds Patrick together with Kevin makes you hope the two of them end up together, only for the next scene that shows Patrick and Richie together to prompt an instant shift. What a delicious dilemma -- because who could choose between Tovey and Castillo? Personally, I'd want them both.

Scott Bakula also returns in a recurring special guest role as Lynn, Dom's wealthy older boyfriend, who prefers his relationships open even as he keeps his deepest self closed. (He's a widow, his long-time life partner having died years before.) Bakula brings warmth to the role, but with an edge; pairing up with the hard-headed Dom means that sparks of all sorts are going to fly.

It's a fine line between thoughtful drama and overdone melodrama, but "Looking" treads that line with confidence. This show deserves a spot on your appointment television lineup.

The second season of HBO's "Looking" premieres Sunday, January 11, at 10 p.m. EST