But for the most part, the series allows its characters to be every bit as messy or silly or sexy or serious after the shooting as they were before. Sure, here and there are painful excavations of trauma or equally tear-jerking moments of defiant joy. Yet despite the heavy premise, the series as a whole is surprisingly light on its feet. Most of our main characters are among them, and for the rest of the eight-episode season, they’ll grapple with their lingering guilt and grief, with the unthinkable ways their lives changed that night, with the holes it left in the center of their community. Midway through the first episode, an unnamed shooter enters a New Orleans gay club called Babylon and opens fire on the crowd of partiers. The catalyzing event in Peacock’s new Queer as Folk is a horrific act of violence.
