British series In the Flesh stars teen dream Luke Newberry as Kieren Walker, who died four years ago and returned, snarling, brain-eating zombie. Now cured, he tries to re-integrate into human society. Season 2, Episode 3 tells us that "fate throws Kieren and Simon together." Episode 4: "Kieren is conflicted about seeing Simon behind Amy's back."
Who is Simon? I've been fooled before by girls with boys' names, so I checked the character on IMDB: he's a boy, played by Emmett Scanlon. "Seeing" could be a gay tease, but it sounds very much like the two boys are dating (and one is cheating on his girlfriend Amy).
Season 2, Episode 3 is incomprehensible, so we'll start at the beginning, Season 1, Episode 1, to see if there are any gay/bi hints.
Scene 1: Kieren in a giant medical facility, flashing back to his brain-eating days as he is being examined. The doctor tells him that he's responding well to the PDS (Partially Deceased Syndrome) medication (zombies who don't respond are "terminated"). He just needs to wear make-up and contact lenses to hide his zombie features, and he'll be ready to re-integrate.
Scene 2: The desolate countryside, littered with anti-"rotter" graffiti, missing person notices, graveyards, and boarded-up buildings. The vicar leads a procession of the HVF (Human Volunteer Force, an anti-zombie terrorist group).
A man and a woman are trying to sell their house, but their teenage daughter Jem scares away potential buyers by saying crazy things and belonging to HVF. They complain: "He can't come back here."
Scene 3: Group therapy at the PDS facility. Kieren says that the worst part is guilt over the people he killed, along with his hunting partner (a female hunting partner -- sounds heterosexual.)
They are all going home on Sunday. Kieren is looking forward to seeing his little sister Jem. So the man and the woman are his parents.
Scene 4: Jem at a meeting of the HVF. Can you believe the government, forcing us to live with rotter scum? There's no such thing as a reformed rotter. If you see any around here, shoot! The allegory is getting a little heavy.
Scene 5: Kieren's parents pick him up. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is addressing an angry mob that doesn't approve of zombies living among them. They're violent, evil monsters, and we have to pay to support them!
Scene 6: When Kieren and his family get back to town, he has to hide in the back seat to avoid the roving bands of HVF terrorists. They've kept his room the way he left: lots of artwork and books. He was a shy, artistic boy before he turned -- code for "gay."
A health care worker shows Mom and Dad how to give Kieren the daily injections into his spine, and how to taze him if he starts growling again.
Scene 7: A meeting of the parish council. They discuss continuing the ban on Halloween, since, as teenage Philip says, there are "real monsters" out there now. Later, the vicar asks Philip to spy on his mother, whom he suspects of secretly assisting the undead.
Scene 8: Philip at home. He waits for Mum to go to bed, then snoops in her laptop. When she catches him, he claims that he's viewing pornography. Philip is played by Stephen Thompson. Unfortunately, there are 350 other Stephen Thompsons more famous than him. Here's a MMA fighter.
Meanwhile, Kieren looks through a box of photographs of him with another boy -- a boyfriend, maybe? Another Mom and Dad have made a birthday cake for the boy's memorial. I can understand grieving a dead son, but a birthday cake seems a little over the top.
Scene 9: Jem comes in and yells at Kieren: "You're not my brother! You're a monster! Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you!"
Kieren proves that he's really her brother with a memory: When you were 7, you walked on tip-toe for nine months. Mom and Dad tried all sorts of pills and therapy, but nothing worked. Only I knew what would stop you: a heavy-metal mix tape. This family is insane.
They discuss his original death, apparently a suicide over feeling guilty about Rick's death. "But he died in Afghanistan." "But it's my fault he joined the army!" Was Rick conflicted over their romance?
Scene 10: Mom, Dad, and Kieren playing a weird children's board game. But he seems cognitively fine, Jem patrolling for rotters, drinking and being depressed.
Later, Kieren looks up the website for ULA (The Undead Liberation Army): "Do not be ashamed of who you are. We, the Undead, have a divine purpose to fulfill."
Scene 11: The Vicar meets with the HFV leader, Bill: "We have a wolf in our midst. One of them is living here. Find him and kill him."
Bill goes home and grabs his gun. Wait -- he's the father of Rick (David Walmsley), the boy whose death in Afghanistan led to Kieren's suicide. The plot thickens!
Jem, still on patrol, overhears his walkie-talkie chatter about the rotter in town. Kieren! She rushes to warn the family. They hide him and grab their weapons -- a chainsaw and a board with nails in it (guns are hard to find in England).
But it's not Kieren: they have come for the elderly woman from across the street, whom they kill while she and her husband beg for mercy. "You're safe now," Bill says.
Scene 12: Bill goes home. The military police are there. He expects to be arrested, but instead they have news: They found his son Rick in Afghanistan. He's a zombie! The end.
Beefcake: None.
Gay Characters: Kieren has some gay hints. According to the fan wiki, he's pansexual.
Heterosexism: None.
The Legal Status of Zombies: Unclear. Maybe it's unclear in the show, also. If they are alive, coming back would result in a lot of legal headaches regarding inheritance, custody, health insurance, and so on. If they are dead, wouldn't laws against desecrating corpses apply?
Heavy Handed Allegory: Obvious.
Conflict For Its Own Sake: Bill having a zombie son? A little much.
My Grade: B