The first season finale of
Greek will air next week, and according to actor
Paul James, viewers can expect a lot from the episode, including something that involves his character revealing his homosexuality to the fraternity.
“Something happens in the tenth episode, the season finale, which has [Calvin's coming out to the fraternity] in it. I can't give away that,” Paul James told
After Elton. “But the tenth episode is… very dramatic and there's a lot of stuff going on. It's like the [expletive] hits the fan pretty much. And then next season we just sort of explore what the house means to Calvin.”
Paul James' Calvin started out in the series as a gay college freshman whose coming out in high school proved traumatic. In college, he decides to keep his homosexuality a secret from his fraternity, telling only his good friend, Rusty (
Jacob Zachar).
It was on the fourth episode of
Greek that Calvin came out to Rusty, and although James described the episode as “beautiful,” he said he also enjoys working on the ones wherein his character's homosexuality does not take center stage.
“I really enjoy the episodes where it's just a matter of, ‘Oh, by the way, he is gay,” Paul James told
After Elton. “It's not a bone of contention or this big thing that needs to be talked about. I have the most fun, when he's just a regular kid.”
With regards to accepting the role, James said he and his management were not concerned when they found out the character he was to play is gay.
“If the characters are well-written, then that's all you can hope for as an actor, especially a young actor. There's really not a lot of great parts,” James said, adding he does turn away from projects that have stereotypical characters. “There is this movie I auditioned for once… there was a gay character and it was a complete stereotype. You know, being a black guy I'm very sensitive to stereotypes… it [was] poorly written.”
Calvin, on the other hand, is far from the usual gay characters portrayed on-screen. He is not only possesses great athletic abilities, but also has a caring and supportive father, who is well aware of Calvin's homosexuality.
“Originally my father, they wrote him as not tolerant. I was arguing with Sean. I wanted to change it to being very supportive,” Paul James said. “I'm like, ‘this gives me less to act against. This gives me less to do.' He was like, ‘yeah, we've seen the whole like angry father so many times that I don't want to do that again.'”
In James' eyes, creator Sean Smith, who is openly gay, is using Calvin as a way to address his own feelings about being homosexual.
“[Sean] really is using Calvin sort of to say how he feels about being gay. Calvin is a character, but he's also sort of a little bit of a mouthpiece of what Sean has seen in his life and how he wants to portray a certain character, whereas the other characters are written purely as entertainment,” James told After Elton.
The season finale of
Greek airs on Monday, September 10, on ABC Family.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: After Elton
(Image Courtesy of ABC Family)