Wet Palms: Season 1, Episode 1: Who is Lucky Hanson Review

Reviewed by Joe Shaver  on  12/18/2006

On MELROSE PLACE there was one token gay guy. On WET PALMS, a show that seems suggestive of the former, there are no token straights. This is not the first gay soap. That honor goes to an episodic piece called YOUNG HEARTS, BROKEN DREAMS. But YHBD was softcore; WET PALMS is hardcore. (Is it ever!) It also features a cast of top-notch performers who are the hottest stars around.

This first episode (“Who is Lucky Hanson”) begins with Lucky Hanson (played by a cute newcomer, Gabriel Knight) arriving at Wet Palms inquiring after the owner, Randall Jett. The manager (played with much swishyness by Bret Wolfe) tells him that Randall is in Europe. Bret is taken aback as Lucky resembles a certain Sebastian and that gives him a bad feeling. Nevertheless he is intrigued, and gives Lucky a room. We have our first sex scene when Lucky is showering and jacks off while watching the cute pool boy—oops, sorry—“aquatic maintenance engineer” Tripp (Cody Cash). Sadly, Gabriel doesn’t cum.

In this episode we also meet two lovers played by Jason Ridge and Brad Benton. (Brad’s character is named—get this—Tucker Bang.) Jason is an underwear model for a firm known as “Bubble”. When we first meet Jason he is in his underwear before a full-length mirror checking to see if he still has a bubble butt. Jason’s character has had a problem with cocaine and Brad came to the rescue, getting Jason off the drug, and taking Jason into his home and heart. Brad works at a gossip magazine run by Randall Jett’s brother Simon (Michael Soldier) Simon makes life hard for Brad because he wants Jason.

Someone else who wants Jason is the Vice-President of Bubble Butt Underwear, Ethan Marc. (Ethan says he’s happy to play a villain; and he’s a most charming villain.) He arrives a Jason’s place with a fistful of cash to buy Jason’s services in the bedroom. Jason tells him that it’s the last time, as he doesn’t want to endanger his relationship with Brad. This is the episode’s major sex scene and a good one it is. Ethan face-fucks Jason, and then gets Jason to eat out his ass and fuck him. Jason certainly gives the young executive his money’s worth. Unbeknownst to them, they were being photographed and the photos have been handed over to none other than Simon Jett.

The first episode is certainly a grabber and makes us axious for the next installment. Of course with them all now on DVD, we don’t have to wait. The episodes are short (c. 40 minutes) about the length of an hour TV show without the commercials. The DVD is chock full of extras that fills most of the disc. There are interviews with several of the performers. We watch the auditions with some not-chosen performers displaying the fact that they can’t read. (Auditions are a painful process for everyone.) There are nice pictures also (especially of Gabriel Knight that shows he has a lot more to offer than we’ve seen in the film proper).

Acting from everyone is excellent. This was a labor of love, and it shows. It’s a first-class production all around. The episodes are like potato chips. I bet you can’t take just one.