What is Q-Force on Netflix about?

Q-Force, Netflix’s first animated series with an openly gay lead, “comes out” on Sept. 2. The first season is 10 episodes of super-spy action-comedy combined with commentary about the place the LGBTQ+ community has in society.

Top spy Steve Maryweather (Sean Hayes) comes out as gay at his valedictorian ceremony. In response, Director Chunley (Gary Cole) re-gifts the award to Agent Buck (David Harbour). Steve is forced out of his position and creates his own unit of queer spies in response.

The rest of the lineup includes Wanda Sykes as Deb, Laurie Metcalf as V, Gave Liedman as Benji, Patti Harrison as Stat and Matt Rogers as Twink.

The initial trailer gives off a raunchy and obnoxious vibe, which struck a negative tone with some LGBTQ viewers. But to be fair, we haven’t seen a show like this before. Can you think of a show with an out and proud gay man, especially in the military? It’s harder than it should be.

The second trailer seeks to rectify those issues, showing us more of the plot and the bias of the world, rather than surface-level jokes and raunchy content just for the sake of it.

Q-Force synopsis

Q-Force tells the story of top spy cadet Steve Maryweather who comes out as a gay man at his valedictorian ceremony. In a savagely realistic twist, Director Dick Chunley delivers the award to anybody else who happens to be straight: someone like Agent Rick Buck. The incident lands Steve on assignment in West Hollywood, rather than somewhere with real action. From there, Steve creates a crew of queer teammates and goes rogue to uncover plots and save the world.

Here’s how Netflix describes the series:

"A gay superspy and his scrappy LGBTQ squad fight to prove themselves to the agency that underestimated them. Today, West Hollywood… tomorrow, the world!"

My first instinct was that this show will be offensive or over the top for purposefully impudent content, like so many adult animated shows are. Often times LGBT characters are inserted to be used as a joke or don’t have enough real substance to be three-dimensional.

Q-Force could play into this trap. However, it might not. I would see this series as a success if the message is along the lines of “everyone deserves respect.” Heroes come in all kinds and the fact that the government has painted the LGBTQ+ community with lesser rights and value is a wound that is still healing.

We’ll find out soon whether the comedy will tragically cancel out a good message. I’ll be watching with an open mind and a hopeful heart.

Watch the (good) trailer for Q-Force here:

Will you be watching Q-Force on Netflix?