Fellow Travelers has shown us a lot of Hawk and Tim’s relationship, but the episode “White Nights” highlighted how deep their bond goes. Beyond romantic love or a physical relationship, we saw how far Tim was willing to go to make sure that Hawk was always going to be there for those who need him.
In past episodes, we’ve seen how Hawk, for all his struggles with being truthful to himself and how he hides his homosexuality from his family, still put Tim above so many others. Tim still often didn’t see that as enough and rightfully so, but in “White Nights,” it was his time to step up and be there for Hawk after the death of Hawk’s son Jackson, who Tim had helped the episode before.
“White Knights” showed that Tim and Hawk’s connection is so much deeper because they just love one another so completely that they can’t seem to stop helping the other, and it was Tim’s chance to help Hawk be the man he had to be for Lucy (Allison Williams) and their daughter following Jackson’s death—and to be there in a way that takes out the physicality of it (for the most part) and is down purely to the emotional weight of their dynamic.
Tim puts up with so much in “White Nights,” but he does it all for Hawk and for the betterment of someone he loves, and it shows just how much these two love each other throughout all the time we see on Fellow Travelers. Exploring that with both Hawk and Tim is what makes this show so incredibly beautiful.
Hawk needed Tim to remind him of the important things in his life. And that’s exactly what he did. It wasn’t through heartfelt conversations like Tim thought but instead a screaming match later on, but it still worked and Hawk got his act together to go home to his daughter and wife. But seeing that Tim and Hawk’s relationship grew throughout time to be more than just a romantic connection was a fascinating thing to explore in the series.
Even though Tim said he was with someone else and we see Hawk with another man, the two still need each other on an emotional level and that is something that isn’t going to go away, at least not at any point throughout the series that we’re watching—not now, not in the past, and definitely not in the future aspect of the show, either.
(featured image: Showtime)
