Of course, not all queer men are the same, so beyond Max, it's also worth noting that Aki goes through a very different kind of journey towards confirming his bisexuality. And that's important, because even in 2021, it's still unusual to see LGBTQ+ sex scenes treated with equal or perhaps even more weighting than their straight counterparts (We're looking at you, Riverdale). Max, and plenty of other queer characters, revel in sex throughout these first six episodes. The new Gossip Girl isn't afraid to explicitly show this either. Just by simply existing on the show, Thomas Doherty's character serves as a powerful reminder that bisexual and pansexual men do exist as a separate identity rather than just as some gateway to gay or straight. When Max wants to end things, Rafa stalks him, spreads lies about his former lover, and even tries to have an affair with one of his gay fathers. However, Gossip Girl flips the script this time round by transforming what starts out as steamy fun into something far more disturbing. This might remind longtime fans of similar relationships from the original show that were dangerously romanticised, including Serena's fling with a boarding-school teacher. In the first episode alone, Max has a threesome (gasp!), and from that point on, much of his narrative revolves around an illicit lust for his teacher, which is eventually followed by a full-blown affair.
If there is any issue with his character (beyond the lack of authentic casting), it's that Max is exceptionally horny in ways that feed into tropes around promiscuity among bisexual and pansexual men. Max seems equally attracted to men and women in a way that's entirely valid and refreshingly uncomplicated. The erasure of bisexuality is still a huge problem on screen, not to mention the outdated idea that bisexual/pansexual men are just gays who haven't fully come out yet. None of the other characters bat an eyelid at this either, treating him the same as they would anyone else. Max is simply pansexual, and that's approached in the same way as any other sexual identity on the show.
There's no internal conflict or any need to explain and justify his sexuality. For Max, there's no struggling with who he is.
Out of all the many LGBTQ+ characters seen in this new Gossip Girl reboot, it's perhaps Max who exemplifies this ethos best of all. So I'm just really excited to just get to play a character that doesn't have anything to do with explaining her identity, or who she likes to sleep with, or doesn't, you know?" I love that the show doesn't stamp our identities on our foreheads and our characters just get to be. It doesn't make you feel respected or accounted for in a respectful way. "That has always been a very, very, very horrible thing to have to experience, and it's kinda dehumanizing. Speaking to Out, trans star Zion Moreno praised the new Gossip Girl for not tokenising her identity or that of any LGBTQ+ character on the show: Gossip Girl star on "liberating" pansexual role