DTF St. Louis

DTF St. Louis is an American dark comedy limited series created by Steven Conrad for HBO. Starring Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour, the seven-episode series blends crime, comedy, and drama through a nonlinear story centered on a murder investigation. 

The series received positive reviews from critics and earned 13 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, with praise directed toward its performances and unconventional storytelling.

The series follows detectives investigating the death of Floyd Smernitch (David Harbour), an American Sign Language interpreter whose body is discovered under mysterious circumstances. As the investigation unfolds, viewers learn about Floyd’s friendship with local weatherman Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman), Clark’s affair with Floyd’s wife Carol (Linda Cardellini), and the dating app DTF St. Louis, which allows married couples to pursue discreet affairs. Presented through shifting timelines and repeated scenes viewed from different perspectives, the mystery gradually reveals the emotional lives of its characters and the complicated relationships that connect them.

Although DTF St. Louis revolves around infidelity and romantic relationships, many of its most memorable moments focus on the growing bond between Floyd and Clark. The two men spend time together at the gym, share vulnerable conversations about their marriages and insecurities, and gradually develop an unusually intimate friendship. Their affection for one another often blurs the line between platonic and romantic love, leaving both the characters and the audience questioning exactly what they are experiencing.

The series also includes moments that make the viewer think whether the character Floyd is bi. After joining the DTF app, Floyd accidentally arranges a date with a man named Modern Love, initially believing the profile belonged to a woman. Despite the misunderstanding, Floyd meets him anyway, and the two share a kiss. Floyd later explains that he kissed the man because he did not want him to feel rejected or shunned for being queer. However, the scene leaves room for multiple interpretations, as Floyd’s emotional reaction suggests the experience may have awakened feelings he had not previously explored.

Rather than clarifying Floyd’s sexuality, the series repeatedly embraces ambiguity. Detectives investigating his death quickly assume Floyd must have been secretly gay after discovering clues they interpret as evidence of a hidden double life. However, the investigation gradually reveals that those assumptions fail to capture the complexity of Floyd’s relationships and emotional life. Throughout the series, Floyd’s longing for closeness is portrayed alongside his loneliness, his struggles within his marriage, and his increasingly meaningful friendship with Clark, making it difficult to separate emotional intimacy from romantic or sexual attraction.

The show’s creators have emphasized that ambiguity as part of its design. In an interview with Men’s Health, David Harbour described the series as intentionally combining “a murder mystery or a noir” with “intimate, weird, male friendship,” explaining that the unexpected emotional direction of the story was one of the reasons he found the project so compelling. Rather than presenting a conventional thriller, DTF St. Louis repeatedly subverts audience expectations by focusing on vulnerability, affection, and emotional openness between men.

Much of the critical discussion surrounding the series has similarly focused on its portrayal of masculinity. The New Yorker argued that the show imagines a world where emotional and physical closeness between heterosexual men is not immediately viewed as suspicious, while also acknowledging that Floyd appears to desire something beyond friendship. The publication suggests the series deliberately challenges traditional expectations surrounding male intimacy, encouraging viewers to question whether relationships must always fit neatly into familiar categories.

Not all critics interpreted Floyd’s story the same way. Queerty described the series as depicting Floyd’s “nascent bisexuality”, arguing that his encounter with Modern Love and his growing connection with Clark point toward a bisexual awakening that becomes central to understanding the character. Other critics were more cautious. The New York Times argued that Floyd’s sexuality remains intentionally unresolved, while praising the show’s willingness to explore the emotional gray area between friendship and romance before criticizing its ending for echoing elements of queer tragedy. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal situated Floyd alongside a growing number of male television characters whose sexual fluidity reflects what some critics have called a recent “bi renaissance” in popular culture.

Because the series never explicitly identifies Floyd as bi, DTF St. Louis occupies an unusual place within discussions of bisexual representation. Rather than presenting a clearly bi character, it explores the intersections between loneliness, vulnerability, emotional intimacy, and attraction, leaving viewers to interpret what Floyd’s experiences ultimately mean. Whether those moments represent a bi awakening, an exploration of masculinity, or something intentionally left between those possibilities remains unresolved.

That ambiguity may leave viewers hoping for more explicit bisexual representation and wanting additional answers. At the same time, it has generated thoughtful conversations about the boundaries between friendship, romance, and desire, making DTF St. Louis a compelling example of a series that contributes to discussions of bisexuality even without offering a confirmed bi protagonist.