The Rundown: ‘Going Up Season 1 Vol. 2’
Basics
Going Up Season 1 Vol. 2 caps off a story begun in volume one, which made its retail debut last month on Adult Empire VOD. Like part one, it’s set in the glorious, dramatic, sexually charged world of the theater. We pick up with Travis (Seth Gamble), a roguish actor who has been unexpectedly thrust into a new play’s lead role at the last minute. In addition to lines and blocking, the play also requires him to appear fully nude with an erection. Can the insecure Travis pull off this most challenging of tasks? Directed and written by Casey Calvert, Going Up dazzled at the recent AVN and XBIZ Awards, collecting prizes for AVN Best Actor (Gamble) and XBIZ Feature Movie of the Year.
Scene highlight(s)
(If you haven’t already, check out Going Up Season 1 Vol. 1. for the initial episodes of the story. Also — spoiler alert! This scene recap divulges certain plot details from Going Up Vol. 2.)
A last-minute rehearsal makes female lead Michelle lose confidence in Travis and quit the production. Unlike his unseen predecessor, Travis is unable to maintain an erection during a key nude scene that requires him to seem aroused by his co-star. This compounds the already troubled production, as they now need to find a new leading female performer, too. Fortunately, stagehand Susanna (Maya Woulfe) knows every line of the play cold. She needs a boost in confidence, though, which is passionately provided by the sexually adventurous Victoria Voxxx.
Disaster strikes again when the theater’s power goes out. Still unable to summon an erection, Travis asks Lilly Bell to help him. A lengthy, stylish blowjob scene ensues, creatively enhanced by the low-key candlelight used in the wake of the power outage. Unfortunately, Bell is a little too good and Travis climaxes, leaving him once again in a fix.
Director Shawn (Tyler Knight) gives Voxxx a syringe filled with erectile dysfunction drugs. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Travis, who hates needles, is thrown into a fever dream once the medication is administered. Strapped into a chair like Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange (complete with Beethoven in the background), Travis witnesses a torrid lesbian orgy on TV screen in front of him. Many of the movie’s side characters, including Kira Noir, get in on the action during this heavily stylized moment. As Travis is literally and figuratively needled, Isiah Maxwell joins the screen orgy to bring it to a spectacular finish.
When Travis emerges from his dream, it’s Going Up time, in every sense of the expression.
Quotable
“Theater isn’t fair! Theater is a meritocracy. You decide what you want to be and you put in the work to get there.” (Director Shawn on the nature of the theater)
Why we love it
There are so many subtexts and symbols in Going Up that I can’t pretend for a moment to have picked up on them all. At various points, Calvert evokes Stanley Kubrick, Shakespeare, and Bertolt Brecht. (Okay, I’m not sure about that last one, but it’s probably in there somewhere.) In a funny way, the movie’s underlying thoughts make an interesting companion piece to Women’s World, which also considered the role of men in modern society (and entertainment). If you’re entering this particular theater solely for sexual thrills, Going Up Vol. 2 has plenty of those, too, particularly in the orgy sequence. There are some visuals in the movie I won’t soon forget, particularly the large oozing syringe — queasily imitating an ejaculation — in the dream segment. Going into season two, Going Up‘s arrow is pointing up.
