Warning: This article includes SPOILERS for Overcompensating season 1!

Prime Video’s Overcompensating’s cast, the comedy is very much an ensemble show.

Benny starts crushing on a British student named Miles. He, Carmen, and Miles all end up recruits for a secret society called Flesh and Gold. Because the society separates them by gender for rush, Carmen befriends the other Flesh and Gold women, while Benny and Miles grow closer. Meanwhile, Grace, Benny’s older sister, tries to maintain a positive reputation at the university, and her boyfriend, Peter, leads the society. The chaotic and positively reviewed college story pushes the story toward Benny coming out as gay, but the news comes out in a shocking way.

How Benny Comes Out In Overcompensating

Carmen Accidentally Outs Benny At The End Of Overcompensating Season 1

In Overcompensating, Benny only chooses to disclose his sexuality to three individuals – Carmen, George, and Sammy. He wasn’t able to say the word “gay,” though, in any of those circumstances, which shows just how much stigma and shame he’s internalized. Additionally, all three individuals pretty much figured it out before Benny told them. He more or less just confirms what they already knew. Technically, the gay couple from Grindr also knows that he’s gay, but that didn’t involve him coming out so much as just showing up for the date.

Overcompensating and the character Benny is very loosely based on Benito Skinner's experiences going to college as a gay man.

Unfortunately, at the end of Overcompensating, Miles and Grace both find out about Benny’s sexuality because Carmen accidentally outs him. In a moment of vulnerability, Miles and Carmen kiss each other, which Benny sees. Carmen and Benny start arguing, and she makes a comment about him wanting to sleep with all his friend’s boyfriends. The comment slips out, rather than her maliciously outing him, but the damage is done. Overcompensating season 1 ends right after this moment, so it’s unclear how either of them will react to Benny’s sexuality.

Benny Quitting The Flesh & Gold Society, Explained

Benny Realizes He Doesn't Want To Be Like Peter & The Other Society

The fictional college, Yates University, includes a secret society called The Flesh and Gold Society, and Peter is the leader of the group. Because Benny is Grace’s brother, Peter lets him into the society. Carmen isn’t given hip in the secret society, though, despite Benny’s best efforts to get her in. That could’ve been enough motivation for Benny, but the situation gets worse.

After discontinuing antidepressants in a dangerous way, Peter writes terrible things about the recruits in Flesh and Gold’s slideshow while in a distorted mental state. He then sends it out to the entire student body, causing a scandal. Peter actively attacks Carmen as revenge for her breaking up with him, raising questions about how much his decision-making was influenced by his typical alpha bro attitude and how much the antidepressant discontinuation impacted him.

Benny leaving the society is a symbol of him starting to shed the toxic expectations of hypermasculinity and compulsory heterosexuality.

Benny promises that he left the society because of this incident, but in reality, he stays in the group because he’s afraid to lose the approval he was conditioned to seek out. Unfortunately, Carmen discovers the truth and feels betrayed. He quits on the spot and goes after her. Benny leaving the society is a symbol of him starting to shed the toxic expectations of hypermasculinity and compulsory heterosexuality. However, he still has a long way to go when it comes to finding approval within himself instead of seeking validation from others.

Is Miles LGBTQ+ In Overcompensating?

Overcompensating Season 1 Doesn't Answer Whether Miles Is LGBTQ+

Benny’s crush on Miles is central to the events of Overcompensating season 1, and it very much seems like the feelings might be reciprocated based on Miles’ flirting. He also spends a lot of time trying to spend time with Benny. However, many will be quick to write this off since Miles has sex with a femme person and kisses Carmen. It’s important, especially in a show that’s about coming to with one’s sexuality, not to make assumptions, though. As Benny points out, it’s possible that Miles is trying to hide his sexuality by getting involved with women.

Even if this isn’t the case, there are a whole host of other sexuality labels under the LGBTQ+ umbrella that aren’t “gay.” If Miles is sexually attracted to more than just women, he could be bisexual, queer, questioning, pansexual, heteroflexible, etc. Ultimately, viewers won’t know whether Miles is actually LGBTQ+ until he confirms his sexuality, which won’t happen until Overcoming season 2 at the earliest (if Prime Video picks the show up for a second season). It’s possible he’s straight, but we just don’t know at this point.

Why Grace Breaks Up With Peter

Grace Finally Accepts That She Doesn't Need The Perfect-Looking Relationship

The entirety of Overcompensating season 1 shows Grace struggling to get the respect she deserves from her boyfriend, Peter. He’s too wrapped up in himself and his needs to care about his girlfriend. He asks her to give up a huge opportunity just because he wants her on his arm through his first week as the Keeper of Flesh and Gold. Frankly, it often seems like he thinks of her as an accessory that makes him look good. Once she starts to put herself first, he gets angry and cheats.

Rather than breaking up with Peter as soon as she finds out about his cheating, Grace stays with him for a while. Unfortunately, she gets so wrapped up in how their relationship makes her look that she pushes aside her pain. Luckily, by the end of the first season of the LGBTQ+ comedy show, Grace figures out that she doesn’t need to appear like she’s the perfect, popular girl in order to be happy, so she dumps him.

In the final moments of the breakup, Grace proves that she can’t be manipulated by him anymore. Peter tries to make Grace angry at Carmen instead of him. Rather than demonizing Carmen and forgiving Peter, she makes it clear that she knew about Carmen’s involvement, and it didn’t change the fact that he was the cheater. That being said, she does feel hurt and angry at Carmen, which is understandable under the circumstances.

What Really Happened Between Benny & Sammy

Benny Hurt His Best Friend Sammy In High School

From the start of Overcompensating season 1, a past interaction between Benny and his high school friend impacts the main character. The truth of the situation isn’t revealed until Benny goes home for Thanksgiving. He comes across the friend, who’s shown to be Lukas Gage’s Sammy. Benny thinks back to the past, and the audience finally learns what went down.

While they were in high school, the two sat in a car talking about whether Lady Gaga was sexy, and Sammy asked Benny if Benny thought Sammy was sexy. Benny laughed and said yes, and then Sammy leaned in to kiss him. Even though Benny wanted to kiss his friend, he freaked out, called Sammy the F-slur, and left the car. This tragic situation is another example of Benny’s internalized stigma and shame. He was in a private setting where nobody would have seen the kiss, but he still felt so terrible about his sexuality that he hurt his friend.

The True Meaning Of Overcompensating Season 1’s Ending

College Life & Coming Out Is Messy

Overcompensating season 1 ends in a way where there isn’t any real resolution to the storyline. The message of Benny coming out isn’t clear yet because we don’t know how the other characters will react. However, small interactions at the end of the season hold important messages.

Viewers should walk away from Overcompensating season 1, realizing that life, especially young adulthood, is messy.

George’s comments to Benny show that a person will only get slighted so many times before they can’t take it anymore. Carmen and Miles’s kiss is a cautionary tale about making decisions while in an emotionally vulnerable or drunken state. Grace’s breakup relays the message that self-respect is more important than the opinions of others. Ultimately, viewers should walk away from Overcompensating season 1, realizing that life, especially young adulthood, is messy. It’s not a particularly profound idea, but it certainly fits the Prime Video original show.