Still Just a Geek

April 18, 2022
“omeday, I will show them. I will show them all!” exclaims actor Wheaton in this tiresome endeavor to set the record straight on his reputation. After reliving the agony caused by a scathing one-sentence takedown of his first book, Just a Geek—the review’s title: “Whiner of the Week”—Wheaton concedes that he “take everything personally.” That sentiment shortly becomes apparent when, in an effort to atone for the homophobic jokes he made in his old book, he rehashes them here with annotations to “hold myself accountable.” The repetitious material that follows is rife with such trite exclamations aimed at readers as “You’re all beautiful.... You are perfect, exactly the way you are.” Less glib are raw passages about his father’s emotional abuse, his struggle with depression, and caring for his wife, Anne, as she recovered from a harrowing illness. In other glimpses into his life, Wheaton laments leaving Star Trek: The Next Generation, and reflects on a deflating encounter with William Shatner that left him in tears (“everyone was on my side,” he notes). Though fans will relish the FAQs about his movies—including one that confirms the leeches in 1986’s Stand by Me were indeed real—much of the writing feels stunted by past grievances, giving this a rather joyless air. Unfortunately, this second act is just more of the same.