As a straight guy, who had never played the game, I will try to take up for the gay episode.
I'm definitely not into that kind of thing, and I damn sure don't want to see two guys kissing and rolling around in a bed, but I do think the director did a good job of showing two people fall in love and care for each other until the very end. One took a turn for the worse, the other nursed him back to health, then the second guy ended up in a wheel chair and the other guy had to take care of him physically and emotionally. That's how love works, no matter what gender/ sex you think you are. They took care of each other. What more can you ask for in a lifelong mate?
I didn't play the game. If I had, and I knew this whole episode was a push to normalize gay sex/ life, in the modern media, I would have been less enthusiastic... But, I came into it blind and accepted it for what it was... It was a flawed love story with a "happy"ending from two adults who ended things on their own terms. It wasn't flawed because they were gay. It was flawed because they were not very compatible, but they made it work, the best they could, in a nightmare of a world...
I saw the end coming, and I told my wife, "He put the poison in the whole bottle!" , but I still felt happy for them and the time they got to spend together.
I also liked the letter that Bill left for Joel. He was a jerk, but a jerk who was also a friend. He didn't want to die with all his toys. He wanted them to be used in a positive way.
Again, if I'd played the game, I would have been unhappy with the show. But, I didn't so I enjoyed the show on its own merits.
If this episode gets nominated for awards next year, I hope it wins.