It was a big week for gay TV! The Pretty Little Liars reboot is back with Pretty Little Liars: Summer School and Valerie wrote about how it compares to the original. Drew reviewed the new Netflix mystery series Bodkin which should’ve focused solely on its lesbian character. And Kayla and Riese had updates on Hacks and Under the Bridge!

Our series Very Special Gay Episode is also back with a special 20th anniversary Friends tribute to the show’s lesbian wedding from Kristen Arnett. And the TV Team shared our favorite unconventional ships causing the comments on Autostraddle to tell us they weren’t that unconventional and the comments on Instagram to react in shock and horror. (Shenny will do that, I guess.)

Meanwhile in film, Drew reviewed the new Netflix movie Beautiful Rebel, a biopic about Italian rockstar Gianna Nannini that she thinks you should skip. We’re still talking about Challengers with this tenniscore fashion guide from Kayla. Also Gabe Dunn watched She’s the Man for the first time and Caroline Darya Framke celebrated The Mummy as an important bisexual text 25 years after its release.

And here’s everything else!

Notes from the TV Team: 

+ My greatest lament about grown-ish — at least this iteration of it — has been the lack of authentic character growth. College is a time of growth and re-invention and, yet, for the most part, the characters on grown-ish are the same people they were when we met them. Well, except Zaara…who last week finally told her parents that she was letting go of their dreams for her. They promptly responded by cutting her off and demanding she repay them the cost of her tuition. Despite the cost, Zaara’s grateful for her independence and plots her next move: studying abroad in Portugal. She even invites Kaela to join her for the summer.

The invite proves my point about this show: Daniella Perkins and Tara Raani have natural chemistry and rather than exploring that — as real college girls would — the show continues to push Kiela and Junior together…literally putting them both back to where they were when this show started. — Natalie

+ Much to my surprise, Special Ops: Lioness has been renewed for a second season, albeit with a shorter title: just Lioness. Despite season one’s ending — in which Cruz seemingly quit — Laysla De Oliveira is slated to be a part of the show’s new season. No word on whether or not Stephanie Nur’s Aaliyah will be par of the show’s sophomore season though. — Natalie

+ Are their any chefbians left in the Top Chef competition? To my knowledge, sadly no. But even in the absence of queer cheftestants, I feel it’s my duty to provide continual updates on Kristen Kish’s ongoing war against sleeves.

This week, she donned two outfits: one all black, the other all-white, both sleeveless. A chefbian might not be Top Chef but with a sleeveless Kristen Kish, the gays stay winning. — Natalie

Station 19 Episode 707: “Give It All”

Written by Carmen

Last week my frustrations with Station 19 hit a boil and maybe… just maybe… I was too hasty in my critiques, maybe I pulled the trigger one week too early. It’s not that I don’t stand by what I said! I still believe that in its final season, Station 19 has sidelined Maya and Carina, saddling them with week after week of a family planning plot that’s felt stuck in a forever limbo.

But I ended last week with a wishlist that we’d finally get Danielle Savre some work worthy of her talents with upcoming return of Maya’s brother, Mason, and the white supremacist cult he’s fallen in with. I remained hopeful that “one day we’ll return to the storyline of Carina being sued by her patient. I’m really hopeful that we’re going to get a few more hot sex scenes before the fire soap’s final bow.” I’m excited to report that this week Station 19 hit every note on this list. Not only did this week make good on its promise of Maya and Mason (more on that later), but it also wrapped up Carina’s lawsuit, gave Maya and Carina some much needed hot sex, and overall — this might have been Station 19’s gayest episode ever. EVER. And that includes the misaligned Pride episode earlier this year!

In fact, so many gay things happened in that one hour that I’m going to have to pick and choose what we focus in on during this short little recap. To get it out of the way: Carina survived her lawsuit by putting her heart first, which wrapped up that plot perhaps a little neatly — but not without its good moments. Carina and Maya are still riding the hormonal waves of IVF. The cute gay Latino firefighter (I haven’t learned his name yet) that works with Ruiz started making moves on Travis, and it’s very swoony. And longstanding gay comedian Cameron Esposito (!!!) guest-starred as the patient of a week, a lesbian construction worker with a nail through her arm. This next part isn’t gay, but there’s also a wonderful glimpse into Indigenious fire work. All of it is great.

All that said, it’s Maya and Mason’s plot line that really shines. Danielle Savre has always been one of Station 19’s acting heavy weights, and when writers give her material worth her caliber, it’s stunning. Maya, having tracked down Mason in his new cult house, shows up at her brother’s door. She came with the hope of “saving him” — I think in part out of self-inflicted guilt, when she last saw Mason, he was in the midst of mental health struggles and living on the street, but also because she believes that underneath the hate he’s been lately spewing is still her little brother, the boy with the drawings who she loved so much and loved her in return.

Mason, unsurprisingly, rebukes her at first. When he was at his lowest, it wasn’t Maya but his new “brotherhood” that picked him back up, got him sober, and gave him a home. They’ve also filled him full of shit that “the American tradition is broken” and that it’s “identity politics” that’s kept white men like him without a job. Maya knows that there’s more to being a family than being brainwashed, so she offers to take Mason home with her. She wants to give him a second chance, she also wants to give them a second chance together/

The longer Maya is in that house, listening as Mason pivots from Proud Boy talking point to talking point, the more she realizes, it might be too late. She wants to help Mason, but she’s unwilling to risk the fragility of the love that she’s clawed for herself away from the emotionally abusive house that they both grew up in. Mason is deserving of that same love, real love, but he has to want it first.

Instead, Maya goes home to Carina. And her wife blindfolds her and feeds her donuts and they have very hot sex. Just the way the bisexual gods intended.

Beacon 23 Episode 205: “Song of Sorrow”

Written by Valerie Anne

Dev is genuinely the most interesting part of the show to me, currently.

I’m going to be honest, I still don’t understand the overall goal of this show. We’ve moved away from the strange artifact that Astrid killed and died for, and now we’re dealing with goo portals and mysterious strangers. Apparently Halan learned nothing from last season, where letting strangers into the Beacon resulted in aforementioned deaths, and just welcomes some scrappers right on in. They join them in some traditions, they laugh and drink with them…and then they get song-drugged and tied up by them. I’m not sure if any of the newcomers are queer, but when they paired off to press foreheads together at one point, two of them women did choose each other. I also don’t know how Halan and Iris are going to get out of this one.

Meanwhile, Dev the nonbinary AI is still out here being swoony, with their mischievous smile and flirtatious ways. They really want to imprint on Iris, and Iris sometimes seems like she’s considering it, but Harmony keeps code-blocking them. Maybe Dev will try to imprint on one of the newbies, but considering their whole deal is taking technology apart, I’m not sure how they’ll feel about that plan.

All American Episode 606: “Connection”

Written by Natalie

Since the stabbing, Coop has done everything she can for Patience — the drunken attempt to hook-up notwithstanding — so when Patience laments not having an escape from the craziness of the upcoming trial, Coop finds the respite Patience is after. She asks Spencer if they can join him for his trip up to his father’s cabin and, before he can answer, Olivia jumps in and accepts on his behalf. Soon thereafter, Jordan and Layla are invited too…so now a quiet, relaxing trip has turned into another Vortex slumber party. What could go wrong?

Surprisingly, the answer for Patience and Coop is not much. The couple join the others in serving as case studies for Spencer’s psychology paper on what makes a relationship work. The first test focuses on personal goal setting; he asks for each of them to reveal their top three priorities. Patience’s list comes to mind easily: putting the Miko stuff behind her, getting back in the studio to make more music, and buying her own house. Coop concurs on the buying her own house part and adds graduating and passing the bar to her list. As Coop and Patience share, they draw closer to each other and everyone around them exchanges knowing glances.

The next test is about connection and requires the couples to hold eye contact, without talking, while holding hands. Neither Olivia and Spencer nor Layla and Jordan last long; tension from the first exercise boils over and they spend the entire three minutes arguing. Coop and Patience, though…their connection is undeniable. The last test is about trust and communication and requires one partner to wear a blindfold while the other guides them down a path. Uninterested in working with her fiancé, Layla insists on working with Patience. The exercise does not go well but it does give Layla the opportunity to press Patience about things with Coop. Patience insists that there’s nothing going on and points out that the last time she tried to make a move, her efforts were rebuffed. Layla urges Patience to give Coop an opportunity to explain.

Back at home, Patience takes Layla’s advice…sort of. She goes to Coop and admits that she loves her. Coop doesn’t respond, she simply starts to unbutton Patience’s shirt and pulls her into bed. But the happiness doesn’t last long. When Coop goes downstairs, Laura shares some disturbing news: Miko’s legal team is pushing the case up and is looking to paint Patience as the aggressor and Miko as a victim who fought back.

NCIS: Hawai’i Episode 310: “Divided We Conquer”

Written by Natalie

Queer characters have become ubiquitous on procedurals and their treatment is fairly predictable: They’ll be an active member of the team and once, maybe twice, per season, the audience will get a glimpse into their home life. That’s been the way these things have always worked until NCIS: Hawai’i. This show asked us to reimagine what was possible within this genre. Here queer intimacy — rich, authentic, and developed over multiple episodes — and investigations can co-exist. That’s the legacy of NCIS: Hawai’i.

I hate that this show is ending but more than anything, I hate that it ends the way it does: on a cliff hanger, with Kate and Lucy not being front and center in the show’s final episodes. This isn’t an ending befitting this show’s legacy and I’ll always be a little heartbroken about it. That said, the show does offer a few noteworthy moments for our faves. First, Kate being Kate and coming through in the clutch, she tracks down information about their suspect and her connections to a terrorist group and she manages to send Jesse the back-up he needs from thousands of miles away.

Then when Jane needs to get information from their suspect, Lucy and Kate cosplay as the suspect’s sister — her image is altered digitally — and as an agent “torturing” the “sister” with a cattle prod. Can something be absolutely mortifying and revolting and also cute at the same time? Apparently, it can when Kate Whistler’s involved. The team gets the information they need and rush to stop a potential terror attack. They get there in time — Lucy gets one last great fight scene — and the team reunites in Hawai’i to celebrate their victory (and Sam’s recovery).

9-1-1 Episode 707: “Ghost of a Second Chance”

Written by Natalie

Last we checked in on Hen and Karen — you know, the original gays (OGs) of 9-1-1 — they’d welcomed a new foster child into their home. Mara has been through it and Diedra, the couple’s social worker, believes that Hen and Karen might be the girl’s last best shot. Things have improved marginally since then: Mara’s no longer throwing things but she still doesn’t talk much and refuses to sleep through the night.

It’s Denny who offers insight into why Mara remains so withdrawn. She has a younger brother out in the world that she hasn’t seen since her parents died. The next morning, Hen approaches Mara and tries to build enough of a rapport with the young girl that she’ll feel comfortable sharing the news about her brother on her own. Gently, Hen coaxes the truth out of Mara: Her younger brother, Tyson, was taken.

Hen and Karen invite Diedra over and castigate her for lying to them about Mara’s brother. The social worker insists that she didn’t lie but she couldn’t disclose privileged information. Hen questions why children’s services would separate family members but Diedra corrects her saying Mara and Tyson are just half-siblings. Tyson’s father — who had an affair with Mara’s mother — asserted his parental rights to Tyson but was concerned about bringing Mara into his home. Hen and Karen push for someone to finally consider what’s in Mara’s best interests.

Diedra’s hands are tied — she can’t help even though she very much wants to — but she does slip the foster parents the name of Mommy and Me program where she sends new parents. Hen and Karen pick up what she’s putting down and they track down Tyson and his parents at a Mommy and Me class. Tyson’s father, Vincent, isn’t receptive to the idea. He’s convinced the boy is so young he won’t remember his biological mom or his half-sister. But Mara’s foster moms insist; they know just seeing Tyson would be a game-changer for Mara.

Vincent remains convinced that Tyson doesn’t remember Mara but his wife/girlfriend, Juanita, thinks otherwise and brings the young boy over to reunite with his half-sister. Tyson’s shy around strangers, Juanita notes, but as soon as Mara approaches, he runs over to greet her. There’s no doubt he remembers her and, by the bright smile that breaks out on Mara’s face, it’s clear that this reunion was just as important as Hen and Karen imagined.

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