After Rosewood’s season finale airs tonight (on Friday for some reason), there will have been twelve entire lesbian/bisexual women canoodling with each other on primetime TV this week. Ten already happened! Not bad! Better than the downward spiral we’ve been on! Did you catch:
+ Dorothy Snarker’s recaps for The Good Fight 101 and The Good Fight 102
+ Valerie Anne’s recap for Supergirl 213
+ Lucy Hallowell’s recap for The Fosters 414
We’ve got a review of the webseries Brown Girls in the queue for you. Yvonne interviewed the two lesbian writers who worked on the first season of One Day at a Time (it’s so fun and insightful and you’re gonna love it). And Riese is already watching ABC’s When We Rise mini-series, which premieres next Monday, to review it for you.
Here’s what else happened on queer TV this week.
Grey’s Anatomy
Everyone hates you.
But it’s been eighty-five years since I felt the weight of a woman on top of me.
I wonder how many times in Arizona Robbins’ life a woman has had to tell her to stop talking so they can go ahead and kiss already. Love her or hate her (and the good doctors of Seattle Grace Mercy West are as conflicted as you are), Minnick finally made her move on Arizona this week by telling her to hush and smooshing their faces together. It was a nice speech Arizona was giving, and one Minnick probably doesn’t hear very often. It was about how she’s a good person and a good doctor and a good teacher and the world is a better place because she’s in it. Minnick is so loathed by most of the other surgeons she doesn’t get much (any) positive feedback, so she must’ve wanted to kiss Arizona extra bad to cut off that river of praise.
Their smooch came after a day of Arizona and Minnick flirting about dinner and flirting about patients — and then pretending to hate each other every time someone else walked up. Webber’s interruption was particularly delightful. I confess I do like Minnick, but also I like Webber squinting and scowling and doubling down on calling her a menace. “She’s a menace.”
Arizona cracks in the end because hating people, even for pretend, isn’t really her strong suit (except that one entire season she hated her wife). Minnick likes the angry roleplay, but she likes kissing Arizona’s face even more. Bets on which one of them gets hit by a meteor first?
How to Get Away With Murder
Is that? Why, yes it is: My Academy Award, finally.
This show. As always, I have no idea how to talk about the plot of How to Get Away With Murder. It’s so frenetic and swervy and the two-part season finale wasn’t any different than usual. Everything’s been building to: Who killed Wes and put a bomb in Annalise’s house? And the answer is: No one you’ve ever heard of. In fact, no one you’ve ever heard of under the orders of an entirely different person who means nothing to you. Laurel’s dad hired a hitman for both jobs. Which: Joke’s on your, Mr. Castillo, because Laurel is absolutely pregnant with Wes’ baby. The big question of season four: Will that kid be sorted into Gryffindor like his dad or Slytherin like … everyone else on this show?
I don’t care how dumb the finale reveal was, to be honest with you; I don’t watch HTGAWM for the mystery. I don’t care who gets away with murder. I watch this show because Viola Davis is a once-in-a-generation talent and she makes Annalise Keating one of the most compelling characters in TV history. She better get her goddamn Oscar this weekend.
What did y’all think of this big reveal? Mainstream critics seem annoyed, but our opinions are always better than theirs anyway.
Legends of Tomorrow
Written by Valerie Anne
Now I’m here, blinking in the starlight. Now I’m here, suddenly I see.
We stopped doing Superqueero roundups after the winter hiatus because between Flash, Arrow and Legends, the only queer woman was Sara, and while she’s been kicking ass and taking names as the new captain of the Waverider, she wasn’t doing much in the way of romancing ladies. Until now.
In last week’s episode, I held my breath for approximately 40 minutes straight, because Sara got shot right in the queer lady killshot, and then also got her neck snapped, but luckily Sara has a little bit of Buffy in her, and death doesn’t really stick. My straight friend was like, “You weren’t really scared were you? They weren’t going to kill Sara.” And I was like YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.
But anyway she’s fine and better than ever this week when the Legends headed to Camelot. In this version of Camelot — a version Star Girl (aka Merlin) constructed from the legend to protect the piece of the spear she was tasked with keeping safe — King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are as you’d imagine, but Guinevere isn’t just his wife, she’s a warrior and the commander, skills that catch Sara’s eye.
After fighting side by side, Sara gives Gwen a pep talk, calling her clever and brave, making the queen’s eyes sparkle. Emboldened, she gives a rousing speech and leads her Knights into battle.
(Another fun but somewhat irrelevant moment was when they realized the spear piece they need is Excalibur and Amaya uses her animal powers to pull it from the stone and Sara, impressed, goes, “Damn, that was badass.”)
Anyway, the Legends join Gwen and her Knights and the battle is won and Camelot is safe.
Sara and Gwen say a private goodbye and there’s a cute “Lance. A lot.” moment that maybe was cheesy but tied the story together for me in that cheeky Legends of Tomorrow way. Ray bumbles in and interrupts their goodbye, but before they leave for good, Ray says every good legend ends with a kiss and leaves her to it.
And so Sara Lancelot sweeps back to Guinevere and kisses her, slow and soft. She says goodbye one last time in that Caity Lotz timber that rattles my bones and leaves yet another lady looking happily corrupted and thoroughly liberated.
Black Sails
Written by Valerie Anne
Darling, it’s better down where it’s wetter, take it from me.
Not too much in the lady-loving so far this season, but there’s a war brewing so that much is to be expected. Plus, our ladies are all on separate sides of things. (Though Max seems to not like sleeping alone; she has anonymous lady legs in her bed at one point.)
Anne went back to her first love, the sea. She doesn’t want to kill Max for breaking her heart anymore, but that mere fact makes her pretty upset. Though last we saw her, in the fourth episode, their ship and been invaded and she volunteered for a below deck fight club situation. She ended up saving her fellow pirates but it left her injured and unconscious and losing a little too much blood for my liking.
Back on the island, Eleanor is trying to regain some semblance of control by working with the government, while Max is trying to work in spite of them. Seeing they don’t have her full support, Rogers sort of comes after Max, starting to cut her off from the business side of things despite their original agreement. But Eleanor defends Max at every turn, including saving her from a bogus death sentence a blobfish of a dude tried to give Max as soon as Rogers wasn’t on the island anymore, foolishly thinking he could undermine Eleanor fucking Guthrie.
In the latest episode, Eleanor decides to hunker down in the fortress until Rogers gets back, and gives her men a list of names of people to get behind the walls, Max being at the top of the list. Eleanor begs bargains and deals to get Max back from Flint’s side of the battle line, trading prisoners to ensure Max is safe. It’s very romantic.
Finally together, without Rogers hovering around, and as relatively safe as they’ve been in a good long time. Eleanor sits next to Max, weary, and apologizes “for today.” Max scoffs. Of all the things to apologize for. Eleanor quietly acknowledges she’s not wrong. A breath of silence. And a question:
Where would we have gone?
I personally felt like I had been struck by lightning but I guess lifetimes have passed for Max since that moment in season one, because she plays it cool. “I was so close to saying yes.” But she had put too much of herself into Nassau, and she didn’t have the tools to cut those ties. Max just looks at her sadly, “What would have been enough?” Why wasn’t she enough?
Eleanor apologizes again, a bigger, broader apology this time. She says they both had dreams for Nassau and their roles in it, but they’re too far from all that now. Plus the men fighting over it are ruining everything anywhere. But maybe, if they work together, maybe they can take something from it.
Nassau will never be what they wanted but if they work together they can take something from it. Because as she tells Flint later, she’s just about had enough.
Re: Grey’s
I said this last week and I’ll say it again – Arizona’s attraction to Minnick makes NO SENSE. How did that conversation come only a week after last episode’s catastrophic failure? How could Arizona ever be attracted to a doctor who’s overconfidence put a child in danger? I want to like them together, I really do. The actress is gorgeous, and Arizona hasn’t been with anyone in like, YEARS. But it just makes NO SENSE and I can’t get behind it yet. I don’t hate Minnick, I just don’t understand why Arizona would like her. Everything about this relationship seems so wildly out of character for the Arizona Robbins we’ve known for so long. It’s not unsalvageable, but they’re really gonna have to do some heavy work on Minnick to make me believe for a second that Arizona “good man in a storm” Robbins could ever seriously be interested in her.
OH thank you so much!! I was afraid I was the only person in the world who didn’t want them to kiss, and I’m just like please no..
I’m not even like hating out a calzona thing, I want Arizona to be with someone new, just not her!
you know, Minnick and Leah makes more sense for me…
I am still conflicted about this whole relationship. I want to want Minnick and Arizona together but this kiss, although delightful, proved once and for all that they just don’t do it for me.
I was more excited for the Hahn/Callie relationship that for this one.
Come back from the parking lot, Erica! I can put the lotion in the basket if you want me to.
THE GREEN BLOBS WERE LEAVES THIS WHOLE TIME
Erica: This is like needing glasses.
Callie: [laughs] I blinded you?
Erica: No. When I was a kid, I would get these headaches. And I went to the doctor and they said that I needed glasses. I didn’t understand that. It didn’t make sense to me because I could see fine. And then, I get the glasses and I put them on. And I’m in the car on the way home, and suddenly, I yell. Because the big green blobs that I’ve been
staring at my whole life? They weren’t big green blobs – they were leaves… on trees. I could see the leaves
Erica: And I didn’t even know that I was missing the leaves. I didn’t even know leaves existed. And then… leaves! You are glasses. I am so gay. I am so, so, so gay. I am extremely gay!
Best coming out speech on television. You did not deserve the parking lot, Erica.
You know guys,
for that coming out speech, Erica Hahn deserved the Lauren Lewis Pizza and Beer treatment instead of that abysmal parking lot.
Silence of the Lambs is a horrible transmisogynistic movie, especially this reference. Please don’t quote it here.
Re: HTGAWM
I actually liked the twist at the end. I kept trying to remember if we’d seen Dominic before, when Laurel said his name I was wracking my brain trying to remember who he was, but apparently he’s knew? We still don’t know his relationship to Denver yet though. And I don’t remember why Laurel’s dad would want Wes dead? Like, did he even know Laurel was dating Wes? Didn’t he still think Laurel was with Frank? Did the hit man mix them up? I’m looking forward to all of that next season. I’m really excited that Karla Souza is going to get so much more meaty material to work with next year!
FYI, some queer TV trivia:
The guy who played Dominic is Nicholas Gonzalez, who also played Marco on PLL (the guy Spencer hooked up with in the hotel elevator) but he’s probably most well known as Marisa’s boyfriend DJ on season 2 of The O.C.
Hello, when is the staff at Autostraddle going to interview some of the writers of these shows? I mean come on, Supergirl hasn’t disappointed and is the future of writing for us lesbians. Not like the 100.
I am still mad at the Maxim-y casting of Minnick. Eye roll.
And I suppose this kiss was inevitable, but I actually got really excited when it seemed for a minute there that they were going to have two lesbians who were FRIENDS! Alas, no. Couldn’t just be part of who she was, it had to be an It’s Time For Arizona To Have A Love Interest thing.
Shonda likes to keep things in house and casted Scott Foley’s wife
I’ll get to the Arizona/Eliza debate but first why is Jackson being such a bitch? Like why is she all sour about Minnick coming in, it has no effect on him. Okay I get it he’s Richard’s boy but he’s acting like all these decisions (April taking over as Chief of General) are a slight to him personally. As such, there is no scenario that would make it okay for him and April to get back together.
Really no couple on this show should get back together, they were all either hot messes to begin with or whatever romance/chemistry just fizzled out. I already think that Owen and Amelia should divorce (they were never good to begin with) and Alex and Jo are toxic for each other but what was up with Owen and Jo? Are they testing the water there because since I don’t care for either pairing them would cancel their storyline out for me which is good.
Just like Arizona I saw Minnick in a new light this episode. She receiving backlash from all sides and I can’t help but think “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, She Persisted” because she’s not letting the haters get to her, which you got to give her credit for. And even when Arizona was praising her all she wanted was to kiss Arizona which you can’t fault her for either.
I’m just saying ideally yes we would all like Sara and Callie to come back but that’s looking less likely so as I watched that final scene I couldn’t help but realize Arizona getting that giddiness back and if it’s Minnick that makes her happy then I’m just going to have to roll with it for now. Who knows if they will even last since their names don’t make for a good portmanteau.
As for Legends…I didn’t see the show but I wonder when they go back in time could any of these bad ass women they meet be ancestors to Sara or the crew? I mean that Lance-a-lot joke seemed a bit too coincidence.
I am 100% agree about Jackson, Owen and Amelia (I forgot they were married) and also Jo and Alex.
Good for April for taking that job, why shouldn’t she? Stop being a baby, Jackson
It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but You Me Her follows a polyamorous triad with two bisexual women and a man. There is, sadly, a stock homophobic jerk character. There’s a fair amount of threesomes, and MF pairings, but there’s quite a lot of FF pairings too.
The current little arc is that the man is feeling insecure that the two women will move on without him, so there’s lots of the two women dancing and kissing.
I’m not poly myself, but I know a few people in poly relationships and it gels with their stories about the up and down sides of what goes one, which is really what keeps me watching, but two pretty bisexual women making out on a semi-regular basis doesn’t hurt.
Just for all of you.
http://tvscenes.tumblr.com/post/157220073857/supergirl-carrying-lena-luthor-slow-motion
Until two weeks ago I found the whole Kara/Lena dynamic deliciously fascinating but wasn’t entirely covinced. Then “Luthors” came along and I suddenly find myself strapped to the “Luthercorp” train (or should I say “ship”?) going 3000 miles (/knots) an hour.
As for How to Get Away with Murder: it may seem random now but they’ll connect the dots next season in a way that will blow your mind. I just wish we got more of a reaction from Wes when he found out about rebecca (he was prepared to kill for that girl!). Also i love me some coliver but everyone on that show is too messed up for a serious long term commitment like marriage. Thought Asher was gonna pop the question: glad he didnt
Lots of thoughts on lots of shows…here we go…
Jane The Virgin: In my comments last week, I was skeptical about the time jump but this week’s episode calmed me a bit. Too much was different about Petra and Rafael last week for me to feel comfortable but it’s clear that while their veneer has changed, they’re still the same people we’ve always known underneath it all.
I also liked Jane’s storyline with Dennis…in part because I’ve been through something similar but mostly because it means that there’s a police officer still invested in the Sin Rostro investigation. Hopefully that means that one day soon we’ll see Luisa and Rose (surely, you don’t hire Elisabeth Röhm to play an exiled character, she has to reappear soon).
Imposters: The very last scene in the Imposters trailer features two guys arriving at the door of a woman who, like them, has been conned out her life savings. It is two tropes in one: the last second bisexual surprise and the villain being made more villainous by the introduction of her sexuality. I hoped that the full show would add more context and make the characters’ sexuality something more than a trope but, through three episodes, that hasn’t been the case.
In fact, the reality of it might be worse than the trailer. We meet Maddie’s one-time wife, Jules, in the third episode and the show pays little attention to how their love developed, a stark contrast to how Maddie’s relationships with Ezra and Richard have been shown. Their relationship becomes fodder for Richard’s jokes and Jules is portrayed as neurotic and mean.
The whole thing’s a bit ironic because aside from Maddie and Jules’ relationship, this entire show is completely unoriginal. I can’t give you a reason to watch Imposters over Sneaky Pete, reruns of Leverage or The Catch…I mean, at least the new season of The Catch will give you Rose Rollins and Gina Torres.
Doubt: The second episode of Doubt reaffirmed the critiques I made last week about the pilot: Katie Heigl’s character is just Isobel Stevens, Esq. and Dulé Hill should be the star of this show.
One thing I didn’t touch on last week was Laverne Cox’s performance which I found wanting. This week, though, Cox seemed to find her footing as Cameron Wirth and her performance seemed effortless. Given how ubiquitous Cox has become, it’s easy to forget how historic this role is, but seeing her on primetime TV, as a lawyer (instead of the criminal or victim roles to which trans women are typically relegated) and as a black trans women enjoying her life.
It was a remarkable scene and, despite the show’s cancellation, I’ll relish having bore witness to it.
Grey’s Anatomy: So, that was bad…perhaps the worst episode of Grey’s since the post-Derek Shepard creative resurgence. A few thoughts on it:
1. Every episode of Grey’s features some patient whose story boasts parallels to what the doctors are going through in their own lives. There was always some subtly to it, though…subtly that alluded the show this week.
And I want to think, “don’t read too much into the abusive dad or the long-lost schizophrenic daughter…surely Shonda wouldn’t be that obvious.” But after being hammered by these stories, if Jo’s abusive husband and Riggins’ long lost girlfriend don’t show up, I’m going to be ticked off.
2. I’m a big believer in the idea that you can write yourself out of bad chemistry. So the fact that Arizona and Minnick and Owen and Amelia have ZERO natural chemistry isn’t a dealbreaker if a writer can craft an effective love story for the couple. But the writers of Grey’s have not gone that route.
You can’t overcome the lack of chemistry between Arizona and Minnick if you fast forward through the moments that help build intimacy. How did we get from the events of last week to Arizona and Minnick’s secret canoodling? It doesn’t make any sense.
3. Meredith and Bailey have such a rich history…and their scene discussing Meredith’s suspension was devoid of all of that. What a wasted opportunity.
4. I wish I’d never found out that Jerrika Hinton is leaving Grey’s. I’m constantly anticipating something happening that will usher her off the canvas.
@pecola Oh, no!! Now I know that Jerrika Hinton is leaving and I’ll be in the same constant wondering
:(
I’m sad, I rather like her character
@moongoddess Dang it, I’m sorry…I thought it was common knowledge by now.
I disagree on “The Imposters”. We are finding out more about Maddie’s (Cece’s) relationship with Jules. I don’t think Maddie is portrayed as villainous at all (weirdly enough). All her exes by now are (unrealistically) engaging in the same con behavior she exhibited. I actually wish that autostraddle would review “The Imposters” as well.
I don’t know if anyone’s mention this here, but I was thrilled by NCIS: New Orleans’ episode on the 14th – Gregorio had awesome chemistry with, and got to kiss [spoiler]!
I’m really enjoying Tammy Gregorio as a character(and that she’s textually queer)!
It took me a while to warm up to her because of her initial “I’m FBI from NY so I’m superior to you navy cops”-attitude, but after she humbled down I started to like her. She’s canonically into women and even though I don’t expect her to have much romantic storylines (NCIS is almost as little focused on romances as Person of Interest was) I think she deserves a mention here. Queer women not in relationships (and not pursuing one) deserves some attention too.
Agents of SHIELD got surprisingly Skimmons-y last week. (Though that name is out of date.)
They’ll always be Skimmons to me. <3