Welcome to Boob(s On Your) Tube, now with 100% more Stef and Rachel and Mey talking about The X-Files! Also, for everyone asking where The Fosters was in this column last week, guess what: It has its own standalone recap again! Now on to this week’s TV.
The X-Files
Written by Rachel + Stef + Mey
Rachel:
The third episode in the six-episode “event” that is the X-Files reboot was wacky. Full of easter eggs and callbacks for longtime fans — the stoned teens returned! Queequeg was mentioned! Kim Manners got a headstone! — it also featured Drag Race drag queen Shangela Laquifa Wadley as a trans woman, Annabelle, who fends off a lizard monster with her handbag.
It’s not a great portrayal by any means — the character enthusiastically declares she’s “on crack,” and is maybe meant to be interpreted as a sex worker if we understand the scene to be a callback to episode “X-COPS,” in which a sex worker fends off a monster in a similar way. Also obviously not great is that she’s portrayed by a male actor — drag queens and trans women are not the same!
That’s not all though! Later on, near the end of the episode, Annabelle comes up again, when the previously mentioned lizard man says she “hit like a man” (ugh). Mulder replies that “that’s because she used to be one,” which, gross, but then Mulder also shares some much more accurate information than we’d expect from someone who once told Scully she was going to prison and “Your cellmate’s nickname is going to be Large Marge. She gonna read a lot of Gertrude Stein.” Mulder explains that Annabelle was transgender, that it’s “a very common medical procedure,” and that you don’t actually need surgery to be trans. He also explains to the lizard man, who wishes to change species, that the transgender experience isn’t the same as changing species, which is something of a relief when media so often thinks it can use transition as an “analogy” for something else.
On the whole, it could have been worse? Ultimately though all of this happened in an episode devoted pretty much entirely to zany hijinks (lizard men???), and the experiences of trans women are something to be taken seriously! So there’s that.
Stef:
Maybe in the 90s this episode would have been progressive? All things considered, the comment about Annabelle being on crack was probably the funniest part of the scene, which says a lot about how poorly presented it was. The way Mulder explained to the lizard person why the transgender experience was different from the were-lizard experience was particularly tone-deaf. It’s not that I look to The X-Files for politically correct, sensitive discourse, but it’s 2016 and surely they could have handled this slightly better.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing to see Mulder and Scully and their incredible chemistry on screen again, but this episode was almost like a parody of the already-ridiculous comical monster episodes we saw in the original series. The show is so proud of itself, so impressed with its cleverness, that it’s actually less entertaining than it might have been.
On the plus side, Scully straight-up stole a dog.
Mey:
It’s good that it seems like the X-Files tried to do better with it’s depiction of trans women by having Mulder explain trans issues in a somewhat informed way. However there are enough trans women in TV and Movies and online who are speaking out about what good trans representation looks like that just trying to do better isn’t enough. This episode of The X-Files was better than many TV shows when it comes to trans representation, but that doesn’t mean that it was good enough.
Younger
Wednesdays on TV Land at 10:00 p.m.
Every other bus in New York City has an ad for Younger plastered on its side right now, and it promises exactly what this show is delivering in its second season: An actual edge to TV Land’s scripted programming. (“Bolder. Wiser. Sexier.”) It was obviously an experiment last year when it arrived next to Hot in Cleveland and The Exes. What could the creator of Sex and the City do with a comedy sandwiched between reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond? And while the show did push the boat way out by TV Land’s standards, it was still exceptionally tame compared to most scripted TV on cable networks. Not anymore!
“Like a Boss” opens with Maggie and Lauren recovering from a romp, all breathless and sweaty. (A far cry from the closed-mouth kiss they shared for a nanosecond last season). Lauren kisses Maggie and bites her chin and is just so psyched to be sleeping with a 40-year-old lesbian instead of a 20-year-old man. (Hear, hear!)
Lauren: I have never been this sexually in synch with somebody before. It’s like you know exactly which buttons to push on my body, without me having to tell you; I normally have to be so verbal. Don’t you agree we’re so sexually in synch? And that’s why, last night, I decided to be gender monogamous.
Maggie: What? With me?
Lauren: Yes, from this point on, you will be the only woman I sleep with.
Maggie: You know, at this point in your life, you should really keep your options open.
Lauren: Why? I have everything I want right here!
Maggie: You know, you remind me of myself at your age. I was always crazy in love with someone. Usually the wrong one. But you need to learn to protect your heart.
Lauren: Why? You don’t protect your heart. You put it right here. [points at a tattoo on Maggie’s chest] Who’s Belinda? Were you very, very much in love?
Maggie: Enough snuggling!
I mean, “gender monogamous” is weird and Darren Starr doesn’t exactly have a great reputation for writing bisexual women, but I’m withholding judgement to see where this goes because it’s very sweet. Maggie actually is still at least a little bit hung up on her ex, who is married now with a bunch of kids who look exactly the same, posing in polos on a wooden fence on her Facebook profile photo. (“Pumpkin spice hell,” Maggie calls it.) So my guess is she’s going to make a guest appearance at some point this season. And Lauren is really, really into Maggie. She even agrees to help Liza with a work emergency if Liza will try to talk Maggie into dropping her prickly non-committal fling thing and actually give a relationship with Lauren a chance.
I feel really happy that Maggie is getting more to do so far this season, and that Lauren became a series regular; it helps fold both of them into the larger narrative of the show more seamlessly. One of my main complaints with season one was how fractured the storylines were between Liza’s work life, romantic life, and home life. This season has gone a long way toward remedying that issue. And it’s giving Maggie a story with real emotional resonance and actual stakes. There’s still plenty of SATC-style silliness, but the tone has evolved into something that’s really landing with me.
Top Chef
Thursdays on Top Chef at 10:00 p.m.
Karen! Marjorie! Karen! Marjorie! There are only two women left on this season of Top Chef, but Karen says she and Marjorie are going to sweep the whole thing. I believe her! This week’s Quickfire Challenge was to plate junk food in a way that looked cool on Instagram, and Karen crushed that one, winning immunity that she didn’t even need with a pink icing playground. The Elimination Challenge happened at an event called Beefsteak that was basically a thousand men in tuxedos sitting around eating meat off the bone and chortling about being cavemen. Marjorie made pickles and rolls, and Tom said she’s the literal best baker in the history of Top Chef. Do you want to know who she credits? My beloved Mary Berry from The Great British Bake Off! Both Karen and Marjorie survived the week, and I’m cheering for them to slowly pick off the male chefs, one-by-one, like the dynamic duo of Melissa and Mey from season 12. #TopMisandry
The 100
Thursdays on The CW at 9:00 p.m.
Written by Karly
When I heard Lexa was coming back this week, I was looking forward to this episode with finale-level anxiety. But most of the episode involved Arkadia Sky People reuniting with the people of Farm Station (Monty’s mom!), who have survived by the skin of their teeth killing every Grounder they see. So that’s going to cause some tension when half the best people are Grounders.
We get a peak into The City of Light, which seems like a virtual reality like the Matrix. Jaha has gone full-on cult leader so Murphy and Emori (girl from the desert in s2) understandably flee. Listen, we shouldn’t have to explain to Jaha and his henchmen that none of these utopias have ever worked in any story. Okay, back to the best part:
Clarke is brought before Lexa by the Ice Nation bounty hunter who captured her, or Vane from Black Sails. I’ve only seen two episodes of that show, but I will continue to call him Vane. But in The 100, he is Prince of Ice Nation, son of the Queen. I can’t wait until we meet the Ice Queen. Lexa quickly dismisses everyone in the room to speak to Clarke. While Clarke is dirty, wild and pissed off, Lexa is clean, calm, and the most beautiful we’ve ever seen her. She apologizes for the secrecy, but she couldn’t allow Clarke to fall into the hands of the Ice Queen. Remember, the Ice Queen was the one who brutalized and murdered Costia.
Clarke, to put it mildly, is still mad about Mount Weather. She literally spits in Lexa’s face and vows to kill her as Lexa’s guards drag her away. If anyone else on this entire earth had done that, Lexa would slice them up like roast beef. But this is Clarke, and Lexa just looks disappointed about it as she stands on the balcony of her tall tower. Lonely is the head that wears the crown. Their reunion was not as romantic as I had hoped, but it’s only the second episode.
Legends of Tomorrow
Thursdays on The CW at 8:00 p.m.
My dear friend Valerie Anne, the world’s leading expert on Nyssa al Ghul, said that Legends of Tomorrow is a little bit of a mess, but a good-hearted one, and one that gets Sara “White Canary” Lance more than Arrow ever did — and, as usual, she’s right. Early reviews of Legends made comparisons to Guardians of the Galaxy, and that was right too. Rip Hunter, Time Master and former Mr. Amy Pond, assembles a ragtag team of superheroes and supervillains to dance around on the space-time continuum and keep everyone in the past and present and future safe from Vandal Savage.
A little push (and new costume) from Laurel helps Sara embrace her role as part of that team. Although, to be honest, if someone had told her she was going to get to wear different period-based outfits every week and ultimately make out with Ali Liebert, she probably wouldn’t have needed even a nudge in that direction. Yes, Sara is bisexual right out of the gate, no doubt about it, as she makes clear in the pilot episode when she says a female bartender is much more her type than the oaf who’s hitting on her. It was a nice piece of confirmation about whether or not Legends was going to completely ignore her past relationship with Nyssa and/or push the narrative that Nyssa was the only woman Sara was ever into.
It’s shaping up to be a new decade/villain of the week in an overarching season dedicated to a single Big Bad. Legends is still finding its feet, but it’s having fun doing it.
Black Sails
Saturdays at 9:00 p.m.
Damn, y’all. I forgot how bloody this show is. I also forgot how gay it is. Season three kicks off with a hardcore murder (by pirates of people who prosecute pirates) and also an impending queer love triangle. You’ll remember that Max and Anne have teamed up with Jack to get their hands on a quadrillion dollars worth of gold that’s being held in a fort they cannot penetrate. You’ll also remember that Eleanor, Nassau’s once and future queen, has been turned over to some vengeance-seeking asshats and is on her way to be executed. In the off-season, Anne fell more deeply in love with Max and Jack got even more jealous. Max’s main thing is the gold, and so she smooches Anne and coos lovingly in her ear, and then releases her to Jack because Jack’s not any use to her if he’s sitting around like a petulant clod. Anne is sad. But she’s Anne. Anne Bonney. She’ll do some murders and feel better. Out on the sea, Eleanor has been rescued by a dude she’s sure to out-Slytherin any episode now, and is, in fact, on her way back to the island where Max is still secretly pining away for her.
Whatever happens, it’s sure to be a bloodbath!
I almost died with that little reference to “The Springfield Files”, one of my all time favorites episodes of The Simpsons
Having to let someone spit in your face, probably more than once, is yet another reason I could never be an actor. LOL
You guys, I caught up on The 100! 31 episodes in under a week. I’m insane. But anyways, I’m so on board this Clexa train! But honestly, I really just ship Clarke/happiness, Clarke/sanity, and Clarke/moral redemption. I can’t wait to see what our little Wanheda gets up to next week!
Rofl Alison you’re a beast!
I still haven’t tried 100, but I love that this binge-week happened.
I was hesitant, but it turns out I really like the show for itself, not just for Clexa. Similar to PoI, the first season was a bit of an aggressively heterosexual slog, but all the badass female leaders and warriors and mechanics really helped :) And then the second season just blew my mind.
Anyone else have a soft spot for Octavia even bigger than their love for Clarke and Lexa?
All over that “Younger” photo.
Mmhmmmm.
Agreed.
Hey, guys. Heads up on a potential new lesbian storyline. It seems like General Hospital is about to tell some sort of coming out storyline with the Kristina character.
On Friday and Monday’s episodes we find out that Kristina was suspended from school for propositioning her Professor for sex to get a better grade. She makes her sister promise not to tell her parents she has been kicked out of school. There are a few very awkward scenes with her sister and mother where they talk about how she is going to meet the right guy some day and Kristina is looking guilty as hell throughout(she never did use pronouns to describe this person). So it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise yesterday when she opens the door and we find out that Professor Parker is actually a woman! Parker shows up on her door to accuse her of smearing her name online which caused her wife to find out. The two argue about who actually propositioned who and Kristina accused her of wanting the attention and threatens to tell her mobster father about the affair before Parker can expose her to her mother. This causes Parker to leave in a huff. I don’t think this is the last we will see of that character since she is played by soap vet Ashley Jones. So far I’m impressed by the chemistry between the two actresses. And it’s good sign that they chose Kristina who is apart of two legacy families on the show. I just hope General Hospital doesn’t screw this up.
You beat me to the punch, turkish.
Just as a heads up: it looks like General Hospital is setting out to tell their first lesbian story. It features college-aged, Kristina Corinthos-Davis, the daughter of the town attorney and the local mob boss, and her college professor, Dr. Parker Forsyth. The show’s been surprisingly tight-lipped about developments so the storyline’s a bit of a mystery.
That said, based on their initial shared scenes, I’m reluctant to express much optimism about where this storyline is going to go. See for yourself:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwat_3WZqQI?rel=0&w=560&h=315%5D
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tvq22-UGU8?rel=0&w=560&h=315%5D
I want to give the writers some time to see where this story goes, especially since we don’t really know what the backstory is, but those scenes felt a little trope heavy..
There are a couple of things that give me hope. For starters, these are new writers so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for right now simply because I haven’t been exposed to work yet. If these were the old writers I would be extremely skeptical. I also like that they are establishing right off the bat that Parker is a lesbian. She mentioned her doctor wife which makes me think their is a strong possibility we might meet that character at the hospital sooner or later. If they were planning on having the Parker character be a day player I don’t think they would have cast Ashley Jones. They could have cast any newcomer for that role. And like a said, Kristina is a legacy character. They wouldn’t be making Sonny Corinthos’ daughter a lesbian if they weren’t planning to drag this out for a long time. They could have picked a new character for this storyline. Not the main character’s daughter.
My critique was more about the first scenes which seemed creepy to me…like they’re teetering towards old tropes about lesbians being predatory and/or psychotic and/or bisexuals being manipulative. Granted, it’s hard to know what’s what, given that, thus far, we only really know Kristina’s side of the story (and she’s clearly been hiding some details), but it made me very weary.
But, to speak to your points, there may be cause for both optimism and skepticism…
– Head Writer: While you’re right to note that the writing team at General Hospital is relatively new, Jean Passanante and Shelly Altman have long careers in daytime. I won’t pretend to be a fan of all of their past work, but I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have writing a lesbian/coming out storyline than Jean. She’s penned two award winning LGBT stories (featuring core characters) in her career: Bianca Montgomery on All My Children in 2000 and Luke Synder on As The World Turns in 2006. So I’m not sure a lesbian storyline could have a better steward..
That said, General Hospital already has a storyline on the canvas featuring a gay core character and they’ve kinda allowed the character to languish. I fear that happening here.
– Ashley Jones: GH scored quite a coup in getting Ashley Jones. She’s a great talent and Lexi Ainsworth is one of the few young actresses in daytime who could rise to the occasion. But GH also has a habit of getting great talent–particularly great female talent–putting them front and center for a few months and then letting them waste away on the canvas. That’s certainly the case right now with Michelle Stafford and Maura West.
The production team is like a small kid with a shiny toy…eventually the luster wears off and they find something else to play with….
– Kristina Corinthos-Davis: I can’t disagree with any of much of what you said…to have a character of her standing in a same-sex relationship is significant….but I think it’s too early to define her sexuality one way or the other. The character hasn’t, until now, shown herself to be anything other than straight…she could be a lesbian or bisexual or just experimenting like a lot of college girls do or, maybe, she’s just being manipulative. It’s hard to know at this point.
All good points. I do have my worries about this as Gh’s cast is already very big and that they so many storylines going right now. Also, Kristina has always been the most neglected of Sonny’s children. I really do hope though that this isn’t just Kristina being manipulative for a grade and she actually does have feelings for Parker. I’m hoping because it’s Jean Passanante writing this that she intends to take this seriously.
Given Kristina’s past dating history I’m going to assume at the moment that they are going to go with her being bisexual. I find it amusing that she clearly has a pattern for being attractive to people older than her. I did ship her with Johnny back in the day(no matter how one-sided it was) because her crush on him drove Sonny crazy. I can’t wait for Alexis to find out. She is going to shit a brick over her daughter having an affair with an older woman.
Wow, Lexa really is all kinds of gorgeous.
And that reunion, you know, if you watch it uh, more than once is so subtly vulnerable on her part.
The way she walks over to the window, instead of striding and owning every room:Just marvelous.
That said, Clarke is going to be SO set up with Roan/Vane:
Random sweaty shirtless scene, tortured past, banishment, betrayal, she kind of tried to kill him, regular “The 100” romance stuff.
Speaking of male love interests: Bellamy limping after Clarke with a knife wound in his leg was a bit much and totally out of nowhere, unless it was in a “I’m lost without my co-leader” way.
And speaking of a bit much:The whole “WE HATE ALL GROUNDERS” thing was a bit much and redundant and illogical, too.
Oh, well.
Here’s to hoping Jaha goes on a longer trip, not to be featured in the next few episodes.
Or ever again.
I’ve just gotten into the show, so I haven’t really delved very deeply into the fandom yet, but I understand there’s a pretty big Bellamy/Clarke contingent? That’s so weird, it makes zero sense to me. The show has been VERY clear that they are just platonic friends that they need each other in the sense that they are sort of co-leaders of the 100, and they need the other’s help to do that. At the beginning I thought I would hate Bellamy, but he’s grown into one of my favourite male characters on the show, and his bromance with Clarke is one of the big reasons why.
It’s because they were antagonistic with one another but grew to respect and friendship. It’s like the Tony Stark/Steve Rogers contigent but F/M with a side of “if a boy pulls a girl’s hair it means he likes you” thang.
Also adding to the it is the antagonistic[friendship]to romantic/sexual relationship schema is all those shows with a serious profesh lady cop and a unprofesh kinda annoying consultant man person. The tv show Bones being lone the inverse of that trope, that I know of.
I don’t see why a few people think Vane and Clarke would be romantic at all. Nothing we’ve seen in the show and nothing in any of the previews or spoilers raise any red flags at all.
I completely get where this fear comes from, but I’m really hoping it’s just a matter of what we’ve been trained to expect and the show isn’t going there. I’ve seen a few comments from Rothenberg that he’s sick of love triangles, and that the hookup in 301 was a “hey guys, really bisexual” because too many were dismissing her and Lexa.
My big concern is that something tragic happens, probably to Lexa.
If Ice Prince and Clarke do get set up I don’t see it going farther than mutual stress release or revenge sex.
If it gets that far, I see an awkward and timely interruption maybe.
Respectfully, the survivors of Farm station being so anti-Grounder doesn’t seem illogical to me. After all what little we know of Ice Nation is that the fairly ruthless by necessity Trikru consider them to be quite ruthless. And from Hannah’s (Monty’s ma) story they no questions started slaughtering children. Farm stationers have been on their own in aggressively hostile territory since the end of Season 1 so them developing an US vs Them about Grounders mentality makes sense to me.
While yeah you’d hope smart, possibly logical people could reason that not all Grounders are the same culture, have the same rule of engagement but nothing like combat crystalises and Us vs Them mentality that others and dehumanises another group of people.
Also I have to consider a people called Ice Nation might also be ruthless out of a sense of necessity being they may have started out as a very resource poor group and culturally ingrained is consolidating potential resource competitors ASAP.
Who went meta and anthropological on a teen drama and didn’t shamefully hide it from the world? This person, right here.
If you follow Jason Rothenburg or any of the other writers on social media, you’ll know that everyone (including the actors) are deadset against Bellamy and Clarke being a romantic pairing. And BTS stuff from their last days on set indicate that our queer hearts don’t have to fret about Clarke’s queerness being thrown under the bus.
Also – Roan and Clarke?? I have. never. thought that, and there hasn’t been any hints at all about that happening. The 100 is written by people who give zero shits about squabbling fandoms and dragging in irrelevant romances for viewership. It is without question my very favourite show for that fact alone.
I don’t watch The 100 (yet?), but I’ve been following discussions about it for a while and I’m… worried about the Bellarke fandom. A large and VERY vocal portion of that faction seems eager to demonize a young lesbian at every opportunity while excusing the actions of their straight dude fave. Apparently Lexa’s actress has been getting tons of hate tweets, too. Things will probably get much worse with the coming episodes.
Honestly, I think the fandom wars are what’s keeping me from this show. If I’m this angry about those jerks when I’m only marginally familiar with the show they’re arguing about, and I don’t even seek out their opinions, if I watched it and came to love the characters I’m pretty sure I’d lose my mind. I don’t know how you guys bear this level of nastiness!
I have learned lately to stay out of fandoms because of a lot of racism and homophobia I’ve experienced in them. I just watch the shows and stay out of online arguments from now on. But yes I have heard that Bellarke fans can be particularly nasty. So can Captain Swans to be honest. And yet both fandoms swear up and down that they aren’t motivated by hate because the alternative is a same-sex couple.
I think there are some people on the Internet with a lot of anger in their hearts but that doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve nice things. Like seeing Eliza Taylor pretend to murder people on your screen.
The 100 fandom makes me legitimately nervous though because of how much the Clarke / Lexa thing has been built up by the people involved with the show. If Clarke and Lexa don’t work out (on a show that prides itself on the fact that Clarke literally stabbed her first love interest in the heart) I will pretty afraid of the blowback from a queer community that is still pretty desperate for compelling representation.
Also, for what it is worth, a lot of the reason the Bellarke fandom is so pissed off is that the people who make the show have… not always been very respectful of their ship. Like, the showrunner has literally gotten up and walked out of an interview after being asked about Bellarke, Eliza Taylor fake gags or just sighs deeply when the topic comes up, stuff like that. It is surreal and kind of hilarious to watch a straight ship getting the “queerbaiting” treatment, but it’s still pretty unprofessional.
It doesn’t really strike me as unprofessional at all, much less “baiting” of any kind. As far as I’m aware the showrunners have never teased that Bellamy/Clarke is canon, and the cast and crew were surprised that it has such a big following because it wasn’t intentional. The annoyed reactions in interviews seem to stem from the relationship being brought up constantly even though it’s been made clear it’s not a thing.
Everyone’s attitudes towards Bellarke is the only reason why I’m still confident to watch the show and not be queerbaited.
I completely agree that Younger has improved in really important ways during its second season. The scene between Maggie and Lauren hit the sweet spot of sexy, sweet that I think should be the show’s calling card.
Also, does anyone know the name of the actress who plays Maggie? Because not for nothing, she’s talented and has exceptional comic timing so I’m trying to blindly objectify her, but man she was hot in that bed scene. And later curled up on the couch.
Anyway, Younger still can come off as SATC’s kid sister in places, but as long as they keep the focus on female friendships/ relationships (which I think is Darren Starr’s strength, he should stick to his wheel house) then I’m happy to keep watching. *IF* they keep improving as they have, I might even be willing to take it off my “guilty pleasure” list and on to my “to embarrassed to say I love it” list, maybe.
Shit! I meant “so I’m NOT trying to blindly objectify her”.
Miss one small word, and everything changes.
Her name is Debi Mazar. She also has a cooking show with her husband on the Cooking channel where they make amazing Italian food.
Thanks turkish! Will be on the lookout
I have zero trust in the X Files to tell a trans story properly given the homophobic mess that was ‘I Want to Believe’. I like the X Files but that movie was awful.
i like to pretend that movie never happened.
– Emily Andras, Showrunner and Executive Producer of “Lost Girl” for Season 3 and Season 4, is making a new show on Syfy. “Wynonna Earp” is about the great granddaughter of Wyatt Earp, who has inherited his demon killing gun. Let’s hope that she’s brought over some of LG’s sensibilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcdgoOs4Nto
– Thought process:
1) Sarah Lance’s mother is played by Alex Kingston.
2) Alex Kingston plays River Song.
3) River Song’s dad is Rory Williams.
4) Rory Williams is played by Arthur Darville.
5) Arthur Darville plays Rip Hunter.
6) Rip Hunter is Sarah’s grandfather.
Does this make River one of her aunts by some kind of transitive property? Because I would be all about River Song and Sara Lance doing some major aunt/daughter bonding.
I’m not sure that Lexa looks disappointed, I think she’s more resigned than anything else because she knew that was gonna happened, no big surprise there.
And holy shit, that murderous look from Clarke was hot as hell.
Sorry, but I have to go now because I need to search all the Clexa angry-sex fics that probably are popping up like crazy, since last Thursday, because of that scene.
PD: Brenda Strong will be playing Queen Nia, the Ice Queen, starting this week.
Then you have to read this fanfiction and then immediately lament that it’s not canon:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11143286/1/this-heart-fossilized-silent-once-was-tender-once-was-violent
I love the X-Files and have been going to watch parties to rewatch old episodes and then watch the new ones. But I thought they really fucked up with the trans jokes. Like, I recognized Shangela and was pretty excited to see her, but the part later on when Mulder and the lizard man are talking about her was…not good. Mulder’s side of the conversation was not totally horrible, but the “Haha she hits like a man!” joke was. And the “joke” describing gender confirmation surgery as “cutting off your genitals”, which is not even how that works. It felt to me like they were trying to be “progressive” while also getting their jokes in, and it pissed me off. Especially because the rest of the episode was 100% pure gold.
Haven’t seen the whole episode yet, but I’ve gotta say, the tonal shifts from ep to ep of the new X-Files are confusing the hell out of me.
That’s actually par for the course for the series. I did a full rewatch over the last several months and was surprised by how different episodes could be from one another. I assume they wanted to give us a sampler platter of different x-flavors with the revival.
On “Agent Carter” they had a flashback to Peggy when she was 11. She was a knight who was saving a princess.
Be still my heart…
Still excited that The Fosters has a standalone recap
Ooo, I was holding off on Legends of Tomorrow to see where it was going and if it’d be worth my time, but the recaps are making it sound like it would make for a reasonably enjoyable, reasonably casual watch. Definitely checking it out now.
I love X-Files for Mulder, Scully, and the monsters, I’m not really there for anything else.
As for same sex relations on tv, I’m done with most them. I really don’t want to hear about them unless they include the word *lesbian*. I’m sorry I don’t want to see your bisxual/queer portrayals anymore. It’s so over-saturated and unbalanced. Makes me miss the L Word, where at least some of the women went from dating women to dating other women. I know, mind blown. Gay men get to be gay, why can’t we?