Hey did you know Drew and Shelli are both Sundancing this year? It’s true! Get hyped! They’re coming at you with such movie magic next week! The timing is perfect because Drew just released The Autostraddle Encyclopedia of Lesbian Cinema *and* The 50 Best Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Movies Of All Time! Masterpieces, both! Also in the world of lesbian movies, Kayla reviewed The Drop, which is about a lesbian destination wedding and a dropped baby. Super chill.
This week’s TV times were just as exciting. Drag Race kicked off its 15th season, and Drew is recapping again. The Last of Us finally landed on HBO, to huge acclaim, and a joint review from Nic and Valerie. The Legend of Vox Machina’s second season kicked off, and Valerie Anne’s all over it. And Riese made a list of all the lesbian TV weddings in history, to celebrate Bette and Tina’s wedding on the (maybe series?) finale of The L Word: Generation Q.
Notes from the TV Team:
+ grown-ish is back! The show’s midseason premiere focused on the struggles of long distance dating between Zoey and Aaron but I’m looking forward to a return to Cal U in subsequent episodes and seeing what Zaara’s up to…fingers crossed, it’ll be reuniting with Yazmine. — Natalie
+ Did I start watching Will Trent for my long-standing love for Keema Griggs Sonja Sohn? Yes I did. Do the awesome ‘fits they have Sohn’s character, Amanda, wearing only further my love? Absolutely. Is there enough gay on this show? Not yet…but I’m hopeful. The show also features Cora Lu Tran recurring as Nico, Trent’s non-binary dog walker. — Natalie
+ Home Economics concluded its abbreviated third season this week and Caitlin McGee’s Sarah was back to spend time with the family. While I’ve missed Sarah this season, I’m grateful for the space her absence gave to the show to develop Sasheer Zamata’s Denise more. I loved getting to meet her parents and see her build a closer relationship with Connor.
Sarah’s return brought with it a return of the pregnancy conversation for the couple. With their first doctor’s appointment looming, both women are reconsidering…looking to avoid the disappointment that could come from the procedure’s failure. Ultimately, though, they decide to go ahead with it and their Season 4 (*knockonwood*) storyline is set.
Usually, I’d lament this move more a TVLine interview with showrunner Michael Colton made me feel a little more optimistic about it. Maybe this will be an IVF story that won’t drive Riese apoplectic? — Natalie
+ The gays have really been showing up and showing out on reality competition shows lately. I’ll have more for you on The Circle next week but I also wanted to give you a heads up on a new show called Traitors that debuted this week on Peacock. Ever played the game, Mafia? This show is that game but dialed up about 250k notches. It’s such a fun watch! Two highlights: Alan Cumming as the charming and enigmatic host (“a less butch Agatha Christie in a fabulous outfit”) and Andie Vanacore, the trans, non-binary contestant that you will absolutely swoon over. — Natalie
+ As your Lesbian Cartoon Correspondent, I have obviously been watching Mindy Kaling’s Velma. I’m still figuring out what in the world to say about it, and I promise to do that on this very website next week! — Heather
Fantasy Island Episode 203: “Paymer vs. Paymer”
Written by Valerie Anne
This week’s episode was a delight for straight and gay viewers alike, truly something for everyone. One of this week’s storylines stars Desperate Housewives alum Teri Hatcher and James Denton reprising their role of on-screen spouses. The other storyline has Ruby skipping off with turns-out-not-a-teen Helene, who learns that Ruby is a 70-something 25-year-old and tries to teach her how to be more Gen Z. They drink together on the beach and Helene helps Ruby send an ill-advised drunk text to her ex-girlfriend, and Ruby admits she put her wedding ring back on to try to announce to the world that she’s not looking for love anymore. By the end of their conversation, she chucks her wedding ring into the ocean, but almost immediately regrets it. She sees a flash of something out in the water that Helene doesn’t notice, and I have a feeling that the next time we see Isla, she’ll have a little something for Ruby.
As their “parents” come to pick them up (for Helene it’s her newly discovered bio dad, for Ruby it’s Elena), Helene throws her hands around Ruby and calls her brave and smart. She says, “You’re my awesome granny friend and I love you.” I can’t tell if they’re truly just going to be bffs and have more of a family dynamic, or if there’s going to be something more there, but I did hold my breath every time their faces got close to each other just in case. We shall see!
Criminal Minds Episode 1607: “What Doesn’t Kill Us”
Written by Valerie Anne
This week’s episode of Criminal Minds had no Rebecca sightings, but she was definitely top of mind. Tara is holding her phone, hoping to hear from her I guess ex?? I know Rebecca said she was moving out but it seems wild to me that one fight would bring someone from “I love you let’s live together” to “bye forever” even if it was about a work case that might shatter your world? Especially since Tara was just doing her job?? But what do I know.
The team can tell how heartbroken Tara is, and they’re very supportive. Rossi gives her three days to do a ten-minute task so that she can take some time. Garcia tries to encourage her to just call Rebecca and rip the bandage off, but Tara doesn’t want to push her too far too fast. She wants to give her space and time, even though it’s killing her. Eventually it gets to be too much and Tara tells Rossi that she’s going to go home and just turn her phone off for the night and try to give herself some time and space.
As she heads for the night, Tara looks wistfully at JJ, whose husband, Detective Potato Head, has come to pick her up from work for a date night. I personally would have been looking on with disdain, thinking things like, “JJ deserves so much better, literally anyone with a personality.” or even “JJ deserves to be with Emily like the gay gods intended,” but instead Tara looks Big Sad because she wants what JJ has, but with Rebecca.
New Amsterdam 512-513: “Right Place” and “How Can I Help?”
Written by Natalie
Often, we take to this space to lament the loss of representation. Network executives and showrunners don’t recognize the value of representation and/or the staunch viewership that LGBTQ audiences bring so they cancel shows prematurely…leaving so much story on the table and leaving us to craft happy endings for our faves in fanfic. We’re left to mourn characters and shows gone too soon.
But as New Amsterdam took its final bow this week — a series finale announced back in March — I wasn’t compelled to mourn at all. I was relieved…elated, even. I thought, “well, thank God that’s over.”
To be clear, I loved Lauren Bloom. I loved her hard-earned cynicism and how loving Leyla exposed her soft center. I am grateful to Janet Montgomery for the portrayal. But more than anything, I hope that whatever comes next for Montgomery or for Shiva Kalaiselvan (Leyla) or for Freema Agyeman (Helen), they find themselves supported by a writers’ room that doesn’t traffic in misogyny and misogynoir the way New Amsterdam‘s did. They deserve better than this.
The finale gives us a look at the Lauren Bloom origin story: how a chance encounter with an unhoused man having a seizure — a man she wasn’t empowered to help — led her to a career in medicine. I would’ve loved to seen this storyline fleshed out more, in the same way that 9-1-1 has done…but, alas, there were men with problems that merited more screentime.
Bloom steps into the next phase of her life in a new apartment: a shabby loft near the the hospital. It’s not the two bedroom, two bath Battery Park apartment with a view of the Hudson River that she’d imagined for herself but this is what she needs right now…something to fix.
“I need to do it,” she tells Casey. “’cause that’s the only way it’s ever gonna feel like it’s really mine, you know? If I make every decision, if I do the work — thoughtfully, meticulously, painstakingly — that’s the way I wanna live.”
But Lauren won’t be the only person having to move, thoughtfully, meticulously, and painstakingly through the next phase of their life: in the end, she’s joined — much to her relief — by her sister, Vanessa, at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.