We can’t believe that yet another week in queer television has flown right on by! Sunday night started the week with a bang thanks to the new L Word: Generation Q trailer (don’t worry, Riese has all the details in case you missed it). Speaking of The L Word, Riese and Carly are still retro-plowing through Season Two of the OG Series, and they dropped another podcast episode for you. The CW launched their fall line up and our favorite superhero Valerie Anne brought you a recap of Supergirl’s Season Five premiere (Season Five! Where has the time gone!?!?) while Natalie launched a new recap series for All American’s Season Two. It’s what Coop deserves. Kayla got us settled back into Riverdale for their fourth season premiere (RIP Luke Perry). Valerie did a deep dive into the queer legacy of Legacies. She also wants you to know that we feel really bad for sleeping on YouTube’s Impulse when it first came out. Last night Grey’s Anatomy staged a Charmed reunion, and you know that Kayla was all over that!

Notes from the TV Team: 

+ Lilly Singh has already started queering up late night with her show, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, but this week, late night’s getting even gayer as Kid Fury and Crissle West bring their acclaimed podcast, The Read, to television. Tune in tonight at 11PM on Fuse! — Natalie

+ Legacies has done the unthinkable and paired up one boring dude with two queer women instead of putting the two queer women together but hopefully it all gets sorted out soon, because I do so love that show. — Valerie Anne

+ I went to the She-Ra panel at NYCC and Noelle Stevenson was using they/them pronouns for a character named Double Trouble (I can’t be 100% sure they are not two people in one vs non-binary because of their name and because on She-Ra it could go either way) and when AJ Michaelka was asked to describe Catra’s arc in the upcoming season in one word she said, “Revolutionary,” so do with that as you will. — Valerie Anne

+ Also at NYCC I learned that Poppy Drayton aka Ambertree (fka Amberle) the queer elf on The Shannara Chronicles will be guesting in upcoming episodes of Charmed. — Valerie Anne

+ Nora is still gone. This has been your Flash update. — Valerie Anne

+ On This Is Us, Tess Pearson is still adjusting to the trials and tribulations of being a queer middle schooler. Namely when a new friend at her new school asked her during lunch, “do you think this football guy is hot” she said yes, even though she really didn’t. And now she can’t stop beating herself up about it! Don’t worry bb, we’ve all been there. — Carmen

American Horror Story 904: “True Killers”

Written by Drew

AHS: 1984 reached new levels of insanity this week with an endless barrage of twists, deaths, and resurrections. The episode begins with Montana and Richard in a flashback. They meet at one of her classes, Montana telling Richard, “My class isn’t for posers. This is aerobics. It’s serious.” Richard shows just how serious he is by grotesquely murdering her student who complained she wasn’t playing enough Cyndi Lauper. They have sex in the locker room, rolling around in the poor guy’s blood.

We learn that Montana’s brother was Brooke’s fiancé’s best man who was killed at her wedding. That’s why Montana wants her dead. Richard happily signs up for her revenge plot, eager to kill, and to win Montana’s affection.

I truly cannot praise Billie Lourd enough. She understands the tone of the show, managing to ground her character and play into the campy humor.

Meanwhile, Donna has Brooke hanging from a tree, eager to learn if Jingles will kill her even without the thrill of the chase. Jingles and Richard arrive at the same time and fight to Richard’s death. Donna and Montana also fight, ending with Donna unconscious.

Also Margaret was the real killer in 1970! She framed Jingles and the years locked away convinced him her story was true. She almost kills him, but not quite, and he’s left wandering the camp pondering his true nature, while Margaret joins the kids with her façade of Christian innocence intact.

Donna wakes up in the woods just as Richard is being resurrected by Satan. They lock eyes and he cracks a smile. Ryan Murphy better not get any ideas, because I want Angelica Ross’ mad scientist around until the very end! Not that any deaths on this show actually mean someone is gone forever.

Why Women Kill 109: “I Was Just Wondering What Makes Dames Like You So Deadly”

Written by Natalie

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Before each episode of Why Women Kill gets into full swing, there’s a short introductory montage. Usually it’s an insignificant glimpse into the future — after the woman has killed whomever they’ve killed — but this week, we get a window into the past that’s worth noting: a warning from Jade’s dearly departed foster mother, Verna Roy, that she is pure poison.

Back in reality, Jade’s cooked up a special breakfast — with a side of coke — to help Eli prepare for his meeting with Martin Scorsese. But Eli’s meeting with Scorsese is just a rouse: his agent leads him into a room where Taylor waits, eager to tell him everything about the woman who’s been sleeping in their bed.

Taylor explains that Jade (real name: Irene Tabatchnick) had been thrown out of three foster homes by the age of 16: twice for stealing cash, the last time for attempting to seduce her foster father. A week after Irene was booted from the third home, it burned down with her foster parents — including the aforementioned Verna Roy — inside. Irene disappeared after the fire, before the Ohio police could talk to her about the mysterious circumstances.

When Jade picks Eli up, eager to hear all about his meeting with Scorsese, it’s clear that some of what Taylor said got through to him. He continues with the rouse, recalling that Irene’s story sounds a lot like what Jade suggested for his script. Jade claims the idea just popped into her head and Eli asks if the name Jade popped into her head, too. She quickly realizes that Duke’s shared her story while Eli realizes that everything Taylor said was true. Jade starts driving erratically, nearly mowing down an old man crossing the road, but Eli grabs the wheel and crashes them into a nearby car instead. The crash leaves Eli bloody and disoriented but Jade’s unhurt. When she hears the police cars echoing in the distance, she knows she has to run.

Taylor gets to the hospital and finds a sedated Eli with fractured ribs. Before he went to sleep, though, he wrote her a note: REHAB. Meanwhile, Jade and Tinkerbell are making themselves comfortable at Duke’s apartment. She tries to ingratiate herself to him but Duke’s not having it and, eventually, he reveals he sold Jade out to Taylor in exchange for bail money. The show Jade finally remembers that Taylor’s a lawyer and realizes that she has to get out of town before Taylor uses her connections to get her locked up. When Duke refuses to give her his watch to pawn, a fight ensues and we finally get an answer to why women kill.

How to Get Away With Murder 603: “Do You Think I’m a Bad Man?”

Written by Natalie

A unicorn.

From the moment that Tegan Price revealed that she was queer on How to Get Away With Murder, I’ve been hoping for hook-up between her and Annalise. I’ve tried to speak it into existence from my recaps. They were both attracted to each other and they were both sex-starved so a hook-up felt inevitable. Sure, they hated each other for a while and, I suppose, Tegan wouldn’t really know Annalise was an option until Eve came to town, still: my hopes were up.

But last night’s episode of HTGAWM may have shattered my dreams: turns out, Tegan Price is married.

This week, Tegan’s faced with fires on multiple fronts, caused by Annalise’s underlinings. Somehow Michaela manages to get a felony murder charge added to a laundry list of charges being thrown at one their clients, while a well-intentioned Connor kidnaps his client from his foster home to take him to see his mother in Maryland. She chastises Annalise for not being there to supervise her students and for sending Bonnie to her for a job and, as is her wont, AK is immediately gets defensive.

Tegan pulls rank, saying, “A lesbian, woman of color, running a major law firm. I’m a damn unicorn. So, to have you — not one of the 321 other men working here — making my job harder, someone I thought was my friend, that’s not salt in the wound, it’s a chain saw to my neck.”

“I feel safe with you. Too safe, clearly,” Annalise admits. Usually this is the point at which I’d note how that sounds like something you’d say in the prelude to a relationship but, honestly, everything about the delivery said “friends” not “future lovers.”

Tegan leaves Annalise to work with Michaela on her case while she heads to Maryland to bail get the firm’s clients, Marisol and Hector, out of a detention center. Already there when she arrives? Bonnie, who saw the opportunity to earn points with Tegan by helping. As is her wont, Bonnie lies to get them into the room but when her plan to free Marisol and her son falls flat, Tegan steps in. She places a phone call to the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at Homeland Security* and urges them to tell the director of the ICE facility to release their clients.

Who is this Under Secretary, willing to do a favor for Tegan at the the drop of a dime? Cora Duncan. Tegan’s wife.

We’ve known about Cora. We knew that she was the best sex of Tegan’s life. We knew that Tegan sacrificed their relationship for her job. I assumed (and, given her title, it’s a safe bet) that Cora’s the genius that supplied Tegan with the copy of Emmett’s phone records last season. But every time Cora has been referenced previously, it’s always been as an ex.

Sharing my confusion, Annalise confronts Tegan about not telling her she had a wife. Tegan and Cora are still married only because she hasn’t filed the paperwork yet.

So, let’s review? Annalise has been friendzoned and Tegan’s still married. How did something that started with so many possibilities go so wrong?

(*Fun Fact: the current Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis is most senior out gay official serving in the administration.)

Almost Family 102: “Related AF”

Written by Valerie Anne

Victoria Cartagena is coming for me in this show. The way she talks and walks and the things her character is saying (“You’re a good kisser,” for example) is so great and overwhelming at the same time.This week, Amand and Edie had a conversation about their kiss and Amanda asked Edie what her ~deal was anyway. Edie didn’t really know where to start with that, so Amanda explained that sexulaity is a continuum and it’s rare people are 100% one thing or another. She describes her own ratio as 80/20 and Edie blurts that’s she’s more like 50/50. She blurts it like it’s something she’s just thinking about now, and she’s not quite sure how she feels about this realization. It’s a little more binary than is strictly necessary, but considering this is the kind of show my parents are watching, I thought it was nice to hear them to talk about queerness and sexual fluidity like this, chipping away a bit at the assumption that all bisexual people are all attracted to their same gender and another gender equally.

After a day of courtroom foreplay, however, Edie is reassessing her original declaration, saying she thinks maybe it’s more like 60/40, and Amanda pulls her into a room so they can pick up where they left off.

Julia ends up spotting them making out and keeps Edie’s husband from finding them, but surely this will complicate things going forward.

For some reason this reminded me of the classic Rookie Blue moment: “The courier was sick, Oliver, if you must know!”

God Friended Me 202: “The Lady”

Written by Carmen

The only gay church I attend regularly is the Church of Beyoncé, and I never miss a service.

Since we left God Friended Me last season, Ali Finer came out to her dad, Minster Papa Pope, and then Minister Papa Pope changed the tone of his ministry to be more LGBTQ+ friendly. Then, the church lost parishioners. Minister Papa Pope thinks Ali didn’t notice, because he would hate for his daughter to know that the community she was raised with is actually a group of small minded people with cruelty in their hearts, but there you have it. Also, he’s no longe the minister at that particular church (for separate reasons).

Minister Papa Pope has since been asked to give a special sermon at First Advent of Harlem, an LGBTQ church. He goes to Ali for advice, and her words are true, but hard to swallow: If he’s going to practice service leadership, Minister Papa Pope might want to take a back seat and learn about the queer and trans community before he starts ministering to them.

That leads him back to First Advent to meet with their pastor, played by trans actress Peppermint (you might know her as first ever trans runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race or as the first trans woman to ever create a principal role on Broadway in Head Over Heels). Pastor Peppermint informs Minister Papa Pope that Ali has actually been attending First Advent for a while now, she intends to become a member of the church.

I was pretty surprised that his first reaction was to freak out; he never imagined that his daughter would leave the church that she grew up in (even though he’s no longer the minister there? Which feels like a key reason to move on if you ask me). Once confronted, Ali tells her brother Miles the truth — she’s leaving their family church because she knows about the parishioners that left after she came out last year. She begs him not to tell their dad.

Miles tells Minister Papa Pope anyway, because even though its a risk, he believes that airing the truth will ultimately bring Ali and her dad back together. It works! Minister Papa Pope attends Ali’s new membership ceremony at First Advent; he understands now that he was putting his own ego ahead of his daughter’s needs. The hug and I cry and really I can’t believe how much this corny little show pulls right at my heartstrings.

Black Lightning 301: “Birth of Blackbird”

Written by Carmen

Kissing with cornrows and a honey suckle background? This is the black lesbian representation I’m looking for.

Welcome to the new home of your Black Lightning recaps! I talked it over with Heather, and we both agreed that until the writers of Black Lightning really get their shit together (excuse my language, I’ve had all summer and I’m still mad) and treat Anissa’s love life with the same consistency and care they’ve given their straight characters, we can chat about her right here weekly! IF anything huge happens (*cough *cough THE RETURN OF GRACE CHOI would be a prime example *cough *cough), we will be sure to give it a special stand alone treatment! And of course all of this is subject to change as the season progresses, etc.

Enough with the business of recapping, and on to the business of Anissa having sex! Because she definitely did that this week.

Anissa has been looking for Grace Choi ever since last season when she found out that Grace is a shapeshifting meta. However, it seems that Grace doesn’t want to be found, so Anissa keeps coming up empty. When she meets a national reporter for the website “Clapback News” (Jamiliah Olsen, who I think has to be somehow related to Supergirl’s Jimmy) one night at a bar, Anissa thinks she might be able to help. Well my friends this reporter had other things on her mind, namely helping herself to Anissa in her hotel bed.

I’ll give Black Lightning this, the scene in question is Hot. Very Hot. But then again, hot lesbian sex has never really been this show’s problem — consistency in lesbian storylines, that’s where they’ve faltered.

Speaking of which, very little about the rest of Anissa’s storyline made sense this week, for example if she’s supposedly heartbroken and looking for her girlfriend, why is she looking for her in between the legs of another woman? Hmmm? OR why would they chose to force Anissa into a heavy handed metaphor about family separation at the border that didn’t quite make sense for Freeland in the first place? OR where on earth did the Pierce family get the money for Anissa’s balling new apartment? What happened to her living at Grandaddy Pierce’s old house? (Not that I’m complaining about Nafessa Williams listening to Chaka Khan in her underwear, not at all, but c’mon!) Still, if Black Lighting is going to keep giving us incredible lesbian sex like that, I may just have to learn to forgive them.

PS: The episode ends with our favorite bulletproof lesbian actually getting shot while performing a rescue mission, but I wouldn’t worry if I were you. I’m sure our girl makes it.

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