We’re hitting the home stretch for the regular 2015-2016 TV season, and the main question we’re staring down is: How many more lesbian/bisexual characters are going to die? We lost two more queer women on Empire this week (which Carolyn has dutifully recapped for you below), bringing the total number of lesbian/bi deaths to 152. Rosewood comes back next week; let’s hope Pippy and TMI didn’t drive off a cliff during the two-week break.
Empire
Wednesdays on Fox at 9:00 p.m.
Written by Carolyn Wysinger
Really, Ilene? Really?
Normally, my recaps are in chronological order but this week a couple of things happened on Empire that necessitated a change in this recap so I am going to jump around a bit.
Let’s begin at the end. This episode ends with the murder-suicide of lezzie couple Camilla and Mimi. My first thought was: Damn, we can’t even get a final cameo by Marissa Tomei? I mean, we come into the death scene and only see Mimi’s dead body in the bathtub. After the shock of this fake-ass Mimi mannequin, I was able to process the storyline as a whole. I, like everyone else, disliked Camilla and was absolutely on board with the attempt to oust her from Empire. However, this notion of killing evil lesbians (that the writers created to be evil)? Come on, y’all can do better.
The overall scene was even harder to swallow with the presence of Lucious, who seemed to be the true evil in the room. He admits to pretty much watching them the whole night and videotaping “their last precious moments together.” Then, like a scene straight out of Devil’s Advocate, he talks Camilla into killing herself, which I guess wasn’t so hard because she had a random bottle of pills hidden in her robe? When I first watched the episode live, I said, “Oh God they killed the two lezzies and I haven’t seen Freda Gatz all season, so in one brush stroke all of the lezzie characters have been erased from the show!” When I watched it again, I saw that Freda had a very short non-speaking cameo, so I guess that was supposed to be the dog whistle that said “Hey, were killing of the two power lezzies at the end, but Freda Gatz is still here so we are okay!” Okay?
I personally linked all of this queer death to a scene that happens early in the episode with Jamal. He is walking out of Empire headquarters with Becky when a queer woman walks up to congratulate him on his ASA nominations and asks him to sign a pair of flip-flops. When he asks what the shoes are all about, an epic flashmob and call-out happens. I mean epic. The most telling portion though was the woman’s reply to Jamal’s question when she says, “We put you where you are” and then the dancers launch into a chant about him letting the gays down to the beat of Hakeem’s anthem Drip Drop called Flip Flop.
I have a lot of complicated feelings about Empire’s use of gay characters. With them launching into this storyline with Jamal and Sky and now killing off Camilla and Mimi, it feels an awful lot like they created a buzz around their show by propping up gay characters to have them self-destruct and disappear. I don’t want to make it to make it seem like queer characters are any different than the others, that they can die or disappear or change course at anytime. But it sure does feel like their queer characters have taken a turn and an interesting time. We’ve already lost 11 queer women on TV this year, and when we’re already so underrepresented, that’s a huge hit. Time will tell if Empire redeems that part of itself but, as I said in the last recap, that probably won’t happen until they get better writers at the table.
About the rest of the episode: Hakeem has a press conference and then performance where he introduces himself as the new CEO of Empire. He also debuts a new company logo where he has replaced Lucious’ image with his own. I got a hearty chuckle when they put the new logo in the show’s opening credits. Way to be self-aware, Empire.
Jamal confronts Jamison about the flashmob. He doesn’t understand why the gay community would turn on him based on gossip. Jamison informs him that Lucious put out the information about Jamal and Sky.
Camilla is still pressuring Hakeem to get rid of Laura because Mimi only has a little bit of time left on this earth and will be leaving all of her stock in Empire to her. She claims to want Empire all to herself so that she and Hakeem can be a power couple. I continue to be amazed with how desperate Hakeem is for someone to believe in him and think he is important. He is starting to remind me of the desperate narcissism of Kanye West and not just because he was wearing raggedy clothes at his performance that looked straight from Kanye’s clothing line.
We haven’t seen Tiana in a while, but apparently she is going on tour. That tour finds itself in jeopardy as Camilla continues to gut the budget for all Empire projects. She slashed Lucious’ video budget and intends to do the same for Tianna’s tour. Yet she is starting a fashion line? FYI, this is how most labels go under. They start cutting music budgets for outside ventures that flop. Tiana believes that Hakeem is the one cutting her tour because of his relationship with Laura. Which gives Cookie a bright idea. She decides to save Tiana’s tour by getting Camilla to put Mirage a Trois on the tour. This would get Laura away from Hakeem which is what Camilla wants so bad. Cookie’s idea works and Camilla feels like she is still in control.
Rhonda and Andre are having their share of problems. Andre reveals to her that God gave him a vision that someone pushed her down the stairs. Rhonda is convinced that he is having visions because he is having a nervous breakdown. I’m not convinced she is wrong after Andre tells Jamal that the way to get “the gays” back on his team is drop his drawls. Wait Whuuut? Hmmmm. But Rhonda goes to work for Camilla at the clothing company which allows her to be Cookie’s spy on the inside as Camilla and Mimi have their own share of marital troubles.
Jamal performs at another ASA event. He performs a song where he reveals the family secret that Lucious entrusted him with about his real name. I clearly missed that scene earlier in the season. I tend to be preoccupied while watching. But he calls Lucious a fraud in front of the press. Lucious takes this as a cue to call in a journalist to which he is going to give an exclusive about his former life as Dwight Walker.
The family doesn’t believe that Hakeem is with them in getting rid of Camilla. Of course, the most important thing to him is who gets Empire when she is gone. Jamal tells him that he has done so many things he has to prove himself to the family to remain CEO. He puts his plan into motion by sleeping with Camilla “his mommy” on tape and getting the tape to Mimi. Mimi immediately dumps all of her stock in Empire. Just like that, Mimi is out of the business. Andre calls the brokers to buy up Mimi’s stock in the company but apparently every family member has reached their max shares. However, there is one family account that they can still buy with. The trust Andre had created for his son. That is Andre’s breaking point. He buys the stock but it comes at a pretty high emotional price. To refocus him Jamal and Hakeem sing a song they wrote her him as he grieves the loss of his son.
Lucious arrives and Cookie tells him that Mimi is officially out of the Empire business and probably dumping Camilla as they speak. He is adamant that he wants to see it himself so his slimy ass goes over to her apartment and that’s where this recap began. True to form. The over the top drama is just beginning.
Grey’s Anatomy
Thursdays on ABC at 8:00 p.m.
Written by Aja
Chaiken say what?
And we’re back! My apologies for missing last week, I was back in San Francisco visiting family and friends! Let’s jump right in.
“Amelia’s back,” Grey says sweetly, her expression anything but as she closes the several cabinet doors Amelia left open as they all sit down to dinner. Amelia’s shiny happy face falls and Pierce jumps in to try and buffer the inevitable clash in the Haus of Sister Lady Chiefs with a glass of wine for Mere, but it’s too late! Amelia reminds Mere that she invited her back, and if she wants to rescind it, to just say so. Oh noes! So much tension already!
That same night but way lamer, Penny’s slowly and ploddingly reading aloud I don’t know what to Jo and Edwards, because her voice puts me to sleep. They’re all filing their applications for a special resident grant award, but when asked, Penny says she’s opting out as a frail and contentious newcomer — dare I say she’s got a lick of grace in her after all? (JK, after a cringeworthy pep talk from Callie, Penny applies for it anyway.) Elsewhere, Webber’s chewing Mama Avery out for meddling in her son’s affairs and encouraging Jackson to take hostile legal action against his ex-wife. Yikes! He calls her all kinds of names: “You are a meddler, a busybody, a helicopter mama, a nosy nelly, a buttinsky!” “That is TRASH TALK!,” she shouts back. “All up in the bug juice, you don’t know the flavor, woman!” (I have no idea what this means but it’s goddamn fantastic!) It’s the cutest fight ever, with pillow slamming and blanket grabs.
Unfortunately, the next day April is working an ER shift with a pregnant 14-year-old patient who has an aneurism. In yet another patient story involving a grown-up overbearing teen mom failing her child (not that I’m oversensitive to that theme or anything), the girl worriedly asks that Kepnar keep her secret, which reignites the Arizona-April war of right and wrong choices, and eventually Kepnar betrays the girl’s confidence and tells the mother and chaos ensues. (Watching April justify telling the mother is like watching her literally punch herself in the face over and over.) They land in surgery after the aneurism threatens both mother and baby’s lives, but all’s well that ends well, with the mother rushing to her daughter’s side, the baby unharmed. Webber tries to make up with Mama Avery over a complicated surgery in the OR, as well as convince her to soften her stance and stop haranguing her son into suing Kepnar, which they do, and she does. When Jackson decides to stop interfering with April’s agency over her own body, it’s too late: April overheard Mama Avery and files a restraining order against Jackson, and his peace offering of a pristine white crib with a big yellow bow on it hits her like a truck.
Everyone else is preoccupied with ditching Bailey’s budget meeting that day, so Grey, Riggs and Hunt set out on a heart procurement mission after Pierce swaps her spot to avoid DeLuca. Back at Grey Sloan, there’s a really adorable chat between Amelia and Edwards about the grant; Amelia of course can’t discuss it with Edwards, but there are LOTS of knowing looks and super cute sly smiles. It’s so nice! Back in the Amigo Trio ambulance, traffic leads to some casual conversation between Grey and Hunt, which leads to Riggs blurting out, “I didn’t know Shepherd was an alcoholic, I totes bought her a drink a few months ago.” (All that’s missing here is an actual Homer Simpson sound effect.) Grey jumps in before Hunt has the chance to lose it, but when the heart mission fails, Hunt thinks it’s okay to have a big man baby tantrum, lashing out at everyone and destroying the other hospital’s property in a rage. When Grey takes Hunt to task and tells him to bloody let go already, he comes back at her with some Riggs-the-cheater version of the story behind his sister’s death, but I and every other sane person with eyeballs to roll remain fully unmoved. Later on, Riggs confronts Hunt and I officially start to feel like I’m in a special circle of hell where Nicholas Sparks writing is stuck on an alpha male infinity loop and I can’t escape.
[Open letter: Good job, Hunt! I’m so sick of your weak macho bullshit and the pathetic garbage excuses you give for continuing to display ZERO CONTROL OVER YOUR OWN PERSON. Did I mention pathetic? I’m glad Yang ended up as far away from your toxic ass as she could get, and Grey should dump you as a friend, too. You’re addicted to anger and control way worse than Amelia could ever be to alcohol and your brand of rock bottom will probably end up with a body count.]
In refreshing relief to all of this, Ben makes a very grownup decision to pass on the grant this year, reassuring Bailey that he knows his time will come but for now, in her first year as chief, he would rather be home and by her side at Grey Sloan rather than bouncing all over the country. True, Penny half-heartedly attempted the same with Callie, but it sure didn’t last long. Penny’s pals were none too pleased with her; it wasn’t so much that she applied — they were encouraging in the beginning of the episode — it’s that she was so adamant that she wouldn’t, and the sudden change of heart feels like a trick. Guess who gets the grant? Mm hmm. At least this means we’ll be seeing less of her now!? Sorry not sorry, Callie.
When the episode ends we get a lesson on sisters, and sisterhood. Maggie is anxious that Grey and Amelia will implode, Amelia admits that she’s really annoying and Grey assures them both that nobody is kicking anyone out anytime soon. Maggie wanted sisters and well, now she’s got ’em! They won’t get along all the time, they’ll ride each other’s nerves constantly, but they love each other, and being together, and being there for one another, and that’s just the way it works. It reminds me of my best friend (who I used to tease mercilessly for watching a show like Grey’s, by the way). It’s really annoying when she and my wife agree on things I am adamantly in opposition to, usually because it means they’re right and I’m super, super wrong, but if not for them stopping me in my tracks from doing stupid shit, heaven knows where I’d be now. We are nothing at all alike, and we get under the other one’s skin in a way literally nobody else can after 24 years of friendship, but we can’t live without each other — she’s my person!
The 100
Thursdays on The CW at 9:00 p.m.
Karly will be back to recap the season finale of The 100 on April 28, which may or may not include Lexa — honestly, we don’t know what to believe at this point about what’s going on there.
Well, Chaiken claimed in that last interview that her show doesn’t count when it comes to Dead Lesbian trope because Camilla wasn’t a lesbian but “heterosexual opportunist” and lesbians should want her dead.
Putting aside the biphobia behind that statement, she also killed Mimi, the lesbian character, so I’m not sure if she’s aware of what’s going on in her show.
Or maybe that was a diversion tactic, since I noticed some people on twitter started talking thanks to that quote about how “lesbians hate bisexuals” instead of the tropes, not bothering to check facts about the show, and definitely not being aware Mimi was subjected to full combo of lesbophobic tropes – dead lesbian trope and earlier lesbian having lustful sex with a man trope.
It was indeed a diversion tactic.
How do oligarchies stay in power? They set the other classes against one another.
Can’t overthrow ya and eat your mutton if they can’t unite towards a common cause because they’re fighting each other for scraps.
freda gatz is immortal, long live freda gatz
What is really sad about the 100 isn’t just the fact that they killed off lex but its the entire season. They really have enough material for two maybe three seasons. I mean at least 14 episodes a piece to explain everything and make it work. They could weave the city of light idea and Allie the evil AI thruout this season with Lexa going head to head against Pike. They could have had a great death by Lexa at the end of the season with the introduction of the implant at the end to lead us to the next season. Instead its combine everything edit the crap out of it and give us five episodes that could be two seasons of good quality material.
Yes, that is the biggest issue of many critics, i.e. that the pace is just off.
The reason is quite simply the fact that because of Alycia’s availability until episode 7, they needed to tell a whole lot of story up to that point.
It’s really interesting how they put their focus on the arc of a guest star.
Amy on “Faking It” should be safe, since she’s going to date Felix.
Last night I got a bunch of messages telling me that Rothenberg went Game of Thrones all the way, but it seemed he decided to “downplayed” the trope he was missing: rape.
The “downplayed” part? It was the rape of a man. Congratulations are in order? Seems that I must say yes, because it really worked out for Rothenberg: almost nobody is talking about this crap.
I am absolutely livid about everything in that episode, but particularly how the rape of a male character played out. Everyone is calling it “kink” because he eventually said yes…while chained, and threatened with death for saying no, by a woman who killed children and cut off their heads.
I have never seen a show go so fucking bonkers horrible the way this one has in such a short time.
Oh, no one will talk about until some sort of exploitative titilating sexualised violence happens to a woman in the show. Then that’ll be all some people can talk about because how dare anyone feel outrage about the male gaze on a female body being victimised.
Oh, is THAT what happened? I didn’t even bother to follow anything related to the 100 this week since I refuse to give it any more of my time. I hate that I was right and Rothenberg is that predictable. Rape really was the only thing from GoT had he hadn’t tried yet so I should have known it was coming. I thought he might do it to Raven since he seems to enjoy putting her through hell. Of course, because it is a male I’m sure there are a lot of people who will refuse to call this rape and let Rothenberg off the hook this time.
There is even this trop Double Standard: Rape, Female on Male for that.
I have to say, my TL blew up with outrage about this, but I haven’t seen a single review addressing this issue.
The link doesn’t work:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale
I’m really loving this season of Grey’s Anatomy, but a few of these plotlines need to DIE. Namely, the Jackson/April neverending drama cycle, and the “mystery” of why Owen hates Riggs. If April and Jackson would just TALK to each other, instead of screaming, instead of using lawyers, and restraining orders, and friends, and mothers, they could get this resolved. I can’t believe we need to go another round with these two. And no one cares about Owen’s beef with Riggs. Riggs is a new character, no one cares about his backstory, we all know Megan is going to turn up alive at the end of the season, so can they just skip all the “mystery” and tell us what happened?
Allison, you are the 3rd person this week who has hypothesized that Megan is coming back at the end of the season! I have to admit that I didn’t see it coming…
I hope that’s not true because I really am so annoyed by the Owen/Riggs thing and I want them both to be gone.
I still want Yang back.
I didn’t see it coming either
I also don’t give a shit about Owen and Riggs and why they hate each otehr
I kind of like the Jackson/April storyline, although I don’t like how Catherine acted so out of character for it.
I would like all storylines involving Owen to end.
Dream stories:
Penny leaves forever (hopefully without dying b/c Callie doesn’t deserve that)
Arizona finds a new ladyfriend who is not obnoxious.
Erica Hahn returns and Callie deals with her feelings.
Amelia and or Maggie turn out to be kind of gay.
Yes for the return of Erica Hahn AND Yang
I’m loving this season too. There’s one thing I didn’t get in this episode. If Amelia is struggling to stay sober and dumped Owen for being drunk, then why are her sisters openly drinking wine in front of her, and stocking alcohol in the house? Isn’t that disrespectful?
That’s why Maggie asked her if it was ok before she poured even one glass. My take on it (both from what I know of the show and also knowing sober people in real life) is that part of being sober is unfortunately having to learn how to stay sober when around alcohol, even in your home. But there is a difference between a glass of wine that someone sips at dinner and a fall down drunk.
But, and I think this is most key, she didn’t break up with Owen because he was drunk the one time. That was more the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Amelia is not a place in her sobriety where she should be dating anyone. Most programs recommend waiting 6 months- a year. And if she was to date someone, she should be dating someone who is stable. With everything going on with Riggs, and quite frankly with his long term PTSD, regardless if Riggs is there or not, Owen is not stable. Which doesn’t mean that he would be a bad romantic partner theoretically (I’ll never like him), but it does mean that he would be a bad romantic partner for a recovering addict.
EDIT: Because I was particularly uncomfortable about how I ended this post.
Let me clear, HUNT IS BAD FOR EVERYONE! He’s just terrible and controlling and has anger issues that would make him a danger for any partner. He is everything that is terrible about patriarchy personified. But he is particularly bad for Ameila because on top of that already long list, he’s unstable and she needs stability more than anything right now.
Hunt is the second-worst dude in Shondaland IMO. The first worst is Fitz and Hunt would be the worst if he had presidential powers.
Which is to say THANK YOU for your take on him @c-p.
oh my goodness yesssss Fitz is the biggest baby with Hunt coming in a close second…there’s like a river of male tears streaming from the screen every thursday I need to buy a canoe…or a straw
Ahem….. Let me clear my throat…..
MORE SOFIA AND LESS PENNY 2k16!!!
Not only did The 100 feature a rape scene this episode, but the offical writer’s room twitter retweeted a rape joke made by a journalist and a “#murphtari” tweet – which would be the shipname for murphy and ontari, which is just beyond gross: http://the100theories.tumblr.com/post/142445111419/natblida-natblida-natblida-the100writers
The same journalist (which apparently is a friend of JR) described Murphy as Ontari’s “conscience” and her “sex slave” and wrote that this was one of the best episodes of the whole season.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/08/the-100-fallen-review
The same episode also featured psychological torture, forced self harm/suicide attempt, more torture, a woman getting drugged, tied up, threatend and forced to take a “chip” by a black man; a very graphic murder, and oh right, a woman raping a man and making it look like he “enjoyed” it, plus the obligatory “let’s zoom in on a woman’s boobs” moment.
Nylah will be back next week (Clarke’s fling from 301/302) and from promo pictures/video I don’t see that ending well either.
That is so gross, I don’t even know what to say anymore.
re:Empire – isn’t Tiana bi? she was seeing a woman and Hakeem at the same time if I’m not mistaken
re: Grey’s – i think i’d feel the sisterliness of Meredith and Amelia if Meredith were less passive aggressive?!? but maybe i’m basing this on my relationship with my sister? like sometimes she’s doing ~the most~ but if she left cabinets open i’d be like ‘glad you’re here but srsly CLOSE THE CABINETS WYD’…even with my (ex) brother-in-law i’d be like “bro…you gotta xyz”
&&I’m really confused about whether or not we’re supposed to like Hunt because honestly I have hated his entire self when he said he’d support Christina’s decision to get an abortion and then yelled “YOU KILLED OUR BABY”(or something to that effect) at her during a party(angry emoji x10+knife emojix27)…like that just put the lid on the garbage can if you catch my drift. BUT, as other people are saying, his sister’s totally gonna show up like “surprise bitch!” because they’ve been setting that up with that endless argument…and if she doesn’t then I’m going to be super confused as to why they’ve had THE SAME ARGUMENT 100 TIMES(LIKE, WHY)?!?! THEY ARE DOCTORS AREN’T THEY TOO TIRED TO KEEP DOING THIS?!? I’M TOO TIRED TO KEEP HEARING THIS SO WHY AREN’T THEEEEEYYY?!? any pls let this be true so they can shut the hell up it’s so annoying
also, I am trying very hard to like Penny even though she’s sort of just ~there~ also lbr Edwards is A JERK, if Penny’s her friend she wouldn’t talk about her like that SOZZ…I try really hard to like Edwards but she really gets on my nerves&&the Jackson/April thing is getting annoying too because I just…do not care about them at all but Jackson was decent for like 2 minutes but both of them are honestly being really immature about the whole thing
“Later on, Riggs confronts Hunt and I officially start to feel like I’m in a special circle of hell where Nicholas Sparks writing is stuck on an alpha male infinity loop and I can’t escape.”
Haaaaa. So, so sick of them. WE GET IT, WRITERS. AND WE DON’T CARE.
So, can I trust Emily Andras? SyFy is not exactly Showcase.
Officer Nicole Hot, sorry Haught, gave me a little hope.
// Empire //
One of the most troubling aspects of Empire‘s first season is how Lee Daniels used the show to re-litigate his own history with homophobia, sizeism and colorism. All writers do that, to a degree, but it’s particularly problematic when you’re writing for the modern era with a narrative concocted 50 years ago. It feels like they’re doing that again here…only this time we’re getting to see Ilene’s re-litigation. You’d think she’d have worked out her biphobia after six seasons of The L Word but, apparently not.
// Grey’s Anatomy //
Poor Penny…there’s just nothing she can do to redeem herself in certain corners of the Grey’s fandom. I can certainly understand the impulse to want to prove yourself to folks that doubt you and I was glad to see Penny stand up for herself. Silence those haters, Penny…
That said, I thought, particularly given what we saw between Stephanie and Jo earlier this season, Edwards’ behavior was a little out of character. TPTB have said that Jerricka Hinton will still be part of Sloan-Grey Memorial, despite her helming the new Shondaland comedy, Toast, but it definitely feels like they’re minimizing her character in advance of that.
// General Hospital //
Kristina had two days of really compelling story this week on General Hospital, as she tries to figure out how to be honest with her family and friends, despite not having figured everything out for herself. While daytime fans are rightly applauding Lexi Ainsworth and Nancy Lee Grahn’s Emmy worthy performances from Thursday, I really liked Parker and Alexis’ conversation from Wednesday. I mean, I think Parker’s lying about Kristina having misread their relationship, but her commentary about what Kristina’s going through and how her mother can best support her…that felt groundbreaking.
Clips of Wednesday and Thursday’s episodes start, here, or you can watch the entire Kristina/Parker storyline, here.
You should watch, if only to join me in salivating over Ashley Jones who looked absolutely stunning this week.
Seems like I’m the only person that actually likes Penny around here…