Fall TV is finally in full swing, and that means Boob(s On Your) Tube is returning to your loving arms! For me, personally, this TV season hasn’t really started until Jane the Virgin comes back next Monday, but Shondaland and The CW’s superhero line-up are rolling and so it’s time to Get Serious. It’s a weird world right now for queer TV characters. All of the lesbian and bisexual women on fall TV are either supporting or recurring characters who don’t show up in every episode, or main characters whose queerness doesn’t really factor into their shows regularly.
So here’s my plan: This week, we introduced a new column called the Superqueero Roundup Recap, in which Valerie Anne will be recapping (and wee-capping, depending on the queer content each week) Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. That gives us Maggie Sawyer (and hopefully Alex Danvers), Nyssa al Ghul, and Sara Lance, and anyone they hook up with and any appearance in any crossover. That post will go up on Tuesday, after Supergirl airs, and be updated throughout the week. Make sure you’re following us on Twitter so you’ll know right away when Valerie adds new gay words to her column.
On Fridays, I’ll publish Boob(s On Your) Tube with a run-down of all the queer shenanigans that happened on TV during the week. We’re going to try a new thing this season. If you’re live-tweeting a show and you tag your post with #AutostraddleTV, I will round-up some of the best tweets of the week and include them in Boob(s On Your) Tube. I’m also going to work to bring you one standalone TV piece every Wednesday. Not a recap, but a place for us to discuss the queer and feminist things dominating our DVRs. Some of them will be written by me and some of them will be written by other humans and it’s going to be a good time.
We’ve got a super special Scream recap coming at you next week (the Halloween special airs next Tues., Oct 18). I’ll have a full review of the first season of Tig Notaro’s One Mississippi then too. Lucy Hallowell will be joining us to recap The Fosters when it returns this winter. I’m working with Dorothy Snarker to find a good recapping fit for her here at Autostraddle. Stef‘s going to keep us up to date with Tara on The Walking Dead. And Ashley is going to bring us a review of the first season of Queen Sugar. I’m excited about the future, friends. Everything feels possible.
So, hey, let’s talk about television!
Grey’s Anatomy
Thursdays on ABC
I’ll tell you what, it has been a real roller coaster of emotion with Grey’s Anatomy these last few months. First there was Callie’s hurried and bizarro storyline that ushered her off the show last season. And then there was the news that Sara Ramirez decided not to re-up her contract so the writers were scrambling to write her off in the way she deserved. Then Sara Ramirez came out as bisexual. And Jessica Capshaw had a baby IRL and was absent and finally returned last week.
When Arizona bebops off that elevator, Webber practically squeals with glee. He’s ready to be her lesbian wingman again, yes he is.
I’ll spare you the case of the week. The main thing you need to know is Arizona was visiting Callie in New York City and she’s fine and Sofia’s fine and they have an apartment overlooking Central Park (which is hilarious because those apartments will cost you about ten hundred billion dollars and there’s no way all these doctors make that much money; they sleep on top of each other like sardines). Arizona spends her first day back saving a mom and a baby and also saving Alex from himself. Everyone’s glad she’s home.
Okay, one thing about the case of the week. The mom Arizona saves, she had a car accident because she smashed into the funeral procession of her own father, and while everyone else in the family was mostly okay, her mom went into cardiac arrest and died when she saw her husband’s dead body in the hospital morgue. OKAY BUT THEN she came back to life. It’s called Lazarus Syndrome. It’s very very very rare, but sometimes it happens for real. Like 30 times in the last 30 years. And I’m telling you that because the guy who wrote this episode, Andy Reaser, is a former Pretty Little Liars writer from the first few seasons. HE LOVES THE LAZARUS SYNDROME. (Andy is also a good friend of mine, in the interest of transparency. I think he writes very good lesbian/bi TV characters and he’s never killed one.)
How to Get Away With Murder
Thursdays on ABC
Famke Janssen landed her own show, a spin-off of The Blacklist that sounds like the fourth title in a first person shooter video game series. THE BLACKLIST: REDEMPTION. Which means she won’t be around too much on this season of How To Get Away With Murder, which means my heart is broken. The plot of this show is impossible to recap, or to even explain out loud to a person, but, like always, season three revolves around a huge, traumatic mystery that is revealed through flash-forwards as the characters work through cases of the week that advance them toward the ultimate drama. This season’s big mystery is some kind of monster fire where people close to Annalise get burnt into crisps.
This week’s case is irrelevant; the main thing is it’s being tried by an unlicensed lawyer because Annalise smacked a guy in the face in court last week and her license was suspended. There was a tape. The Pennsylvania Bar Association received it anonymously. Eve shows up to help because Eve is the person Annalise loves the most and respects the most and the person least likely to ever judge Annalise for any decision she makes (hiring a hit man, just for an example).
They’re enjoying cocktails in a bar when these two white dudes, litigators, show up asking to buy them a drink. Annalise rolls her eyeballs nearly out of her head and Eve tells the bros they’re together, as girlfriends. The litigators call it “the lesbian Heisman,” posturing being gal pals with a gal who’s really just your pal to stop dudes from hitting on you. So Eve and Annalise decide to go on ahead and let these dumbasses buy them all the free booze and cheese sticks they want. Annalise and Eve’s bar-dancing montage is one of the best moments in this show’s history and literally the only time I’ve ever seen Annalise really, truly happy. Viola Davis has the most radiant smile.
Eve helps Annalise deal with her suspension woes, much to Nate’s chagrin. He wants to know if Eve and Annalise are sleeping together. Annalise demurs, and mostly they’re not, but I’m not sure Nate would have loved the answer Annalise gave Eve when she asked about him moving in.
Annalise: I’d give anything for a boring life.
Eve: You let Nate move in; that’s pretty boring … but hey, as long as you’re happy.
Annalise: I didn’t say I was happy. Stressed out, lonely, pissed off, sure, but not—ugh.
The ugh was when the two dudes showed up at their table.
Annalise decides to confess to being an alcoholic, because it’s a medical condition, which protects her from being disbarred for walloping that guy. She’ll enter a treatment program and then her license will be reinstated. She wants to scissor it out with Eve to celebrate, but Eve confesses that she met someone who loves her and Eve loves her back. Annalise hugs her so tight and cries and tells her to go to California (with stupid Vanessa) (my words, not Annalise’s) and let herself be loved.
These two are endgame, I don’t care. Eve will be back.
Rosewood
Thursdays on Fox
Hey now here’s a surprise: Pippy and T’s relationship on this season of Rosewood is tugging at my heartstrings in such a real way! You’ll remember last season ended with Tara cheating on Pippy and Pippy breaking off their engagement. Okay, so this season Pippy has left her job at Rosie’s lab and is making a go of it as a recording artist. She’s pretty great, actually, but mostly just singing about starting over again and whole new worlds and whatever, which is a clear indication she’s not over T.
Adding conflict into their whole boring deal (even though I hated the way it happened) was a very good choice. Their relationship is already a thousand times more interesting than it was last year, which means that even though they’re still supporting characters, they’re doing emotional stuff and not just saying toxicology words and body parts out loud every time they’re on-screen. Last week Pippy jumped in front of Tara when a man with a gun barged into the lab, and this week Tara got super attached to this fish whose owner had died. “Lucy’s going through a lot right now, okay, and she needs her support or she’s gonna die. What? She’s all alone. She just lost the most important person in her life. And she’s trying to move on, you know, but it’s all very confusing.” Pippy is also trying to date; it’s a real hoot.
Tara says jumping in front of a bullet is the kind of thing people do in movies when they’re crazy about each other. Pippy says, “I’ll always be crazy about you. But T, you gotta let me go; so I can maybe find my own way back.”
Finally, a procedural to keep on in the background and rewind when you hear gay stuff happening!
Younger
Wednesdays on TV Land
Even though Younger has spent the first few episodes of this season building up a love triangle between Liza and her boyfriend and her boss, it’s still worth your time. The cast is mostly women and they’re always doing and talking about stuff that doesn’t center on men. I mean, sometimes they talk about men, but, this season at least, some of that talk is about Kelsey’s horrible fiance getting smashed in the head with a steel beam and dying last season. Like, the show played that for kicks! A little misandry from TV Land goes a long way with me.
Maggie is still Maggie and Lauren is still Lauren. They were together a little, but loosely, and then Lauren cheated with her childhood sweetheart (bisexual cheating with a dude; too cliche to deserve even an eyeroll), but when she came to Lauren’s to confess it, Lauren was definitely hosting an afternoon lesbian orgy, so it was all fine and dandy. The first three episodes of the season only feature Maggie or Lauren for about five minutes, total, but this is still a fun and mostly feminist show. Plus it airs right after Everybody Loves Raymond re-runs and I love the idea of everyone’s parents accidentally seeing a lesbian orgy because they fell asleep with the TV on.
Also, I have to confess something to you: I never thought I’d be one of those people who lives in New York and hollers at the TV when it’s set in New York, but when Liza and Maggie left their apartment in WILLIAMSBURG and then rolled up to CENTRAL PARK five minutes later with some luggage, and they were smiling, it was just one step too far for me. I did it. I snapped at the TV, as a New Yorker. That would take an hour on the train and after navigating the subway with a wheely suitcase, you’d be ready to murder someone. Forgive me, dear readers.
The Real O’Neals
Thursdays on ABC
The Real O’Neals‘ second season premiered last night with the promised lesbian character in tow. Lesbian sidekicks on sitcoms never get the love they deserve, but Allison is a different kind of character. When Kenny came out last season, he did so in a post-Modern Family world. He barely got any pushback at all, except from his grandma, and his parents stood by his side through that whole thing. Now he’s started a GSA at his school under the impression that every gay kid on earth is moving through life as easy as he has so far. For Allison, that’s not true. He guilts her into coming out, then finds out that coming out is going to destroy her home life, then rushes to convince her not to come out. It’s a little too Finn Hudson-y for my taste (the man makes the decision when and where the woman will come out), but Allison’s going to be around for a while, so it’ll be interesting to see how that dynamic — and the juxtaposition of their different experiences in the same world — plays out.
In a weird meta moment, the kid who plays Kenny trashed Eric Stonestreet in an interview with Vulture and then went after Colton Haynes for the way he came out. Kenny’s post-Glee gay world seems very similar to the actor who plays him. ABC let him know that not every gay person shares his privilege.
Code Black
Wednesdays on CBS
This is just to say that trans actress Alexandra Grey has been on both Code Black (“Life and Limb”) and Chicago Med (“Natural History”) this season. Neither Mey or I have had the chance to watch the episodes yet, but I’ll let you know once we do. HOWEVER, you absolutely must watch Grey in her episode of Drunk History from earlier this week. She plays Marsha P. Johnson and it is so good I want to punch a hole in the sun every time I watch it. (I’ve watched it like six times.) Hey, showrunners, writers, and producers: trans women can play more than medical patients and murder victims.
American Housewife
Tuesdays on ABC
Whoo boy, this show is a mess. One one hand, you’ve got a real life average-sized woman playing the lead role and her two best friends are women of color, one of whom is a lesbian. On the other hand, the show used to be called The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport and the pilot episode is nothing but fat joke, fat joke, fat joke, fat joke. It just premiered this week, so I can’t say if there’s any decent queer content. Angela was in the pilot for a nanosecond and casually mentioned she’s going through a bitter lesbian divorce, but that’s all I know. The Atlantic explains why the “weight problem” on this show is probably going to sink it.
Next week we’ll catch up with the queer women on Gotham (same old tripe), Empire (Freeda’s free, I think?), Masters of Sex (Betty and her partner had their baby), and the new gay detective on NCIS: New Orleans. I also heard there was a “trans-racial” character on last night’s episode of Atlanta, and several of our commenters in this week’s Pop Culture Fix asked to read the opinions of trans women of color about the episode, so I’ve reached out to some of the Black trans women who write for us to ask for their feedback.
I love you guys! It’s good to be back!
re: How To Get Away with Murder
SEE JERKS? YOU CAN MAKE US CRY WITHOUT KILLING US OFF!
^ this ^
If I tweet with #AutostraddleTV plus the established show hashtag like #BooRadleyVanCullen, how many characters will that leave for my witty quip? Not enough.
Greys:
Wake me up when the show gets interesting again or they give Arizona something to do besides be there for the other characters. And don’t think I’m not super pissed that they’re probably going to write Caterina Scorsone’s pregnancy in and yet JCap was pregnant 3 times and they A-didn’t find a decent story to give her to hide the pregnancy or they didn’t think it was the perfect opportunity to reconcile Calzona.
Younger:
Maggie and Lauren and orgy aside, can I talk about Liza’s triangle. I like Josh, he’s not a bad guy and I like Charles so I can see why this is such a hard decision but in the end Liza should end up with Charles and good guy Josh might work for Kelsey.
The Real O’Neals:
I’m even less interested in watching this show since that kid made those comments. I could understand if he was on a super hit show and was super popular but I don’t even know his name and won’t learn it.
Chicago Med:
I watched it with trans actress Alexandra Grey, she plays Maggie’s sister Denise. She lives in Texas I think and came to a family BBQ after being away for 10 years and crashed her car and was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with prostate cancer, in the end she decided to stick around for treatment so maybe we’ll see her again. I didn’t watch Code Black BUT I read that Alexandra Grey played a trans character who gets diagnosed with prostate cancer. From one medical show to the other there isn’t much originality when it comes to medical issues, I mean Grey’s Anatomy has now started repeated things that they themselves did 5 seasons ago so it is what it is.
American Housewife:
There are 2 types of viewers that can watch this show, those who get offended by fat jokes and those who are in on the jokes. I think I’m the latter and when you consider that Katy Mixon has just come from playing the “va va voom” skinny sister to Melissa McCarthy’s Molly from Mike and Molly you kind of see her from a different light too. I think the little daughter is adorable and the son is like mini Alex P. Keaton. I don’t see where this show is going, (Leslie Bibb threw me for a loop) but I’ll stick with it until it gets cancelled.
Ohhhhh is Caterina pregnant? That explains all that “lets make a baby” crap like two weeks after their wedding. Well, that makes it marginally less awful, because at least they have a good reason, but still, that’s super annoying.
Though I disagree with you about JCap’s pregnancies. For one, it’s not like Arizona could accidentally get pregnant, the way Callie did, so her being pregnant would have to be planned out long in advance. And two, I think it would be really out of character for Arizona to actually want to bear a child (I know they did go there, sort of? I can’t remember, but it felt out of character to me at the time too). I would honestly rather have her miss a couple of episodes then have her Arizona saddle with a pregnancy arc that makes no sense for her character.
I totally agree with you about Arizona. Pregnancy would be out of character
I thought she looked pregnant! Glad to know my powers of baby bump detection are still strong.
Callie and Arizona had been talking about having another baby for years. You think it would be out of character for Arizona to be pregnant because the show writers MADE it be out of character for Arizona to want to be pregnant. She was all for it in the flashback episode with the miscarriage. And they were talking about donors so it wouldn’t have been such a weird thing if Arizona wound up pregnant, they could’ve said they did the insemination off screen (like most of their relationship took place anyway) and they didn’t want to say anything until they knew for sure (like when JCap popped).
Also JCap had HORRIBLE story lines when she got pregnant. They shipped her off to Africa (causing Calzona breakup), they cut off her leg (which caused Calzona implosion).
Yeah, I definitely don’t disagree that they could’ve handled her real-life pregnancies better. It seemed that with every Jcap pregnancy, the Calzona relationship suffered another MAJOR blow.
That said, I think the problem is that Arizona not wanting kids was one of the first things we learned about, all the way back in season 6, before any of Jcap’s real life pregnancies. So, yes, Arizona wanting to physically bare a child would have been out of character for her (on this I agree with Alison and Carmen).
In fact, the one of points of the miscarriage/flashback episode was that Arizona still was working through her plane crash PTSD. It *was* out of character, she was using it to cover up pain. In fact, when Calzona revisits pregnancy later that season, Arizona blurts out desperately “Callie you carry it! I don’t want to! I really don’t want to” right before their coin toss.
If they had written Arizona differently when they first introduced her, then maybe they could have made her pregnant later, but to do so after they had already laid the foundation of her character in a particular direction- I think- would have been difficult. Yes, they could have written in a change of heart for the character, but that would have taken significant set up. And I think lots of women don’t want to bare kids, it’s important for their representation that we take Arizona’s words at their value.
That said, we did deserve better than the ship off to “we’re too lazy to name a specific country Africa” (Geez Shonda, do better) and the plane crash.
And, for what it’s worth, I think Owen and Amelia- a relationship that I don’t even like- deserve better than the rushed pregnancy that is currently looming over them due to Caterina’s real life pregnancy as well.
She could’ve just worn very baggy navy scrubs for a while and then “go visit Addison in LA” for a few episodes while Caterina had the baby. It would have been fine. We could have all looked the other way.
I think it’s a shame that you obviously know what Atlanta is about, but you still think any “trans woman of color” can do the job of reporting on it. This episode was about black culture. It’s not appropriate to say only a trans person can do it, but any trans person would be OK. Heather, I normally really like your insight, but it’s just tiring how you can put all black people in the box of being just like every other minority group that you don’t happen to belong to… Thanks for that…
Hi, Michelle. Thank you for weighing in on this. I see how what I said came off as problematic. I absolutely understand that minorities are not a monolith and I’m really sorry my word choice makes it seem like I do believe that. I was actually addressing several commenters who are Black women who are regular readers of this column and who asked in this week’s Pop Culture Fix to hear the opinion specifically of of trans women of color about the trans-racial episode of Atlanta. I have reached out to three Black trans women who write for us to solicit their opinions, and I should have explained this more fully in the post, instead of just saying that I’d reached out to trans women of color. I was trying to convey that I’d read the comments and was responding to the request, but I could have done a better job explaining that. I will update the post to be more accurate.
Just to chime in, I was one of the three women who requested getting a trans perspective on Tuesday’s episode of Atlanta. I appreciate Heather reaching out to some trans WOC and I hope it’ll provoke some interesting discussion.
Was the episode about black culture? Yes, of course, Atlanta is always about that first and foremost and certainly I’d expect that whomever steps up to write about Atlanta understands that. But this episode was also about trans lives as well…both in terms of how they discuss Paper Boi’s lack of attraction to Caitlyn Jenner (and the willingness to unnecessarily assign a pathology to that) and the parallel and/or conflation of transgender and trans-racial.
To the show’s credit, the show openly mocked Antoine Small in a way it didn’t mock Jenner–which, I guess, is a way to assert that trans-racial is not a real thing and transgender is–but it wasn’t made clear. I kept remembering some words from Janet Mock and Monica Roberts words from the height of the Rachel Dolezal mess and worried that the conflation could be offensive, at least, and dangerous at worst.
That said, the commercials from that episode were amazing and worth a watch, the Coconut Crunchos Cereal especially.
As another one of the three black women that started this conversation on the other thread, I just want to back up up Pecola whole-heartedly. These are my exact opinions and confusions about the episode, down to the endorsement of the commercial parodies. All of it. Thanks @pecola!
ASHLEY I’M SO HAPPY YOU’LL BE RECAPPING QUEEN SUGAR! Can I hereby officially request at least one (1) picture of Rutina Wesley’s arms in ever recap?
Re: Grey’s Anatomy
I was worried in the first few episodes that they were going to throw 12 seasons of Alex’s character development out the window, but it seems like they’ve got him back on track now and he’s handling this (mostly) like an adult. Meredith, on the other hand, is acting like a fucking preteen. Why can’t she just TALK TO MAGGIE. And also, I hate Riggs. Hate him. Fuck him. She keeps saying no, he keeps asking and pushing, and she says no AGAIN. Like, dude, BACK OFF. UGH. When does Arizona’s new love interest show up?
Re: HTGAWM
Let me just repeat what I said in the comments of yesterday’s Pop Culture fix: Eve and Annalise dancing at the club was the best part of that episode. Followed very closely by their last scene together, which broke my fucking heart. I know Famke Janssen has a new show, and I’m totally happy for Annalise to sleep around for the next few seasons, but I’m still holding out hope that the end of the show sees Annalise ditch Philly and her law practice and shack up with Eve on a island somewhere, courtesy of the immunity she got for them after turning in her murderous students/employees.
So, I have a bit of a different reaction to Alex in that I don’t think he’s grown much at all…since he found his footing in pediatrics, this is who we’ve known him to be: an amazing surgeon with a tremendous capacity to engage and sympathize with the tiny humans. Personally, though, he’s always struggled…the women in his life have been redemptive, holding the ghosts of his childhood at bay.
But with Karev those ghosts always find their way out.
It’s actually a bit frustrating to me how little Alex, like Callie, has changed. He can’t continue to be that kid who pummeled his father in defense of his mother.
I love so much that you linked back to your own old comments! haha- that’s perfect.
Yes, I find it frustrating that for as much as we’ve seen Alex “grow” superficially, this is something that we keep circling back to. He is still the closed off guy who struggles expressing emotion. He is still the angry kid pummeling his dad to protect his mom. His pain is visceral, and them minute you scratch underneath the surface, it springs back up.
And, as much as it pains me, I think you are also right about Callie.
When it was all said and done and I could have some perspective on the issue, one of my biggest problems with how her exit was written last year is that it tore apart all her character growth and reverted her back to Callie from seasons 2-4 or 5, impulsive and privileged and too self-centered for her own good. It was as if the show was saying that all of her growth between that period and now was for naught.
@pecola I agree with you about Callie, but I don’t see Alex the same way. Correct me if I’m wrong (because we are on season 13 and I just do not remember everything that happened between season 6-12) but when have we seen Alex lash out physically at anyone, besides his father, since the early seasons? I really thought his violent outburst was a complete character regression.
Though it may be true that I also just really hated that character moment because it’s built on a foundation of quicksand – namely, my LEAST favourite TV trope, the “oh my god I saw something and immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion even though if I just paused for 1 second it could be easily and innocently explained” trope. That’s the laziest kind of writing, and I hate that they’ve destroyed one of my favourite characters on this show because of it.
@arvan12, Karev’s fought a few times on the show: his brother, Avery and Shane are the ones that I remember.
Yeah, I really think that was the best way to write Eve/Famke Janssen out – she’s alive and happy, she left with Annalise’s blessing (not that she needs it, but it means that there’s no rift to heal or anything like that in order for Eve to come back), and yet the episode made it pretty clear that Eve is still the one that Annalise is most comfortable showing her true self to. And the few moments of true joy we see from Annalise are with Eve! They’re kind of an endgame couple of this show did happily-ever-after endgame, which I suspect it won’t, but given all the terrible ways that lesbians have met their ends on shows this year, I’ll take alive and happy, even if it has to be in another city (poor Paige on PLL: we thought you were safe, but you got dragged back to Rosewood by the writers!).
“*if* this show did happily-ever-after”, not “of”
I hate this Meredith/Riggs/Maggie triangle! They are no longer interns, grow up and tell the truth! It would have been so simple for Meredith to tell Maggie what happened, but then I guess we wouldn’t have a plot for this season…
What’s childish is that Meredith has this “i don’t want you but I don’t want anyone else to have you either” attitude. The way she TOLD Riggs to turn Maggie down, why? I didn’t mind Riggs last season mostly because he was getting under Owen’s skin and anyone that riles Owen up is fine by me but yeah now that he had his hook-up with Meredith and it all revolves around that now it is annoying.
There is not one positive thing I can say about this Riggs-Maggie-Meredith supposed “love triangle”.
Not. One. Positive. Thing.
I really dislike Riggs
x2!!!
SAME. And I really hate how Meredith is handling that situation.
Yay for Greys and Fosters recaps
Adult lesbians Appreciation Society
x2 + infinity!!!!!!!!!
And beyond!!
Thank you for doing these recaps… really needed a place to process (and talk/bitch about) all the feelings from watching these shows… Can’t wait to see which Ms Dorothy Snarker is going to recap!!
Can’t wait to see what Dorothy Snarker is gonna do
Grey’s Anatomy: Don’t forget, Callie’s family is loaded, so it’s entirely possible that Papa Torres is helping out with rent/mortgage of a Central Park apartment. I’m looking forward to seeing where Arizona’s storyline goes. I just hope we don’t have to wait too long. I also hate Riggs. And Owen. I wish those two would go out into the woods and bond and never come back.
Rosewood: I love Rosewood. I really do. I would watch it even without the Pippy/TMI plot. I think the writers have found their ground and are doing a better job of fleshing out their story than in season 1. Just a little correction, though. TMI is the one trying to date, not Pippy. Unless I missed something?
Is your cat named after a Grey’s anatomy character?
No, Callie is actually short for Callisto, from Xena. Most people think it’s short for California, or that she’s a calico. But no, I’m much more clever than that!
Oh… okay.My Cat was a calico, they are magic. Btw, ive never heard you say how clever you are.. ;p
Callisto was soooo sexy
The Real O’Neals:
Noah Galvin is such an arrogant little prick. His answers in the Vulture interview make me sick.
Heather, I completely agreed with your take on Rosewood! I hated, hated, hated the cheating plot that they ended on last season, but I have to admit that it has given some needed spark to the Pippy/ Tara relationship, they have been doing interesting things with them this year. Plus, I will pretty much watch Lorraine Toussaint do anything- and she was so excellent (as always) in the family dinner confrontation in this week’s episode. Rosewood is my classic “background noise while I do dishes” show, I’m glad that the gay parts are finally getting better.
So fun thing about Alexandra Grey— My mom, who like many 60+ year olds is procedural and CBS loyalist, was the first one to tell me about her, specifically because she saw her on BOTH “Code Black” and “Chicago Med”.
Neither of the shows are really my cup of tea, but I had been recently talking to my mom back in August about the importance of casting trans actresses in trans roles, as opposed to casting (often gay) cis men. I didn’t think she had really absorbed or gotten my points, but then fast forward about a month and a half… She calls me up and asks, “How is this new trans actress I keep seeing on TV?”
I assumed she meant Trace Lysette or Jenn Richards, but my mother insisted the woman she was talking about was black, so I had to do some googling. After we figured out she was talking about Alexandra Grey, we got into a really great conversation about how talented she is and how she had really impressed my mother not once- but twice- and on two different shows within a roughly 10 day period.
Maybe 2 days after that “Drunk History” got released. And I later realized that I had also seen her in the new season of “Transparent”, but I have to credit my 60 year old mother for introducing her to me. Usually it’s the other way around, so how fun!
And *this* is why it’s important to have a diversity of where we can be seen. My mother is probably never going to watch “Transparent” or “Drunk History”, but she never misses a Chicago Med/Fire/Law. Having Alexandra in those venues helped open up her worldview about the politics of representation.
More of this, please.
And congrats to Alexandra on all of her success!
This is a lovely comment!
Ok, now that I can talk about it openly and without the fear of spoilers- Shondaland:
Greys-
I was under the assumption that Callie finally dipped into her trust fund to get an apartment over looking Central Park? Though I will admit that since AZ only said “an apartment overlooking *THE* park” without specifying, I like to pretend that they got an apartment in Brooklyn overlooking Prospect Park, because that’s a thousand percent more gay of them.
I really, really, really HATE that a one-off sentence is how Calzona has ended, after all these years. And a small, dark part of me worries about the message the show sends by having Arizona give up Sofia after fighting so hard for her custody. Does it tell (straight) audiences that Arizona wasn’t her “real” mother after all, because she didn’t give birth? Or am I reading too much into this? Would love to hear some thoughts.
I once upon a time *was* excited about the prospect of Arizona’s new love interest- UNTIL I FOUND OUT THAT LEAH MURPHY WAS COMING BACK!! And- NO. Absolutely NOT.
http://tvline.com/2016/10/10/greys-anatomy-tessa-ferrer-leah-murphy-season-13-arizona/
I just suffered through an entire season of bland “Perfect Penny”, if they are going to bring back the “Fatal Attraction” copycat intern as Arizona’s next love interest….. I can’t begin to find words to express my anger and disappointment.
HTGAWM-
Eve come baaaaaaaaaaaaack! Damn, those women were putting on a masterclass on Thursday. I loved all of it. I just… the ways in which they portray their relationship… it’s magnetic, but also “lived in” and trusting and safe in the middle all this mayhem. I will love them forever.
I don’t think it was coincidence that we saw Eve holding Annalise as she cried and confessed her darkest secrets, with no judgement and only open empathy, in the same episode when we hear Nate tell her “You are miserable and are going to die in this house alone”. The writers are juxtaposing those two relationships on purpose.
Which isn’t to say that I hate Nate- I don’t. At all.- but I don’t think Nate has ever fully forgiven Annalise for the wrongs she has done. And I think that will time and again be unhealthy for her. I think she will keep going back to him, because she doesn’t know how to make the healthy choice.
But the show is pointing BIG BRIGHT ARROWS at the healthy choice around her- and that person is Eve. Which is maybe why their arc ended with Annalise encouraging her to “go be loved”. It was the hard, mature choice to make. Their relationship has been based in maturity from the start.
(It’s ok, I agree with so many others, if there was ever a “happy ending” to be had on this show, it would be Annalise running away with Eve at the end of it all)
Unpopular opinion: I don’t dislike Leah. I think most people have such a strong reaction to her because of Calzona. I am curious to know how fans will react to her now
@c-p, Leah’s return has to be a smokescreen, right? I mean, it just feels a little too obvious.
I’m hoping it ultimately plays out like “the new McDreamy” from last season…fans lost their collective sh*t over Scott Elrod, and he just ended up being a plot device to help Meredith start dating again.
I’m also hoping that they won’t write Arizona as a single, unencumbered woman and that we’ll get to see Sofia continue to play a role in her mother’s life. For example, I’d love to see Arizona build a relationship with another woman, only to have it upended when Sofia comes to visit for the holidays.
Like @carmensandiego, I don’t dislike Leah…I just don’t think they gave her character enough depth. She became defined by her dalliances with, and subsequent pining over, Alex and Arizona.
Oooh, I hadn’t considered the possibility that Leah was a smokescreen! One can only hope. I wouldn’t mind a few episodes of Lean and Arizona dating as Arizona gets her feet wet again, so to speak, but beyond that….
And I love the idea of Sofia coming home for holidays/ break and completely turning upside down whatever relationship Arizona was building. I also wouldn’t mind watching how, in more detail, this cross-continental co-parenting works out. Arizona taking phone calls or skyping in the on call room, mentions of trips to New York or having to put Sofia on a plane, stuff like that.
Quick Younger thing (this is my last comment! PROMISE!)–
I’m not going back to last season to double check, but I don’t think Lauren “cheated” per se, because I think that she and Maggie were in an open-ish relationship? I think their whole deal was Lauren wanted to “female partner exclusive” with Maggie, which was explained in this terrible “ba-dum-dum!’ joke about “millennials and their fluid sexuality”.
Anyway, it was so all worth it to get the orgy scene!!! I laughed so hard! I rewound it like 3x.
(Also, add me to the list of those that can’t stand the kid from “The Real O’Neals”, but I also grew up with a thousand little privileged white male gays just like him when I was a theatre kid/ teen. I *did* enjoy the new queer Asian girl that they introduced, and am happy to know that she will be around for a while! Yay!)
Yes, you’re definitely right about that, the way their relationship is defined is semi-open in that Maggie is her only female partner but apparently she’s allowed to also see men.
Annalise slapping that murderer dude was seriously one of the highlights of this entire show!
I love her with Eve and was sad to see Eve go, but still, their relationship is the most tender, honest one Annalise has ever had. What she and Nate have is something disturbingly toxic. Ugh.
Greys: I am not at all interested in a rumored Leah/Arizona pairing. Particularly if that is going to be Arizona’s “endgame” relationship. Leah is like Penny to me. I don’t hate the character. I just don’t find her the least bit interesting especially when you compare her to Callie. However unfair that may be. If they were going to bring anyone back for Arizona I would have rather it be the Hilarie Burton character since IMO they had more chemistry and that character pretty much disappeared without any explanation once Callie found out about the affair. I really wanted it to be a new character though. I think Arizona deserves a fresh start.
Rosewood: After the end of last season, I swore I would never watch the show again. The cheating itself wasn’t the problem. It was the lazy, rushed writing that made it terrible. If that was the way they wanted to go they should have built to that over the entire season instead of writing something that felt like it was thrown together at the last minute and shoving a new obnoxious male character into the mix to facilitate the breakup. TMI sabotaging her relationship with Pippy out of fear and insecurity was completely in character though. To their credit, I do think the writers are slowly making up for it this season. The Pippy/TMI dynamic is far more interesting now that they aren’t together. The breakup has opened up more tension between them. I look forward to watching them slowly work their way back to each other. You can clearly tell that they still have feelings for each other. TMI is crazy about Pippy and I think she realized fairly quickly that she fucked up her own happiness when she let her go. She is trying to respectfully give Pippy her distance while practically lighting up with joy every time she sees her. Also, the writers seem to have thankfully killed any idea of a love triangle between TMI, Pippy, and Mitchie. I still don’t like the dude though.
Oh dear, I hope Leah is not Arizona’s endgame. I wanna see Sara Ramirez (and Sandra Oh) coming back for Greys last season one day
Wow, i feel the *exact* opposite. I wanted Calzona to be endgame, and then they totally ruined Callie and now i pretty much want her to be gone gone.
I’ve always liked Leah, i would be really happy if they were endgame. Well, depending on what the show does with them of course.
You hit the nail on the head re: my feelings about Leah!
I’m also in the camp that in season 20+ of grey’s anatomy, when it’s all wrapping up, Callie will fly back from New York with her correct characterization in tact and her head on straight and will at that point sweep Arizona back off her feet.
I also expect “final appearances” by Sandra Oh and Kate Walsh. I dream big dreams, dammit!
(And yes, yes, yes to everything you said about Rosewood)
Yes! Kate Walsh too!
not to be nit-picky but id just like to point out that one of the guys who hit up eve and annalise at the bar is not white as was stated in the recap
I already said my piece about HTGAWM and Real O’Neals in the pop culture thread, but I wanted to say re Rosewood that the way Pippy’s mom continues to insist that TMI is family is blowing my mind and providing me with an unexpected experience of wish fulfillment for something I didn’t even know I wanted. I am another person who was enraged by the BS way they wrote the break up at the end of last season, but having the commanding support of LT is almost making up for it in some way I had not even imagined was possible before I saw it. I was also very angry about Pippy being off screen and out of the family business at first, but they seem to be fixing it quickly. The show is pure cheese most of the time, but as was said upthread, it means people are seeing this who aren’t necessarily looking for it, and how many people are going to be able to resist the command of Lorraine Touissant and her unwavering embrace?
Not particularly relevant to this – but a queer tv adjacent thought…how many tv lesbians/bisexual women have been called Tara? And are there any straight women on tv called Tara? Just some Sunday musings…
Well, the main character from the TV series “United States of Tara” is a straight woman called Tara … but besides her, nope, havn’t heard of any other straight Taras, haha.
Wait…I’m confused. Wasn’t that the greys episode from TWO weeks ago? But the HTGAWM ep from this past week?
I watch none of these shows. Arent any of you people grounded in real relationships?? I sure am out of it if these are the shows on TV. I view none of these…nor do I have a desire to.
I don’t watch any of the shows in this particular round-up, either.
But I also don’t have the desire to click into the article just to comment about how my choices re: how I spend my time are superior to the choices of the people who watch them – because spoiler alert, they’re not.
Well, good for you Kay. You must feel so special for bitching at people for watching tv shows on an article specifically about tv shows. We just must so void of actual human relationships for liking a tv show. Pray for us.