Happy Friday! Let’s see what’s been happening on our screens! Netflix has a new reality show called Surviving Paradise which is somehow like Crime and Punishment (??) and has a rivalry between its two queer contestants. Dyke Drama on The Morning Show reached an all-time high, which is really saying something. Neon on Netflix came out a few weeks ago, and is full of queer Puerto Rican reggaeton dreams (plus a killer Jordana Brewster plays a lesbian cameo, pun fully intended).
There’s two major movie releases today, and so Caroline Framke sat down with director Maryam Keshavarz to talk about her film The Persian Version, translating the Iranian American Experience On-Screen, and Cyndi Lauper (because why not?). Drew made a list of the greatest queer sports movies of all time to mark the release of NYAD, the true story of lesbian swimmer Diana Nyad, in theaters. We also revisited Drew’s original review of the movie from its film festival circuit debut, with new additional reporting on Nyad’s public changing of her stance on trans inclusion in women’s sports.
We wrapped up October with a big finale to our annual “Horror Is So Gay” celebration! Nico looked at how work and class worked in the already queer classic The Haunting of Bly Manor. Valerie looked back on the Final Destination accidents that completely altered her brain chemistry. The queerest horror movie franchise is now and forever will be Chucky. This is the history of lesbian vampires on film that you absolutely do not want to miss. And finally, Carmen wondered, Can Black People be Zombies? (spoiler the answer is more serious than it first appears).
But the jack-o-laterns have been put away, make up has been washed off, and cobwebs are coming down, because now it is November — and with that, we have your monthly streaming guide. Make sure you click that! You don’t want to miss anything new coming up. And here’s what else!
Notes from the TV Team:
+ After an inconveniently-timed international break, the NWSL playoffs are set to resume this Sunday. Can lesbian icons, Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger, extend their playing days by leading their teams to victory? It’s going to be tough: first up, Krieger’s Gotham FC heads to the City of Roses to take on perennial NWSL powerhouse, the Portland Thorns. Then, Rapinoe’s OL Reign takes heads to San Diego to take on the Shield winning Wave. LFG! — Natalie
Gen V Episode 108: “Guardians of Godolkin”
Written by Valerie Anne
We love a bisexual superhero!!!
We open in the aftermath of Sheddy’s death, and Cate is overwhelmed by the inner “what the fuck” thoughts of her peers. She insists she did this to save them, and Sam agrees. Together, they decide to release all the kids being held in the Woods, but Marie wants to find a way to thwart their plans.
Because the school year has been a mess, Vought decides God U needs some good press; they decide to rocket a student directly into The Seven.
Cate and Sam go down into the Woods, and kill one security guard, and get a second to unlock the cells. They lead everyone outside, and Cate tells them they are quite literally superior to humans and it’s time they show the world.
As soon as the prisoners are out, they start wreaking havoc. One kills the first human he finds. Cate mesmers people into not stopping them, and even pushes someone to blow up his own head on a livestream. Chaos.
Emma runs off to find Sam, but he’s lost to her now, and tells her she’s not a hero, she just will do anything for everyone to like her. She cries as he storms off, and realizes she’s suddenly quite tiny. Turns out she has more than one way to use her powers.
Cate and Sam continue their rampage, and Marie finds a button that locks down the school. The Vought CEO pulls a hail mary and has her board members call the top students and offer them an instant spot in The Seven if they kill the escapees. Ashley calls Marie herself, and sweetens the deal by saying she’ll get her a meeting with her sister.
Cate has a supe take down the helicopter the board was going to use to escape, but Andre helps land it relatively safely. Jordan gets the board into the helicopter for safety, Andre tases Sam, Marie saves Jordan from being attacked with a barrage of blood knives, but then Marie sees Cate reaching out to touch Jordan and the adrenaline gets the best of her and she blows up Cate’s arm to stop her from touching Jordan and making them do something against their will.
Cate is screaming and Sam is tased and it seems like maybe the battle’s done and they kind of won…until Homelander shows up. He scolds Marie for attacking fellow supes, and she is confused because that’s a gross misrepresentation of the situation. Before she can defend herself, he eye-beams her.
In the aftermath, Marie, Emma, Jordan, and one of the Woods kids are accused of the massacre, and Cate and Sam are touted as heroes. Marie wakes up in a hospital room with Jordan, Emma, and Andre, and realizes there are no doors on this room they are in. And she has no idea where they are.
Before the episode ends, we see the now abandoned Woods, and THE Billy Butcher wandering its halls.
I’m glad Gen V got picked up for a second season, because I loved this friendship-based version of the asshole superhero show, and I look forward to seeing these teens again.
Doom Patrol Episode 411: “Portal Patrol”
Written by Valerie Anne
I mean someone named Kaleidoscope HAS to still be queer, right?
Sadly Casey is still missing from this episode, even though we’re running out of time for my ship to properly set sail, but anything can happen in next week’s finale.
This week, the Doom Patrol is stuck in the timestream, and still in desperate need for their longevity. And on top of it all, Jane is still hearing voices begging her to “say it.”
Between Keeg and Vic’s tech, they find spots in the timeline to try to get their longevity back. Jane and Larry go to the late 90s/early 2000s manor, Rouge ends up at the Ant Farm, and Cliff long before the Doom Patrol was ever started, and they all realize they have to try to get the longevity from various versions of Chief.
Jane ends up just talking to Chief though, and tells him about how she can’t find her alters anymore. All she hears from them is “Say it” over and over. She has a puzzle she has to solve, and she never thought it was possible, but she really does love her friends in the Doom Patrol. Jane says she wants peace, and she wants to do more than Kay made her for. Chief says that maybe Kay is the one who needs peace, since she’s the one who went through the trauma. But no, Jane realizes all at once that she knows what she needs to say. Kay wasn’t the only one who went through that trauma. They all did. They were created because of it, they all bear the memory of it. She says her trauma out loud, plainly, and suddenly the puzzle is on the table before her, almost completed, save for one piece.
Jane puts the last piece in and a picture appears, an image of swirling colors, and suddenly she’s in the underground, and her alters are back, and they’re smiling. They lead her onto the train, and as it pulls out of the station, The Underground begins to crumble. Kay reassures her, says they don’t need it anymore. “We’re all together now.” Kay wants to show her what she’s been building, and the train pulls into a whole world made of those swirling colors from the puzzle.
When everyone gets yeeted back to the pod, Jane says they don’t need longevity, they need each other, because together, as one, they can do anything. Cliff is wondering who this persona is because it sure as hell isn’t the Jane that cursed him out a few hours ago, but Jane says that she is all of them now. She is the Kaleidoscope. Though she’s still working out exactly what that means.
Renewed with a new sense of verve, they head back to the present to kick some (zombie) butt.
All Rise 317: “I Will Not Go Quietly”
Written by Natalie
If “bless your heart” were a photo…
Remember last week when Ness lamented not having a substantive case — something that mattered — to dig her teeth into? Well, this week, she gets her wish: Mia Avilla, a young aspiring nurse, is in jail after a routine traffic stop revealed that she had an outstanding warrant in her home state of Texas. Her offense? Medical identity theft.
The story behind the charge is one that’s only possible in Texas, post-Dobbs: Mia stole someone else’s identity to avoid a potential civil suit for her abortion. But somehow, the police get wind of Mia’s actions and raid her doctor’s office soon, as she’s recovering from the procedure. Mia’s doctor is arrested (on felony charges) and she’s forced to abscond to California to avoid arrest.
In court, Ness asks that the warrant be quashed but before Judge Carmichael can render her verdict, in walks the Mesa County, Texas district attorney, seeking Mia’s extradition. Ness sees the Texas DA’s pursuit for what it is: an attempt to punish a woman for having an abortion, even though state law precludes that. With Judge Carmichael’s assist, Ness is able to stall the proceedings by requiring that the Texas DA provide more than an ID card to prove Mia’s identity. While they await a copy of Mia’s birth certificate, Ness and Amy try to reason with the Texas DA, urging her to reconsider her actions. But the DA is a true believer and refuses to budge. Ness chides her for her hypocrisy — for claiming to be pro-life while clinging to guns and doing nothing about school shootings — but the DA remains resolute.
Since the DA is determined to weaponize Texas law against her client, Ness uses California law to outmaneuver the DA. She and Amy shift their strategy from attempting to quash the warrant to simply getting Mia released on bail. The DA protests, noting that Mia has already fled prosecution once before and no bail bondsman would support such a flight risk. Ness and Amy agree and note that the end of cash bail in Los Angeles County means that Mia can be released, as long as she’s not a threat to others. Judge Carmichael agrees and releases Mia on her own recognizance. But the ending isn’t a completely happy one: even though Mia’s free, she can’t go back home to Texas… if she does, that warrant will still be waiting for her.
After court, everyone gathers at a local Mexican restaurant to lament the day’s proceedings. Lola’s dismayed that her daughter will grow up in a world with fewer rights than she had. Ness insists that she won’t go back to the 1950s. Amy and Rachel take the whole scene in and, with Ness’ support, decide to call off their planned merger and keep Audobon, Quinn & Associates an independent female-led boutique law firm.
The thing I love about Gen V is that you can sympathize with both the heroes and the villains, whomever you may decide that they are. Also glad that it appears that Cate didn’t die.