When we first meet Bela Malhotra (Amrit Kaur) in the first season of The Sex Lives of College Girls, her mind is fixed on two things. First, she is determined to become a staff writer of The Catullan, the Essex University magazine — akin to The Harvard Lampoon — that launched the comedy careers of numerous alums. That’s her dream, she confesses: to become a double-threat writer and performer on Saturday Night Live, like her dream guy, Seth Meyers. To her parents, though, she’s “a committed student eager to study the sciences.”
Her other fixation? Sex…and lots of it. Not that she’s had any, mind you: just four months ago, she was “Indian loser with cystic acne, sweaty armpits, and glasses” but now, thanks to the miracle of science, she’s “normal” and more than ready to make up for the lost time. As the series continues, Bela is constantly on the prowl, looking for a hot guy to ogle on the Essex Quad or a potential hook-up at the latest fraternity party. She leverages her sexuality to get what she wants and is unapologetic about it, insisting that men have been doing the same for centuries.
“I’m here, I’m super sex-positive — in theory more than in experience — and I am ready to smash some Ds,” she announces to her new roommates.
That was Bela: an aspiring comedian who was, almost, aggressively heterosexual. For most of TSLOCG‘s first two seasons, those two things are Bela’s entire identity. Admittedly, it felt slightly reductive — especially compared to the depth the other characters were afforded — but it also felt like a small step forward for the representation of South Asian women on television. Hollywood rarely affords South Asian women to the space to be overly ambitious, particularly in a purely creative space, and/or sexualized so Bela always felt like a groundbreaking character.
But even as Bela found a new set of abs to ogle, there was something about her that gave me queer vibes. There was, of course, the wardrobe: it seemed impossible that a woman who owned that many ties and blazers could be entirely straight. It was like she’d stepped out of Liz Feldman’s closet. Plus, surely, no one that sexually free could make it through college without, at least, experimenting with women, right? And though Bela’s jokes about her latest conquests echoed the loudest, there were smaller moments — Bela glancing at women during the naked party, her commentary on the beauty of the women around her, her really wanting Leighton to find her attractive, her penchant for wearing rainbows, her dropping random gay slang — that suggested there was more to Bela than we’d seen thus far.
Those small clues weren’t an accident, TSLOCG co-creator Justin Noble told Entertainment Weekly. He admitted, “I can’t remember when we started hinting at it. It wasn’t like an open thing in the room, but we would adjust her style a little bit or we would have a little pin on her shirt. I’ll be real: Eagle-eyed viewers for seasons have been commenting, just throw-away comments where it’s like, ‘It feels like Bela’s about to come out or something.'”
Last week, TSLOCG finally got that moment that it’s been hinting at for three seasons: Bela Malhotra is officially bisexual.
Sophomore year at Essex has really been a turning point for Bela. After a dreadful first year — which included getting a GPA so low it made it impossible for her to transfer — Bela resolves to share those hard-learned lessons by becoming a Freshman Advisor and Friend (FAF). Her efforts are met, at first, with some recalcitrance, particularly from Taylor (Mia Rodgers), a quick, sharp-tongued queer freshman from England, but slowly the tension eases, Bela learns to set some boundaries and settles into her new role as a mentor. She meets another FAF named Arvind (Nabeel Muscatwalla) and the two hit it off…so much so that Bela foregoes another romp with the Essex mascot (in costume, natch) to grapple with her feelings.
Bela’s relationship with Arvind is interesting — watching a character unwittingly stumble into a relationship with the a person their parents would love is always entertaining — but the most significant things about it are the awakenings it provokes in Bela. She realizes that she’s at her funniest when she’s herself, “a sex-positive brown woman,” instead of trying to mimic the men she saw on television. Arvind also makes her realize, if she wants to dating someone seriously, she wants to feel an actual connection.
Enter Haley (Belle Adams), the gay host of a storytelling show at Sips. After a recommendation from Kimberly, Bela stops by to check out the show and she and Haley strike up a rapport. Bela shares her stories with Haley and she encourages the aspiring comedienne to share them at the next show. In short order, they develop an actual connection and end up sharing a kiss at a a fraternity party.
“Last night, I discovered a new part of myself. Part of myself I now know has always been there because I kissed a very special someone. And that someone was…a woman. That’s right, I’m bi,” Bella announces the next morning. All across the world, gay TSLOCG fans threw their hands up in celebration and shouted, “I knew it!”…and by gay fans I mostly mean me.
Bela’s coming out bolsters paltry numbers when it comes to both bisexual and LGBTQ Asian and Pacific Islander (API) representation on television. According to GLAAD, just 9 percent of queer characters on television are API. It’s thrilling to see a character like Bela exist at the same time as Sabi on Sort Of, Ayesha on We Are Lady Parts and Kitty, Yuri, and Praveena on XO, Kitty to further complicate the narrative about what it means to be queer, young, and API.
That said, Bela’s coming out suffers the same fate as so many other storylines on TSLOCG: the pacing absolutely ruins it. In the span of one 30-minute episode, Bela kisses a girl, comes out to her friends, performs a new stand-up set, comes out to her mother, and goes on a date with Haley. It all happens so quickly it strains credulity. The rushed storyline robs audiences of the emotional weight of Bela’s coming out and we miss the opportunity to appreciate the unique challenges of coming out in a South Asian home. As thrilled as I am to see Bela happy and with a woman at season’s end, I wish it didn’t feel so unearned.
I’d worried, coming into TSLOCG‘s third season — and knowing that Renée Rapp was on her way out — that the show would focus less on the queer community at Essex but I’m grateful that didn’t happen. There has, perhaps, been no more relatable content on this show than Taylor falling in love with her straight roommate. I wish the show had spent more time showcasing her relationship with Ash (Ruby Cruz) — again, this show’s pacing is terrible — so that their relationship didn’t seem so fickle. Building that relationship up more would’ve had the added benefit of throwing cold water on those clamoring for a hook-up between Taylor and Bela.
“We are so excited about all of the queer stories that we can put forward that sometimes, I truly have to be like, “Am I making the show too queer?'” Noble said.
We don’t know yet if TSLOCG will return for a fourth season but I hope so…which, if I’m being honest, is not a thing I would’ve said midway through the season. The show’s re-established itself following Rapp’s exit and found its footing by making the show queerer. Too queer? There’s no such thing.
Love that the actor who plays Bela is also queer and has a girlfriend! She said so in an interview :)