On this chapter of The Queerest Things I Watched Last Week, Mr. Robot brings us a very special We Stan Domlene episode; I am pleasantly surprised by The L Word Generation Q and disappointed by Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- Crisis on Infinite Earths – Arrowverse Crossover Episodes 1-3 [Live]
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I was really looking forward to this year’s crossover. The Arrowverse now has more queer characters than ever before so I expected some quality queer content.
I was wrong.
Kate Kane, Alex Danvers, Sara Lance, Constantine, and Lucifer all made appearances and they barely interacted with each other! You would think there would at least be some entertaining awkwardness between Alex and Sara since they banged 2 crossovers ago, but nope.
We did get a few enjoyable surly Kate Kane moments.
Alex giving that look at the end was the queerest content we got on the 3 episodes they aired so far.
That’s how I am when people try to hand me a baby.
“New and Unfriendly” is Kate’s tagline this crossover.
Crisis is on a break until January 14, and to quote LezWatch’s own Nikki T, “The legends episode better be the gayest ep ever created” to make up for the total lack of queer content.
I highly doubt it will be.
- The L Word Generation Q – Season 1 Episode 1 “Let’s Do It Again” [Catch-up]
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Back in the day, my wife and I watched every terrible episode of the original L Word as it aired. To make it more bearable, we threw watch parties every week and they were really fun. We had attendees meet, date and break up during the 6 seasons of parties.
When I heard they were going to have a sequel I was horrified. Why can’t we have a new and original queer drama on a major TV outlet? Why do we have to resurrect a show that was (in my opinion) really bad?
As production went on, I got more optimistic. It looked like there were better folks in charge of writing and production, and I absolutely love Jacqueline Toboni, so I decided to get the gang together again for another watch party and go in with an open mind.
I loved it.
The OG L Word had some good characters, but they weren’t given good storylines. This iteration seems to be fixing that. Like in this scene with Bette, Shane and Alice, you get the best of their chemistry together.
I loved this. It took the pieces of the original series that were good and made them better.
So, what is everyone up to 10 years later?
Better Porter
Bette is running for lesbian mayor of LA and she is as a bad-ass bitch boss as ever.
Angelica is now 16, and despite all that “Attachment Parenting,” she’s still a combative teenager. Tina is only referred to offscreen via phone calls. She can stay there for the rest of the season, I found her character to be boring.
Alice Pieszecki
Alice has her own TV Talk Show called Alice, and she’s dating a woman with 2 kids from a former marriage named Natalie.
I was excited to see Stephanie Allynne playing Nat!
Shane McCutcheon
Shane doesn’t make it a full minute upon stepping onto the show before she’s banging a flight attendant.
Never change, Shane.
She can afford that private plane from selling salons in New York and Paris. But it seems she’s back in LA running from her wife Quiara. We don’t know what happened yet, but I look forward to finding out.
Generation Q
The new cast is great and I love them all already.
- Dani Nunez – Big Pharma heiress and girlfriend of Sophie. She quits her dad’s company to go work for Bette Porter’s campaign.
- Micah Lee – Cute trans man and roommate of Dani and Sophie. He has a crush on the new building manager, Jose.
- Sarah Finley – Finley is a Production Assistant on Alice’s show and is friends with the rest of the new main characters. She becomes pals with Shane after Alice sends her to her house to put a bed together.
- Sophie Suarez – Dani’s girlfriend and one of the producers of Alice’s show.
Of note, my wife Mia and I have the same West Elm coffee table as Dani and Sophie, so they are already nailing authenticity.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and I encourage you to watch it even if you didn’t see the original.
- Mr. Robot – Season 4 Episode 10 “Gone” [Catch-up]
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After the L Word party, I had to stay up to watch the We Stan Domlene episode of Mr. Robot.
Darlene finds Dom at her apartment after leaving the hospital and she tries to get her to run away to Budapest with her.
I thought the music and grabbing the bag back and forth seemed a little out of character for the snow. Then I realized this is Mr. Robot’s self-aware ironic attempt at a rom-com episode.
Dom resists, but eventually, Darlene is able to talk her into it.
Looks like it took smashing Dom’s only “friend” to finally convince her to run.
At a CT rest stop, Darlene wants to show Dom something, but she is doing her usual fretting when she needs to just stop and watch.
Darlene runs a script on her phone and soon everyone’s getting pinged with giant deposits added to their Ecoin wallets. All the money White Rose stole was evenly given back to the people. To quote Darlene they just, “Robin Hooded those evil motherfuckers.”
Also, someone made this observation during this scene.
Good one, Sam Esmail.
They make it to the Boston airport and Dom runs into Dark Army fixer, Irving, promoting his book. Dom is completely freaked out thinking he is going to kill her, but Irving assures her she has nothing to worry about. The Dark Army doesn’t care about her anymore.
He also continues to prove The Dark Army has the best gaydar on the show.
They don’t need to run anymore, and when the boarding announcement is made for their flight Dom says she can’t go. She has too many responsibilities here. Darlene tries to convince her one last time by saying running away will be the best thing for her. But it doesn’t work.
Ugh, that teary goodbye killed me.
Dom leaves and Darlene proceeds to the gate as Carly Rae Jepsen’s Run Away With Me plays.
The music turns up louder and suddenly it’s Mr. Robot’s version of the classic rom-com ending airport scene. This show never does stuff like this and I was watching in disbelief — is this really happening? Are they going to give us a Domlene happy ending?
The answer is no. They just miss each other.
Darlene runs off to the bathroom having a panic attack, but she eventually calms herself down. Dom gets on the plane where, for the first time in five years, she falls asleep as it takes off without Darlene.
ARGH!
I know this is not that kind of show, and I appreciate it breaking its usual super dark and serious personality to give us this We Stan Domlene episode, but goddamit I just want them to be endgame!
The two-hour finale is next week and while I am not ready for this show to be over, I do want to find out what happens to them.
- Almost Family – Season 1 Episode 8 “Fertile AF” [Live]
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Edie and Tim need more character witnesses for Leon, and since Edie’s mom, Genevieve, is one of his only friends, Edie approaches her about it. She says she’ll only do it if Edie comes clean to Tim about what’s going on with her.
She tells Edie she needs to live authentically. Edie concedes and it looks like they have a deal.
Even though Amanda tips Edie off on some dirt on her mom disqualifying her from being a credible witness, Edie finally tells Tim the truth.
The scene felt very real to me. You can feel the emotions from both Edie and Tim.
Tim asks Edie the big question.
Wow. That was the Fall finale. Now we will have to wait to see what Tim, Edie and Amanda’s future will look like.
- Work in Progress – Season 1 Episode 1 “180 Almonds” [Catch-up]
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If you’re watching the new L Word, I would recommend keeping your TV on and watching Work in Progress that airs right afterward.
It’s about Abby, a 45-year-old self-described queer dyke and her struggle with anxiety and despair. That sounds sad but it is done in an absolutely hilarious way.
The show is very relatable for me as a middle-aged lesbian. The gathering of friends at Abby’s house in ep. 1 looks like it could be at my house.
There are so show few shows with butch, masc of center and gender non-conforming queer characters in them and this one is really great. Highly recommended!
Tonight — it’s the Good Trouble holiday special aka Stef and Lena fighting with egg nog. That will be a good distraction from fretting about the Mr. Robot finale.
