On this chapter of The Queerest Things I Watched During My Hiatus…I took a little break from my weekly column, but I didn’t press pause on watching queer TV.
Over 17 months ago, my family had a house fire and we JUST moved back home a month ago. I took a break from writing my column to do endless construction clean-up, packing, moving, unpacking and rearranging. But now we’re home, almost completely settled in and I’m ready to get back to writing about the Queerest Things I’ve watched on TV. Here is a speed round sampling to start y’all off.
- Batwoman – Season 3
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Of all the regular series I watch, Batwoman is the one I look most forward to. I love the characters, stories and consistent delivery of quality queer content. I am beyond thrilled Victoria Cartagena joined the cast reprising her role as Renee Montoya. There are so many queer characters on this show (14 and counting) you have your choice of couples to ship!
I was so distracted by #Wildmoore I did NOT see this coming!
I love it (you know how I feel about wall make-outs), AND I love the queer triangle starting to form.
When Poison Ivy (Bridget Regan) joins the show I may not survive. Please send #ThoughtsAndPrayers.
- Legends of Tomorrow – Season 7
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I’m enjoying Legends so far. Post-married Avalance is fun and all of the extra time shenanigans happening this season is entertaining, but I dunno, I feel like it’s not as good as previous seasons.
I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I’ll figure it out later, but here is Ava and Sara being cute.
- Grey’s 19 – Season 18 / Season 5
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I love Carina and Maya with all of my fandom heart, but could they PLEASE have more than 10 minutes of post-wedding happiness without launching into “to-have-or-not-have-a-baby” angst?? I am SO TIRED of that storyline!
Here are 42 seconds of them not talking about babies.
I love when Carina’s orgasm research is brought up.
Otherwise, arguing over parenthood is all they’ve been occupied with, and last week, Maya “saw the light” and agreed to have a baby. Can a show please be original and have a couple come to the decision to not have kids in a fair and healthy way? I hate how this trope works to make childless people feel like shit and tries to brainwash everyone into thinking you will want to be a parent if you JUST have a single magical moment with a kid. I want to see happy childless people on TV!
Now their story is all going to be about trying to conceive and that is stressful and not fun (although there are some funny moments) in real life and I bet it will be on TV too.
Meanwhile, over at The Grey Center for Medical Research, we have been introduced to a new non-binary character, Kai Bartley (played by out non-binary actor, E.R. Fightmaster). I am in LOVE with Kai’s voice — I could happily listen to them read the instruction manual to my new oven.
Amelia Shepherd has been working with Kai on a procedure to cure Parkinson’s Disease and in their first 42-second scene together they had more chemistry than all of Owen’s 18 seasons with anyone.
The last time they interacted they got the “relationship status” conversation out of the way.
I am so here for Kai and Amelia.
- AHS Hightown – Season 2
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I’m kidding, American Horror Story and Hightown didn’t do a crossover, but it felt like it did! One was about super talented blood-sucking killers in Provincetown who preyed on addicts on the Cape and the other is about Provincetown cops trying to bust drug dealers on the Cape.
If you remember, I didn’t like Hightown (even though I love a messy butch disaster). But, and I’m a little afraid to say this out loud and jinx it, I like season two much better.
I still have complaints — for a show starring a lesbian lead taking place in P-town there is WAY too much gratuitous straight sex and drama. I’d be okay with that if equal time was given to queer and straight stories, but it’s not. Also, I can’t stand off-band McNulty (Ray) and some of the dialogue is just terrible.
But I’ll wrap up with the positive. Jackie is sober this season (so far) and a much better version of herself. She’s not the self-destructive mess she was last year. I’m not sure how she did it, but she talked her way into joining the regular police (even though she still does some fish policework with her old partner here and there). Speaking of partners, she’s been paired with the only other woman on the force (in all of Cape Cod??) and their chemistry was pretty good from the start.
I really like the two of them together, although Jackie already may have messed this relationship up. I even care about the police cases they are working on! I have my fingers crossed Jackie stays on the wagon, but I don’t have my hopes up.
- Dopesick – Miniseries
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Dopesick is a docudrama about the Sackler family, their company Perdue Pharma and the opioid crisis they accelerated with the drug OxyContin. The show was sad and aggravating, but I was absolutely obsessed with it. Many of the characters were composites of multiple real people.
Rosario Dawson played fictional DEA agent Bridget Meyer who worked for years to compile enough evidence to make the FDA take the drug off the market. She wasn’t queer (in fact she had, IMO, a whiny and unsupportive husband), but she was a kick-ass character.
Spoiler alert: She didn’t get them.
Kaitlyn Dever played Betsy Mallum, a coal miner who had dreams of moving away to a more queer-friendly town with her girlfriend. Those plans were derailed when Betsy had a mining accident and was prescribed Oxy. She eventually moved on to heroin and died of an overdose.
The real Kathe Sackler is a lesbian and portrayed on the show. I have nothing nice to say about her.
If you have the stomach for addiction stories, I highly recommend watching Dopesick. Even though I know the drug is still out there and the Sacklers are still rich and not in jail as they should be, the show was really riveting.
- Home Economics – Season 2
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Home Economics is now my favorite sitcom. Every week they serve up the queer jokes in an absolutely joking with you, not at you way.
So funny.
This week: That was just some of the queer tv I’m watching at the moment. Twenties, Legacies, 9-1-1, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Big Mouth, Gentefied, Yellowjackets…I’ll be chiming in on these shows too. It’s good to be back, y’all!
