On this chapter of The Queerest Things I Watched Last Week, I caught up with Ana and Yessika on Gentefied and binged most of Our Kind of People season one.
- Our Kind of People – Season 1 [Catch Up]
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I was raised on All My Children. It’s my queer fandom root (hello, BAMFans) so I was excited when someone reached out to us letting us know Our Kind of People had queer characters. Not only is it full of soap opera goodness, but it also stars Debbi Morgan who played Angie on All My Children for 30 years!
Unlike All My Children‘s queer stories which inched along at a snail’s pace, Our Kind of People brings the queer teen drama from the start.
I’ve watched 6 of the 9 episodes that have aired, and this is what I know so far. Single mother Angela Vaughn moves her mom (Patricia ‘Aunt Piggy’ Williams/Debbie Morgan) and daughter to the affluent black community of Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vinyard to reclaim her family’s name. Soon she discovers her father is Teddy Franklin, the head of one of the most powerful families in Oak Bluffs. Her half-sister Leah Franklin-Dupont is not happy to find out this news which leads to all kinds of drama.
Angela’s daughter, Nikki, soon discovers Leah’s daughter (and her “new” cousin) Lauren is in a relationship with a girl named Taylor. The pressure of needing to look like the perfect family forces Lauren to stay in the closet, However, after Taylor falls off a boat while drunk at a party, Lauren is compelled to come out to her parents. Leah takes the news half-okay, but soon comes around.
Lauren professes her love to Taylor and asks her to make it official.
A cute happy ending, right? Nope, this is a soap opera and happy relationships do not come easily.
Nikki and Taylor start talking and soon this becomes a 2 cousins and a girlfriend triangle!
DRAMA!
This show is very generous with the queer content. This scene alone deserves a queer Emmy.
I am absolutely hooked and I will keep watching and recapping the episodes to come.
- Gentefied – Season 2 [Streaming]
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If you, like me, needed a reminder of exactly what happened with Ana and Yesskia at the end of Gentefied season one, here is a quick recap. In the second-to-last episode, they broke up after Yesskia had it with Ana always choosing her family over her. She also essentially accused her of being a Gentrification-supporting art sell-out and Ana snapped.
This season followed similar themes of selling-out vs. financial survival and the cultural erosion of marginalized communities. The main story throughout was the family fighting to keep Pop from being deported and one of the side-stories was Ana and Yessika navigating post-breakup life.
Ana landed a problematic job doing art for Nike and started a problematic relationship with her new boss, Bree.
I was happy to see Clarissa Thibeaux playing a queer character again, but I hate when characters make bad choices. I know it’s an easy way to create TV tension, but I don’t like it.
While that was happening, Yessika got her own episode called “Yessika’s Day Off!”
I loved learning more about her and Ana and Yessika’s relationship backstory.
I won’t lie, I was rooting for the two of them to get back together. Yessika had become so entwined in Ana’s family, it seemed a shame to throw away all of that love and shared history. However, sometimes familiarity leads to comfortable inertia vs. sustainable love and passion.
I’m not going to tell you what happened because I want y’all to watch the show. In my opinion, this season felt more focused with solid storytelling than the first. I really want to see where they would go with a third season, but the final episode felt very final which scares me. We will keep you all posted on the show’s status!
This week: Grey’s 19 is back! I can’t wait to see more of Marina and Dr. Kai.
