If you’ve been following this bananas drama with the queer Grey’s Anatomy writer who stole her wife’s cancer, great news! Riese wrote about it in her Obsessed column today!
Recaps? We got recaps! Natalie recapped the midseason finale of Good Trouble. Heather recapped Gentleman Jack. And reviews? Yeah we got those too! Heather reviewed the final season of Grace and Frankie. Em reviewed Netflix’s Principles of Pleasure. And Riese dropped your streaming guide for May.
Drew also covered her movie beat in so many ways this week! She was on a NewFest panel about trans rom-coms. She interviewed the Crush screenwriters. And she unveiled another Slow Take.
+ As promised, I watched the backdoor pilot of Niecy Nash’s forthcoming spin-off of The Rookie and I’m here to share the news: first, Niecy Nash remains as likable as ever. Nash’s appearance pushed the show to a season high in the ratings. More importantly, though: Nash’s character, Simone Clark, is bisexual and her colleague, Special Agent Casey Fox is a lesbian (with a penchant for one-night stands). Fingers crossed that those pieces of the characters’ biographies carry over to the spin-off. — Natalie
+ On All American: Homecoming, Keisha comes to some stark realizations behind her sordid dating history thanks to a run-in with her ex-girlfriend, Lisa. For years, Keisha had attributed her commitment-phobia to the fear of losing someone, like her father lost her mom, but Lisa sees her for what she is: someone who doesn’t believe they’re good enough to be loved. The insight convinces Keisha to recommit to therapy, in hopes that one day she’ll be “one badass girlfriend.” — Natalie
+ It’s another frustrating week for our beloved queer cheftestant, Ashleigh, on Top Chef: Houston. She doesn’t finish her plate for the quickfire challenge, earning her a spot in the bottom three. Her underpoached fish in the elimination challenge dooms her to the same fate in the elimination challenge — one focused on create new space food for NASA — but her creativity saves her and she advances to the Final Five. — Natalie
+ THE WNBA IS BACK TONIGHT, BABY! Here’s how to watch. — Heather and Natalie
Station 19 516: “Death and the Maiden”
I have been avoiding writing about Station 19. I genuinely hate having to complain about something, when loving on something is infinitely more fun. I kept pretending that if I ignored this sperm donor plot for Maya and Carina, it would go away. That maybe the show would course correct if I just gave it time.
Then Maya burned the waffles, Carina’s stomach was bruised with injection shots, and y’all — JACK SHOWED UP AT THEIR DOOR WITH FLOWERS and Carina handed him a cup! It was time to accept the inevitable. This was happening, and so much worse, it was going to happen in their house.
To be clear, I think every queer woman who wants to have a baby with their partner, should do just that. And I think they should have absolutely every path available to them — including a known donor who’s a close friend. There are so many ways to make a family! And chosen families, however you define them and whomever you let into your heart, are important! This is not about that.
This is about the lack of creativity to take one of the steamiest sapphic couples on network television and saddle them with a baby plot less than two seconds after they got married, then dragging that plot out with needless bickering and in-fighting. It’s about Maya and Carina choosing a close friend, and then (!!) in a throwback to some vintage 90s or 00s plot that no one asked for, make dumbass lesbian sex jokes as his inspiration to jerk off — again I must say, in their house!! It’s about using what should be a sacred, intimate moment for Carina and Maya, and instead centering it on Jack’s long lost brother that we’ve never heard about before and do not care about at all.
Two queer women decided to make a family and somehow Station 19 found a way to make it about cishet men. It’s enraging, and it quite simply should not have happened.
Ok — my mini rant out of the way, here’s some of the good of what happened: Eventually, after all the long lost brother drama dies down, Maya and Carina eventually do have some fairly hot sex (right up until Jack interrupts them with his cup of sperm). There’s also a very sweet moment between the three of them, right when you least expect it, that reminded me of the best of Calzona and Mark Sloan (which was also a deeply unpopular queer family making in Shondaland when it first aired, but warmed my heart by the time Mark died. HAHAHA Whoops! Sorry! Sad little detour there!)
So there you have it, a Station 19 baby was hopefully made, so that we never have to revisit this plot again.
