Gender Fuck Thursday

Well, we made it to December. So now 2016 has one precious month left to redeem itself. So why not start off on a smart and stylish foot. Here are some smart, stylish women looking – well, smart and stylish. Plus they’re all in black in white, which makes them so much more stylish and smart-looking. Yes, I know other adjectives. But November was a doozy so smart and stylish is all my brain can muster right now. But, hey, “smart” and “stylish” suit these suits. Right, as I was saying – good luck, December. Please, at the very least, be so much smarter than the rest of 2016 was. More stylish would just be icing.

Amy Acker

Remember when she was sweet, mousy Fred? And now she’s like gay lady catnip? See, evolution is real.

Janelle Monae

I would like to look this cool for even one second doing anything.

Natalie Dormer

I’m not sure why Natalie isn’t a much, much, much bigger star already. But that’s ok – more for us early-adopters.

Alycia Debnam-Carey

You should probably consider us gay ladies the early adopters of all celebrity it girls. Just call us the original girl crush hipsters. We loved Alycia before she was cool – and on that show with zombies.

Penelope Cruz

Is there an opposite of early adopter? Because that seems to have happened to Penelope. She was everywhere and then – poof. When all else fails, I blame Tom Cruise.

Rooney Mara

I’m really sorry if you didn’t like “Carol.” I really am. Because, to me, it was perhaps the most beautiful ache you could experience in a movie theater with your clothes on. Hell, possibly even with them off.

Birthday Wishes

Hey! It’s my birthday! And what I want most for my birthday – besides that we elect our first female president in exactly one week – is for all of you to have as wonderful a day as Doccubus, Shoot, Clexa and WayHaught seem to be having in this video. What can you say, I love giving presents almost as much as I love receiving them. Enjoy, kittens.

Well Shoot

Here is a story about expectations, hope and crushing anxiety. No, don’t worry, it’s not about our presidential election cycle – this time. It’s about the return of “Person of Interest” for its final season. As I’ve mentioned before, I do not follow the show closely. I’ve watched on and off. But I care, unusually deeply, about how the series will ultimately handle Root and Shaw. Given the insane death toll for queer female characters this year and the ensuing LGBT Fans Deserve Better campaign, Root and Shaw (it’s Shoot, right, we’ve all decided on Shoot?) will have heightened attention on them when they return to our television tonight.

Look, like any red-blooded lesbian, I want them to hook up and live happily ever after. But what I’m most concerned about his how another fandom and queer women in general are pinning their hopes, dreams and then some on this couple.

Show co-producer Jonathan Nolan spoke about “The 100”/Bury Your Gays backlash to the site iO9:

“We’ve never shied from killing off our characters, and this season is no different. Our team does not make it out intact... We’re equal-opportunity killers… It’s a bloodbath.

There have been plans in place for where these characters’ stories would go for many seasons. And we’ve stuck with that plan… So [Root and Show is] a very cool relationship, and it’s one we’ve had a lot of fun writing to. But ultimately, the plan is the plan.”

Ruh-roh.

He goes on to say that “there are some unfortunate tropes that play themselves out.”

So, yeah. Unless he is just trying to throw us all off, that sure sounds like Root or Shaw or both are goners. Damn. Just damn.

They go on to say things about respect and heroism and all that jazz. Stray bullets be damned. But, with all due respect to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” that show is not in fact the originator of the Dead Lesbian Syndrome. You’d have to go back, way back, to pulp novels and the like. But on TV you’d have to go back to 1976. And tropes, no matter how they play out, aren’t “exciting,” They’re actually the exact opposite.

Look, I know this final season of POI was filmed a year before the LGBT Fans Deserve Better campaign was born. But may it be the very last show to claim ignorance – partial, full or otherwise – of the Bury Your Gays trope.

p.s. Yeah, I know I should be fuming. But those 1.5 seconds of Root and Shaw apparently tearing each other’s clothes have me, uh, distracted.

Pertinent to My Interest

Where my “Person of Interest: peoples at? Yesterday the Root/Shaw fandom did a figurative flip (maybe literal, depending on your level of bendiness) at news that Sarah Shahi would be back as a series regular next season. Sarah has confirmed she would return from her extended maternity leave for eight or nine of the new season’s 13-episodes. Of course that begs the question, what does this mean for the Root/Shaw relationship? IS SHOOT ON?

As Sarah told AfterEllen:

“This is absolutely going to be a romantic return. Root and Shaw should have little Samaritan babies and they’ll just take over the universe. I just had the twins not too long ago and we wanted to find some kind of way for me to come back and make it work with my family because it’s just so much harder. I know nothing about what I’m doing, what my role is going to be. I’m assuming I’m still Shaw.”

“Person of Interest” showrunner POI showrunner and executive producer Greg Plageman expanded on that telling AfterEllen:

“It means everything. I think Sarah’s phenomenal. Amy and Sarah are very complementary in ways a lot of people really responded to. Shaw’s character has two personality syndrome; Amy Acker has her own issues on her show—former assassin turned hacker. Two people who have a really difficult time connecting in the world. I think Shaw has come around to realize maybe this is the person for her in the world.”

He added that Shoot fans should have “more than hope” about the relationship. But then there’s also a lot of talk about how Shaw could now be – even more – seriously fucked up in the head after being captured by Samaritan. That reads to me like there will have to be some major de-brainwashing that needs to happen before there can be snuggles and slow walks on the beach. Kidding, kidding. We all know their perfect date would be just shoot things together followed by furious making out.

I will confess I haven’t watched regularly since the winter when Shaw was shot/left for dead. But I’ve followed along enough to know she was in fact not dead. So this latest news is more than encouraging. If done right this could set the most wonderful precedent. This could be definitive proof that an established show can, quite successfully, turn fan-driven subtext into canonical maintext.

I mean, if these two – quite literally – crazy kids can make it, anyone can. Are you listening, “Rizzoli & Isles,” et al?

Maintext of Interest

Hey, sweetie. Remember when I wondered out loud if I should be watching “Person of Interest” because of the shippy nature of the Root and Shaw relationship? And you were all, yes, dummy. Yes. Well, while on vacation back home I happened to sit down with my mother (who, as previously mentioned, loooooves the show) and finally watched an episode. Boy, did the show show me.

Because the show went there. The show really, really went there. It didn’t tease. It didn’t imply. It didn’t beat around the metaphorical (or literal) bush. It full on went there. [Spoilers if you didn’t see last week’s episode.]

So now, obviously, I am hooked. Quick recap, in an episode meant to illuminate The Machine’s seemingly infinite, nano-second decision-making process we are taken through a series of simulations as the team – particularly the persons of gay lady interest in the form of Amy Acker’s Root and Sarah Shahi’s Shaw – try to save the world (well, stock market) and themselves in a nearly impossible situation.

Watching the episode unfold was fascinating for a number of reasons. First, it confirmed what careful (and gay) viewers have been seeing for a while now. The attraction between hacker Root and sociopath Shaw has been obvious to many, but possibly not overt to all. But, holy crap, did they out it forever last week. At first I thought it was just a little playful acknowledgement of this ship. But then, BOOM, it went full canon. Have no doubt, people, The Machine ships it.



That, my friends, is a stand up, slow clap, hats off moment of a show taking subtext into maintext.

Granted, I’m none to happy about the possibly dead thing. But, also, I have much hope that she isn’t actually dead. (p.s. Sarah Shahi’s pregnancy – with twins – facilitated this storyline in the first place.) And if she isn’t dead, that means at some point the show will have to come to terms with the BIG LESBIAN FEELINGS it unleashed on these characters. Also, how wonderful is it to see Fred and Carmen together? So wonderful. Admit it, they’re good together.



Of course, on the flip side, if she is dead, ugh – really? Another dead queer female character? Don’t even get me started. So let’s just trust The Machine knows what’s good for it and we shall see Shaw again someday.

I don’t know. I really don’t know. But damn this show sure has my interest now. And I, like The Machine, will be watching.

Subtext of Interest

OK, enlighten me, Internet. How shippy is “Person of Interest” really? I’ve heard a lot about this Root and Shaw connection. I’ve seen a lot of subtext gifs. I’ve seen a goof bit of fangirl flailing. And now I need to know. On a scale of 1 to Gayzzoli, how subtexty is it really? I want it to be very gay, because I love a) Amy Acker (hello, Fred) and b) Sarah Shahi (hello, Carmen). So I very much want whatever their connection to be real.

Yet I’m still reluctant to start watching because a) Person of Interest is already on it’s fourth season, so that’s a lot of catching up, and b) My mom loves this show and, bless her heart, we don’t always agree on what constitutes must-see TV.

From the gifsets (the primary way I watch TV shows I don’t actually watch), it appears there was one near canonical moment when Root basically says to tell Shaw she loves her if she dies. What, I’m paraphrasing.

As an expert subtext whisperer, I do know that more than 15 months ago when the above photo of Amy and Sarah popped up on Instagram I thought, damn, they make a nice couple. Wouldn’t it be nice if the series went there?

So now I ask you, series of tubes. What am I missing out on? Should I catch up? Should I cruise fanvids? Or should I just continue following vide gifset. per usual?

p.s. Also, is their portmanteau really Shoot?

Much Ado About Joss

As a writer, it’s a sin to not love The Bard. And as a geek, it’s practically a sin to not love Joss Whedon. So when the two come together in a ecstatic flurry of familiar faces and famous words it’s kind of exhilarating. Kind of? Give me a break. Really freaking exciting, and that’s probably an understatement. We, the assorted huddled masses, now finally get to see this fusion of Shakespeare and Buffyverse as “Much Ado About Nothing” finally gets a trailer and a release date. The backstory on the film is almost as interesting as the finished product. Shot over 12 days in October 2011 in Joss’ house as his wind-down project from filming “The Avengers” with a slew of Whedon favorites including but not limited to Amy Acker, Nathan Fillion, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Fran Kranz, Tom Lenk, Sean Maher, Reed Diamond and Ashley Johnson (a.k.a. The waitress saved by Captain America).

Now I will say that I wish a few more familiar Whedonverse ladies were in the project. Granted, I know your SMG or Alyson or Elizas are probably too busy/big for it. But I sure wish a Gina Torres or Amber Benson or Summer Glau or Emma Caulfield or Jewel Staite had been there too. But, small quibbles aside, I’m happy to see what seems to be such a genuine and spontaneous project see the light of day (In theaters June 7! Who is going with me?). The original rom-com from the mind and friends of Joss? Count me in.

p.s. Dude, Joss has a really, really, really nice house. Like really. Nice.

Tank Top Tuesday

So last week the sad yet inevitable news came that “Dollhouse” was done. Sure, the writing was on the wall. But to know it’ll be gone for good is just – deep sigh. At least we get to see all 13 episodes from this season. Fox at least gave us that. Now, I could go on and on about what a shame this is. Joss Whedon does best when his creations have room to grow – to deepen, to fumble, to evolve. The show was, indeed, getting better with almost every episode. Was it perfect? No. But it was always ambitious and never dull. Television that dares to ask the big questions – like about the soul and free will and the very nature of existence – is a rare and wonderful thing. I suppose I am thankful that we got two seasons at all. And I am equally thankful for the opportunity to get to know and further appreciate the women of “Dollhouse.” They are all talented and lovely and I will miss visiting with them on Friday nights. So, how better to send them off than as nature (and Joss, judging by their attire on the show) intended than in tank tops. And yes, sports bras totally count as tank tops.

Eliza DushkuCome back and kick ass on my TV anytime you want, honey.

Dichen LachmanThe tank top in lieu of pants is always, always a good choice.

Miracle Laurie

It’s a crime they didn’t put Mellie/November/Madeline in more tank tops. A crime, I say.

Olivia WilliamsMe! Me! Lasso me!

Summer GlauSpeak softly and carry a big-ass gun.
[Catch Summer’s first appearance when “Dollhouse” returns for its final run Dec. 4]

Amy Acker

In my defense, I think that scrap of cloth masquerading as a top actually used to be a tank top.