The One Where Ross Invents San Junipero

Hey, did you know Ross Gellar could predict the future? Or that Ross Gellar understood exactly what lesbian heaven looked like? Or that Ross Gellar essentially wrote the plot of “San Junipero?” Neither did I. But then, I guess it’s nice to know he is good for more than talking about dinosaurs, whining that “We were on a break,” and screaming “Pivot!”

p.s. If you have not watched the “San Junipero” episode of “Black Mirror” a) don’t watch this video and b) what is wrong with you?

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Oh, baby, do you know a mash up “Orange Is the New Black” and the “Black Mirror” “San Junipero” episode is worth? A lot, actually. And while I wouldn’t necessarily call it heaven, it is rather delightful. I love it when two great things lesbians love come together. Yet still, we’re left with that bittersweet longing. The joy/sorrow of seeing Poussey again. The joy/sorrow of reliving Poussey and Taystee’s friendship. The joy/sorrow of their relationship not being the same kind of the women of San Junipero. Well, at least for this dream I guess I’ll hold on to the joy part, and let the sorrow fade into the night.

Vacation Vixen: San Junipero

Have you had a chance to get sucked into our possible near-future dystopia yet? No. Well, that’s fine. I know it’s more than a little unnerving to see a society that has scapegoats godlessness as the reason for its problems and stripped women of their most basic rights aso ne of the solutions. But, hey, who’s to say that future is ours. Maybe, just maybe, we get the good kind where we all get to live forever while listening to effervescent 80s pop? I mean, a girl can dream.

p.s. If you have not experienced “San Junipero” yet, do not press play above. Go watch, and maybe rewatch (and rewatch again) and then press play. Trust me, the wait is worth it because wondering is practically the best part.

My Weekend Crush

The night is too often dark and full of terrors. But sometimes, just sometimes, it hands us these little gifts. These precious surprises. These unexpected moments of grace. “San Junipero” is one of those little gifts. If you know anything about “Black Mirror,” the anthology series that adds a dark technological spin to the “Twilight Zone” concept, you know happily ever after isn’t necessarily its thing. But I had heard about its “San Junipero” episode since last fall when it premiered. But then life, and the horrifying world, got in the way.

But this month, finally, I found the time and head space to sit down and watch. To really watch. And, goodness, am I glad I did.

If you haven’t watched already, I really don’t want to give too much away. Figuring it all out for yourself is such an essential part of this journey. Through the whole episode I felt as if the answer was right there, so close, I could graze it with my fingertips. But I never got their until they wanted me to, until at last I could embrace it.

But the set-up is a flashy good-time girl named Kelly (the vivacious Gugu Mbatha-Raw) meets a bespectacled quiet girl named Yorkie (Emily Blunt look-alike Mackenzie Davis) in 1987. They’ve found each other in San Junipero, a place of seemingly endless, all-night parties. And there’s an attraction, almost instantly. Which is fought because these things are always fought. But then it isn’t. And there is Belinda Carlile. Forever.

Plus, and again I do not want to give too much away, it features perhaps the most clever subversion of the Bury Your Gays trope to ever be seen on screen.

The questions evoked by “San Junipero” are the biggest ones there are. What is a happy ending? How long can love last? Who defines consciousness? Is the 80s your era?

What I will say, because you should really experience this for yourself, is that at times it seems we have so few shots at happiness in this world. And even when we find it, it can be so fleeting. So when you do, enjoy the hell out of it. Enjoy it for as long as you can – however long that may be. We make our own happy endings. Happy weekend, all.