What queer TV storyline have you loved recently?
A.V. Club staffers on the newish small-screen portrayals of LGBTQ+ life worth celebrating
TV Features Queer
Clockwise from bottom left: Jeff Hiller and Jon Hudson Odom in Somebody Somewhere (Photo: HBO), John Turturro and Christopher Walken in Severance (Photo: Apple TV+), Bilal Baig in Sort Of (Photo: HBO Max), Sasheer Zamata and Caitlin McGee in Home Economics (Photo: Temma Hankin/ABC), and Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi in Our Flag Means Death (Photo: Aaron Epstein/HBO Max) Graphic: Libby McGuire
The A.V. Club is marking the end of Pride Month (which we’ve toasted by, among other things, sounding off on the Disney Channel Original Movies that made us realize we were queer and listing 22 great LGBTQ+ video games) with an AVQ&A that asks: What are your favorite queer storylines on TV recently? There’s been a barrage of excellent small-screen depictions of queer life lately, so our selections cover everything from an unexpected relationship in Severance to a relatable couple in Home Economics to a non-binary Pakistani immigrant in Sort Of. Have a favorite that we missed? Let us know yours in the comments.
14 Comments
The thumbnail is a big spoiler. Why do I come here?
What does it spoil?
Our Flag Means Death. Their relationship is a big surprise on the show. And I haven’t seen Severance yet but I was planning on it.
It’s probably the most widely discussed aspect of OFMD, and the romance in Severance comes up super early in the show. Neither are really “twists” in any sense other than being plot points that are introduced after the initial premise. If either of those are too spoiler-y for you, a website dedicated to pop culture discussion is definitely not the place to be, sorry to say.
uh huh. it was def twist in Our Flag Means Death though.
Glad to see love for Single Drunk Female. Turned out to be one of my favorite shows of last year & JoJo Brown’s Mindy was a huge part of its heart.
Not knowing what was coming in either Severance or Our Flag Means Death, my heart grew two sizes at the romances in each, especially since we just don’t see many romances among middle-aged people that aren’t played for laughs, which neither of these were. (Both shows have plenty of laughs, but none of them are at the expense of these two love stories.)
I agree with this take
Big Boys was super charming and worthy of some write-ups. Get on the ball, AV Club.
I don’t normally like horror-adjacent stuff, but when I saw a trailer for Yellowjackets I was like “There’s no way this isn’t gay, right?” And not only was I right, I also really like the couple! So as that show heads more and more into scary (for me!) territory, I’m willing to grin and bear it for some lesbian rep.More recently, I was impressed with The Umbrella Academy’s strategy in the wake of Elliot Page’s coming out. That show is so ridiculous, so it was nice to see Viktor’s transition treated so respectful and low-key.
The Orville’s “A Tale Of Two Topas” comes storming in as a late entry.
Just as Our Flag Means Death slipped a bunch of positive gay representation into a fun pirate show, HBO’s The Baby slips a bunch of positive lesbian representation into a fun horror/sorta-comedy.
The Owl House and Love, Victor were pretty damn good.
First Kill is way better than I was expecting, with the queerness fitting perfectly into a standard YA fantasy romance story (complete with the theme song declaring its central couple “better than Edward and Bella”). The show is even confident enough to make its very first scene a steamy dream sequence about two girls making out.