Boobs on Your Tube: She-Hulk Gifts Us a Rare Marvel Gay

Well, we’ve done it! Another wildly successful Autostraddle TV Awards has come to a close — and this year, we’ve got some acceptance speeches and tweetses.

Also, this week, Kayla’s here to teach you how to dress like Max Chapman. Shelli reviewed the delightfully messy House of Ho. She also broke down all of House of the Dragon’s queer connections. Riese watched (but didn’t love) The Devil in Ohio for the queer storyline. Heather’s patience paid off: JoJo Siwa finally showed up in a rainbow tux on High School Musical: The Series. Drew interviewed Jinkx Monsoon. And! She’s coming at you live from the Toronto International Film Festival.

Notes from the TV Team:

+ The Good Fight returned for its sixth and final season this week and already, Carmen Moyo (played by out actress Charmaine Bingwa) is getting in deep with another criminal client. Apparently, she learned nothing from Oscar Rivi! This season, I’m excited to see Carmen — who’s been so relentlessly focused on work since we met her — get a storyline that focuses more on her personal life. — Natalie

She-Hulk 104: “Is This Not Real Magic?”

Written by Valerie Anne

Give Nikki a girlfriend 2k22!

Ever since the first episode of She-Hulk, Nikki has been on my radar. Something about her energy felt a little queer to me, so I was on high alert for clues. My first clue came when she mentioned that she had a date and nary a name nor a pronoun was uttered. Another clue came in this episode when she was talking about Jen’s dating life and said there was a “person” for her out there somewhere. Even if Jen only dates men, Nikki’s language being naturally inclusive is another potential piece of the queer puzzle. But then when she took Jen’s phone and started swiping through her matches on her dating app for her (something I too have done for my straight friends, just for funsies), she gave me all the evidence I need to count her among the very few queer characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “Hetero life is grim.”

I hope that’s not the only glimpse into Nikki’s queerness we get this season, but no take-backs! She’s ours now!

Queer confirmation aside, this episode was a fun romp of magic and mischief. The only quibble I have is that this show really tried to convince me, a person with eyeballs, that no one in LA thinks human-shaped Jen Walters is attractive even though she looks like Tatiana Maslany.

The episode ends with Jen finding out Titania is suing her over the newly trademarked name She-Hulk, and in her classic fourth-wall breaking way she says, “I bet there’s a fun tag.” And there is indeed, because it featured everyone’s new favorite side character: Madisynn with two ns and a y, but it’s not where you think.

Queen Sugar 701: “And When Great Souls Die”

Written by Natalie

The seventh (and final) season of Queen Sugar opens with an expansive view of the waters near St. Joe’s. It’s a gorgeous shot — crafted by Kat Candler, one of the show’s cadre of female directors — that’s become a hallmark of Queen Sugar‘s run. That this show could end without a single Emmy nomination for directing or cinematography is an indictment of the entire awards show racket.

But while Queen Sugar‘s visuals have been consistently awing, the writing — and, in particular, the writing around Nova Bordelon’s sexuality — has always been hit or miss. The season seven trailer got my hopes up: in it, Nova’s ex, Chantal, makes an appearance, and Nova dances with gay-for-play extraordinaire, Tracie Thoms. And, much to my surprise, Queen Sugar starts to deliver on that front almost immediately in its new season.

Nova is still with her cultural anthropologist boyfriend, Dominic, but everyone around her is just waiting for the other shoe to drop. At the farmers’ co-op meeting, Nova encounters Ralph Angel’s guest, Mo Evans, and the sparks fly. Mo knows Nova by reputation and admits that she’s checked out her most recent work featuring the descendants of a local 1800s massacre. RA feels the energy between them and, after the crowd moves on, urges his sister to not go there. Mo’s in town to formalize the co-op as part of the South Louisiana Co-Op Federation, and he’s weary of anything messing that up.

“Don’t go pulling a Nova, Nova. I know how you move,” RA tells her. “Don’t. I’m serious.”

Meanwhile, Aunt Vi’s got her own questions about the future of Nova’s relationship with Dominic. It’s been six months, Vi notes, and that’s when Nova usually starts to get antsy. Nova tries to defend herself — she was with Calvin for five years, after all — but given that he was married for four of those years, she realizes maybe that’s not the best argument. She insists that Dominic is great and Vi is thrilled to hear it because Nova “can go through men like water.” Nova corrects her aunt, she hasn’t only dated men, and Vi reminds Nova that she never introduced the family to the ladies.

Nova admits, “There’s no drama with Dominic. We just work together, it’s…nice.”

Nice and drama-free ain’t never been Nova’s way, so it’s clear her relationship with Dominic is not long for this world. Is it all very heavy-handed? Lord yes. They are moving with all the subtlety of a bull in a China shop. That said, as someone who has criticized Queen Sugar for not even acknowledging Nova’s pansexuality even in the smallest ways, it’s such a relief to see it. The revelation that Nova never introduced any of her female love interests to the family absolutely tracks with what we know of her and her tenuous relationship with her father. I’m interested to see if that bit of Nova’s history changes by the series end.

grown-ish 508: “Certified Lover Boy”

Written by Natalie

Cal U is abuzz with the release of the D-List, a ranking of the university’s men by…well…you know. It’s a campus tradition meant to turn the tables on men who have objectified women with similar lists for, basically, all of eternity. A surprise entry on the list? Junior. Zaara’s roommate’s five-star review has him being coveted by every girl (and some boys) on campus and causes Annika to reconsider putting Junior in the friendzone. Witnessing it all makes Zaara glad that she’s not the type to “get sprung.” Instead, Zaara’s more a love ’em and leave ’em type: hooking up with a girl (Yazmine) and then ushering them quickly out the door.

But then something unexpected happens: Zaara can’t get the girl she kicked out of bed out of her head. How does Zaara go from being a commitment-phobe last week to “sprung” this week? Who knows, but she’s here, she’s queer and she’s considering monogamy. Scared by how consumed she’s become by Yazmine, Zaara rushes to Annika for a solution. They pledge to be each other’s sponsor…to help one another deal with these cases of sprung fever. They promise no more texting or social media stalking the objects of their obsession.

Zaara’s first text from Yazmine tests her resolve and, frankly, it doesn’t last long. When she encourages Junior to get out of his comfort zone and try something new, he pushes her to take her own advice and consider a relationship. She texts Annika with an update and the next time we see her, she’s in bed with Yazmine again. Even Yazmine was surprised to get a return call so quickly.

“I thought intimate wasn’t your vibe?” Yazmine questions.

“Maybe you’re my vibe,” Zaara answers before pulling Yazmine back in for a kiss.

Am I a little frustrated that there wasn’t more substance behind Zaara’s shift? Yes. But earlier this week, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a study about the erasure and stereotyping of Muslim characters on popular television…so while I’ll always cheer for more and better, two South Asian women — one of whom is Muslim — in bed together feels like a good place to start.

Roswell 413: “How’s It Going To Be”

Written by Valerie Anne

Is this what it looks like inside when I watch gay cartoons? My present-day self hugging the version of me from the 90s?

In the series finale of Roswell, we begin amidst the chaos. Clyde, more powerful than ever, kidnaps Rosa and brings her to Shivani to harvest her regenerative cells. Clyde says this might kill Rosa and Shivani has to decide if her life is worth potentially resurrecting her daughter.

After some searching, Liz tracks Allie down and asks her for help stopping Shivani. The alien dust is blocking her brain and she needs the person who shaped her brain to help her fill in the blanks.

Of course, once the harvesting is done, Clyde reveals to Shivani that he actually can’t resurrect her daughter at all, he just needed to fix his star map. So he chucks her across the room; broke her heart, broke her bones. Classic Clyde.

Eventually the pod squad stops Clyde, through cleverness and grit, and they can get to the good stuff: Michael and Alex’s wedding. Michael sings I’ll Be, keeping with the show’s 90s music theme, and it’s all very lovely and gay.

After the wedding, Liz goes to find Max to propose, but before she can, Max tells Liz he needs to go back to Oasis to save his home planet. Devastated, Liz stress eats some pancakes when her old mentor finds her. Allie reassures her that her relationship is strong enough to survive a little interplanetary travel. In return, Liz encourages Allie to go to Shivani to help her say goodbye to their daughter, too. Before she leaves, Allie pops an antenna headband on to reminder herself of her time in Roswell, and says it “fits like a glove.” As someone who loved the original Roswell, watching the Liz of my childhood hug the present-day Liz in the Crashdown Cafe made my heart happy.

In the end, Max says goodbye to his pod; Isobel and Kyle snuggle by a fire, Michael goes on his honeymoon with Alex, and Max promises to marry Liz as soon as he comes back. This isn’t goodbye forever, just goodbye for now.

Industry Episode 206: Short To The Point of Pain

Written by: Riese

I have no idea why I watched every Season One episode of this program about mostly terrible people doing a lot of cocaine and helping other terrible people get rich while yelling at each other using financial jargon I do not understand BUT I do think it was because I felt certain a lesbian would turn up but aside from a brief predatory moment, one did not.

I believe I have stuck with Season Two because I love Augustus Sackey (David Johnson) and also because a lesbian did show up, right out of a sexy French film: the glamorous Celeste Pacquet.

As Yasmin returned to the desk post-pandemic at Season Two’s start, her dissatisfaction in her role and the culture collided with her enchantment with Celeste, leading her to seek a new position: working for Celeste in Pierpoint’s Private Wealth Management Division. (I think this is what happened, I’m not totally sure)

But more importantly, there was SIMMERING SEXUAL TENSION all season long, teased in the trailer, and every week I felt we were getting a little bit closer to an explosion: either an explosion of sexual tension between Yasmin and Celeste or an explosion in my brain at this show for teasing us with Sexy Girls Can’t Help But Be Sexy For Each Other Queer Subtext in the year of our lord 2022.

Early in the episode, Yasmin confesses to Celeste over drinks that she masturbated thinking about Celeste the night before, and Celeste says sleeping together would be the a good idea but also the worst idea. I was personally crestfallen. Shortly thereafter, Celeste invites Yasmin to a lunch — the day before Celeste becomes Yasmin’s new boss! — but all she ends up eating is Yasmin. It’s honestly a very hot sex scene.

Of course when it’s all over Yasmin gushes that she’s never come so many times in her life. Celeste is like, “yeah duh,” ’cause she’s a seasoned pro. But as she explains to Yasmin that her wife approved the liaison because they have an open relationship, Yasmin’s interest in Celeste seems to immediately transform. I dunno, I feel like if she’s looking for something illicit and dangerous, f*cking her boss is already in that category regardless of whether or not it’s cheating! Anyhow, I hope they bone again next week.

Raising Kanan Season Two (So Far)

Written by Carmen

I have been sort of kicking the can down the road on how to best write about the second season of Raising Kanan, which is currently airing on Starz. Hailey Kilgore’s performance as Laverne “Jukebox” Ganner — Kanan’s cousin — remains one of the best and most thoughtful portrayals of a teen lesbian, let alone a Black teen lesbian, on television. Hell, she was an Autostraddle TV Awards nominee for her performance in Season One, and she shows no sign of stopping yet. Jukebox is just as riveting as she was last year, just as soulful, carrying in equal weight pain and smile that lights up any room.

The overall problem — from a recapping standpoint — is that the second season of Raising Kanan is moving at a snail’s pace compared to Season One. A family crime drama about a drug dealing matriarch and her teen son, this season has really ascribed to the classic Black motto “it’s chess, not checkers” and it has luxuriated in getting all its pieces in place on the board, admittedly to mixed results. But now we are halfway through the season, and it’s time to see where Jukebox falls in this queenpin’s gambit.

Juke has moved out of her homophobic father’s house and in with her Aunt Raq, Kanan’s mother, who has always supported her. She’s still trying to get her music career off the ground, but the producer at her uncle’s studio has let her know that her tomboy masc appearance won’t… move records. The racist parents of her ex-girlfriend still have it out for her (her girlfriend, Nicole, died of an overdose last year, and Nicole’s parents still blame Jukebox for the drugs Nicole stole from her). She’s been looking into her estranged mother, played by Destiny Child’s LeToya Luckett, who hasn’t been in her life since she was a baby, but is back, in a church, and wants to reconnect with her daughter — but there’s a lot of secrets around her mother that her Aunt Raq seems not to want to tell her.

But what’s actually happening is really underneath all those plot points. And that is the quiet, but no less gorgeous and stunning, character building moments that Hailey Kilgore is putting into Jukebox. She’s a steaming kettle left on the back burner ready to explode, each episode adding another pressure point, another tension. And when she goes off, it’s going to be marvelous. I can’t wait to see.

A Queer Read on Tatiana Maslany’s “She-Hulk: Attorney At Law”

Before we start, I’ll answer the burning question: Is She-Hulk gay? My answer is…it’s complicated. First of all, it’s only been one episode, so even though technically we have no evidence any of the characters are queer, there’s plenty of time for that. Second, Jameela Jamil quite literally burst onto the scene in this episode, and SHE’S queer, so that counts for something. Also, my homosexual heart has been burning brightly for Tatiana Maslany for almost a decade. But my “it’s complicated” answer is because while we don’t know yet how Jennifer Walters would label her sexuality, there’s something very queer about her story.

Before I explain why, a warning: this review will contain spoilers for the first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

I missed that smile!!!

At first glance, it seems Jennifer Walters has an origin story similar to many others, but this show tells you that it’s going to be a different kind of story right off the bat. First of all, her paralegal, Nikki, with whom she has cute banter reveals that she knows Jennifer can hulk out. Then, Jennifer breaks the fourth wall and talks directly at the audience, telling us that this is going to be a “fun lawyer show.” But first, she’ll tell us aforementioned origin story, otherwise we won’t be able to focus on the law stuff. Which she’s very determined to make us care about.

So we flash back to when Jennifer first hulks out, how she ended up in a bar bathroom looking like hell warmed over. In the bathroom, she’s greeted by women who gave her a makeover and told her to leave her/him/them if they left her looking like this. In stark contrast, as soon as she steps outside the bar, she gets catcalled by men who don’t take no for an answer and start slowly encroaching like a wolf pack approaching prey. She hulks out on them but Bruce knocks her out before she can hurt anyone.

When she wakes up, she’s in Bruce’s Smart!Hulk lab, and he goes through the basics of being a hulk. But the thing is, just because they are similar in one way doesn’t mean they’re the same. Just because they’re both hulks doesn’t mean they move through the world the same way.

And of course, even though Bruce is a Nice Guy, he immediately underestimates Jennifer. She’s strong as hell and a fast learner and she’s immediately in control of her hulk; his trauma caused him to create two separate identities, something he’s had to wrestle with for years. Jen’s familiarity with rage means her hulk is just an extension of her. She’s in control, because as a very small woman, and especially one in a male-dominated field, she’s always had to be. Because women have to consider things like this, and are acutely aware that too often, your reaction could be the only thing keeping you from physical danger. It’s just the reality of the toxic, patriarchal society we live in.

This episode was called, “A Normal Amount of Rage,” which I thought was funny.

This conversation also had similar vibes to elder queers vs baby gays; the world is different now, being superpowered isn’t as rare or hush-hush as it was back in Bruce’s day. And Hulk himself being an Avenger paved the way for another hulk to exist without as much prejudice, but that doesn’t mean Jen doesn’t respect his journey. Their situations are similar, but they are not the same.

(Side note: I now want a parody sketch or fanart/comic strip of She-Hulk meeting a non-binary hulk called They-Hulk and the two of them calling Bruce He-Hulk despite his constant protests.)

Anyway, Jen thinks it’s a good thing she can control her hulking, not only so she’s not a danger to society, but also because she has no intention of ever doing it again. Bruce can’t believe someone would actively choose to NOT be an Avenger, and questions her duty as a powered person; sure, with great power comes great responsibility… but do you have to accept that responsibility? Jen just wants to be a lawyer! Though even in that, it’s a question she poses herself as she gets ready for her case at the start of the episode.

If this were a thesis paper and not a review, this is where I’d dive into a deep analysis of how this applies to queerness. Especially in the age of the internet, when everyone has a platform of sorts, what responsibilities do we have as queer people? What responsibilities do queer celebrities with BIG platforms have to be out? Is it enough to appear as an ally, or do they have a responsibility to come out to normalize not hiding? Does staying in the closet as a celebrity under the guise of “being a private person” perpetuate the stigma of it being something you should hide, or equating sexuality with sex too literally? But on the other hand, is that fair to ask of queer celebrities who are just trying to exist and do their jobs and not be held up to different standards because of who they love? But alas, this isn’t a thesis paper and I do not have the word count to get into all THAT.

Also, go read Niko’s article about She-Hulk as it relates to transness, please and thank you.

Bruce warns Jennifer that hiding half of who she is is no way to live, and as someone who lived a decade in the closet between realizing with certainty I was queer and coming out, I could have told Jen that hiding it isn’t going to make it any less true.

Also I cannot emphasize enough how absolutely itty bitty Tatiana looks next to Smart!Hulk and how freaking adorable it is when she’s looking up at him and sassing this man whose sneeze could send her into orbit.

Overall I had a blast watching the pilot. Every Marvel show takes a different tone but one thing most of them have in common is that even if there are Big Speeches or heavy moments, they all seem a bit… lighter than the movies. And even the character designs feel a little less action hero, a little more comic book.

I have a lot of questions about her. Including but not limited to: why bust through the wall instead of storming through the doors?

This show is no exception. Jen is funny and cute and somehow despite the fact that Tatiana Maslany played 900 characters in Orphan Black alone, Jennifer Walters feels like a brand new player. (Also, the post-credit scene made me laugh out loud alone in my apartment.) The show has character and it’s fun and frankly I can’t wait for more.