Hi! Your dear queers Online Editor Jireh and Social Media Coordinator Melanie wanted to gift you all with this compiled list of our favorite must-watch TV Shows and movies that bring rainbows of joy and representation into our hearts! We hope these bring your quarantine summer a little more spice. ;) (noted, these recommendations mostly feature wlw relationships)
"Killing Eve" - Jireh (4.8/5)
The romance between main characters is a slow burn, that comes with delicious unexpected twists and turns. The queer representation is a bit questionable since it’s applied as a vehicle of the strangeness that encompasses the anti-heroine, Villanelle. Nevertheless, this show is breaking boundaries by centering its plot around a female assassin who is a psychopath. How many shows do we actually get to delve into the female psyche and examine if we really are the “gentler sex”? A second opinion: My sister loves this show, and it takes a lot to impress her. Now she’s not satisfied watching any show with me that doesn’t have someone violently dying in the first episode. Needless to say, there is a lot of gore and violence but it doesn’t come gratuitously, but rather more ironically and serves to artistically push the plot further through shock and shameless humor. Oh and...PHOEBE WALLER BRIDGE IS OUR QUEEN.
"Killing Eve" seasons 1-2 available on Hulu, YouTube TV, and season 3 is free on AMC and Sling TV (5 pm to 12 pm).
"One day at a time" - Melanie (5/5)
This was the first show that I saw that had an accurate representation of my culture. This show is unlike many others because of the many controversial topics it discusses within a Catholic, Latinx household setting. A single mother and military veteran Penelope Alvarez, with the help of her mother Lydia and neighbor Schneider, raises two young teens, Elena and Alex as they confront adolescent challenges and struggles. As an individual who attended Catholic school for the majority of their academic career, I found myself relating to Elena’s character as she began to explore and question her family’s religious and societal values and her own sexuality all while striving to attend Yale after she graduates. This show is one that I wish was available to everyone going through their own journeys of self-discovery because I know that it would have helped me when I was experiencing similar situations.
"One day at a time" is available on YouTube TV and Netflix.
"Fleabag" - Jireh (4.6/5)
Another show by Phoebe Waller-Bridge! I thought I hated comedies until I watched this show and it changed my life. Before being adapted on screen, "Fleabag" began with PWB performing in a one-person theatre act and its huge success has led to several awards. Here the main character is bisexual and a huge mess, but really, who is queer and isn’t? But what is amazing is how all the characters don’t just show up as supporters to the main role, but as complex individuals with unique identities that create reflection on the viewer. The humor hits differently in the sense that it’s poking fun at daily life situations that everyone can relate to and never once do I feel that jokes are made at the expense of another group of people. They tackle difficult conversations with a vulnerability that will make you want to laugh, cry, and shout in surprise in one breath. It’s a huge disappointment that the series is completed.
"Fleabag" is available on Amazon Prime Video.
"Vida" - Melanie (5/5)
This show discusses the lives of two sisters, Emma and Lyn, who return home after receiving news that their mother had passed. As the two go over their mother’s will, they find out that their mother was married to a woman and that the debt from the run-down bar that she had owned needed to be paid off by her daughters and wife. The news of her mother's marriage to a woman struck Emma the most as her mother was not accepting of Emma’s own sexual identity and even sent her to live with her aunt in another state to keep her away from her girlfriend growing up. Emma and Lyn, despite their differences, grow closer and decide to stay in their mother’s home and revamp the bar to pay off the debt and have it serve as a memory of their mother. However, they face gentrification in their home of East Los Angeles and attempt to compete with outside competition.
“Vida” is available on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Starz.
"A Portrait of a Lady on Fire" (6/5)
Celine Sciamma masterfully captures the art of lesbian staring in this movie that passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. It’s a strong look at love and the reasons why women, especially queer women are restrained in their affection towards each other. In this historical fiction, Heloise is a young French woman who is to be married off to an Italian aristocrat she’s never met. Marianne is a painter commissioned to paint her likeness in secret after the previous painter had failed to have Heloise pose for him. Sciamma portrays the lives of women simply in homely spaces capturing the essence sisterhood on this island. The love scenes are directed with tenderness and consideration that comes from the female gaze. Throughout the movie, you have an expectation of where their love journey ends, but the ride is a rollercoaster that utterly takes your breath away and breaks your heart.
"A Portrait of a Lady on Fire" is available on Hulu.
"Good Trouble" & "The Fosters" - Melanie (4.5/5)
"The Fosters" centers around a family of five children (four of which were adopted) and their two moms under one roof. The overall message of this show is that “Blood doesn’t make a family, love does,” and this family exemplifies this statement as they grow with each other and combat the struggles that come with the foster system like the adoption process, visitations with their biological parents, and financial worries. Their moms help raise them and show them, love, as they all navigate their own lives.
"Good Trouble" is a spin-off show from The Fosters that focuses on the lives of two of the adopted children, Callie and Mariana, as they move into a communal loft in Los Angeles. Callie works as a clerk for a federal judge and Mariana obtains a job as an engineer for a tech company. The show goes on to shed light on societal issues like police brutality, homelessness in Los Angeles, and the gender pay gap, among others.
"The Fosters" is available on Netflix.
"Good Trouble" is available on Hulu, Sling TV (free 5 pm to 12 am), free on Freeform, and YouTube TV.
"L Word: Generation Q" - Jireh (3.5/5)
I’ve never watched the original series so I joined the bandwagon with fresh eyes. I think this show is definitely increasing representation by including more queer womxn of color. The show is super dynamic but it can also lose focus at times because there are so many individual storylines that diverge from one another. What I found most endearing about the show are the real struggles that Sophie and Dani face as a queer couple, juggling schedules, and trying to be present for one another. Other parts that are equally funny and heartbreaking are watching Finley trying to get her life together while falling in love with a priest and Micah navigate dating as a queer Asian American. The show tries to please too many folks of different backgrounds and it never delves into the true representation it is trying to achieve and it becomes a diversity parade and the polyamory is gratuitous. I do hope that other shows springboard off this series and dive into more of the topics L Word brushes on such as the intersection of faith and sexuality, Asian culture and sexuality, and the identities of non-binary folks.
"L Word: Generation Q" is available on Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV, YouTube TV, Showtime, and Hulu.
"Gentefied" - Melanie (5/5)
In this show we find a taco shop in East Los Angeles struggling to stay afloat as their rent surges and debt piles up. Struggling artist, Ana, attempts to help her uncle, Pop, manage the taco shop while trying to paint pieces and balance time with her activist girlfriend Yessika. The family that runs it is trying to keep the business going as they pitch new ideas to do so. The family battles against the possibility of changing with their neighborhood as gentrification become more and more apparent, but eventually find themselves doing so to appeal to a larger market.
"Gentefied" is available on Netflix.
"Booksmart" - Jireh (4/5)
"Booksmart" is a spunky and hilarious movie centering around two best friends who are the nerds of their high school looking to go a little crazy during their last night of high school. One night, they traverse the party scene of their high school community finding love, heartbreak, and a new revelation about their friendship. The themes are easily relatable to a lot of nerdy queers, who find themselves out but also struggling to make moves. You see Amy in all her gay awkwardness and can’t help but laugh in sympathy for her and recognize moments you’ve also been there. I have to say, this movie did inspire me to go out with my friends more this semester, I am happy to say, that my social time did get a full tank before we had to hunker down for COVID.
"Booksmart" is available on Hulu.
"Faking It" - Melanie (4.5/5)
"Faking It" is the common highschool stereotype but flipped on its head. Here it is considered “cool” to be “different.” It is no wonder that as they enter their first year of high school together, these two best friends, Karma and Amy, decide to reinvent themselves in order to be liked. The two pretend to be a lesbian couple at school and find themselves in a difficult situation when Amy realizes she actually does have feelings for Karma who does not feel the same way.
"Faking It" is available for purchase on YouTube and Amazon Prime.
"The Half of It" - Jireh (4.5/5)
This movie is a heartwarming story about Ellie Chu, who writes essays for her classmates for money and meets Paul, who begs her to help him woo Aster Flores, the love of his life. As Ellie writes love letters for Paul, she begins to fall in love with Aster. What is so endearing is seeing the chemistry building between the two characters through letters they share. I think it opens the connection between two girls who really learn about each other's personalities, a huge part of queer relationships. It’s not sexualized through the perspective of the male gaze, here are two girls talking about existentialism, their love for reading. I personally resonated with the small-town vibes and the weight of the church that placed expectations and heteronormative standards on everyone. Seeing Ellie and her father communicate bilingually put the cherry on top. So many aspects of their relationship, navigating the struggles unique to an immigrant Chinese American family and learning to be emotionally open and trusting, describe the experience of other Asian Americans. Overall the plot is original, cliche at times, but surprising and endearing. This movie came out May 1st during AAPI month, I’d say it’s a win for the queers and the Asians!
"The Half of It" is available on Netflix.
"Feel Good" - Melanie (4/5)
This show follows a comedian struggling with her sobriety as she enters a new relationship with a woman who used to identify as straight. In the short episodes, viewers can notice the issues within this newfound relationship as they learn more about each others’ pasts.
"Feel Good" is available on Netflix.
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