There are a handful of realistic and entertaining moments in this episode, but they are overshadowed by the glaring lesbian stereotypes. Although the lesbians are in no way depicted as man-haters, lesbianism is still presented as generally anti-male--from the women's jokes in the limo about men being too simple to Sam's joke about idiotic male behavior being enough to "turn any girl gay." Lesbians don't hate men, this episode would suggest, but they're gay because of men in some way. Nina's reassurance that "nobody makes anybody gay" is the episode's lone statement counteracting that message.

The episode also consistently depicts lesbians as female versions of men. Although Debbie, Rhona, and Nina are conventionally feminine in appearance, their behavior is the kind we usually only see in male characters on TV, as Sam's joke in the limo about the lesbians being "perfect gentlemen" unwittingly indicates. Through the lesbians' overt objectification of Mary and Delinda in the casino and the strippers at the strip club, and comments like Rhona's lascivious one about wanting to "peel the onion," this episode would have us believe that lesbians are just horny frat boys in women's bodies.

The show is set in a party atmosphere in Las Vegas, of course, and the women's behavior is consistent with other characters on the show--they're just usually male characters. In some respects, this is a pleasant change from the preponderance of undersexed lesbians we have had on network TV--lesbian couples who appear to be more like best friends than lovers--but even more welcome would be lesbians who fall somewhere in-between these two extremes.

Fortunately, Nina is presented as a more three-dimensional and less stereotypical character than her friends, particularly through her conversations with Mike, and Leal does an excellent job making Nina likeable. But the writers' decision to saddle Nina with the lesbian-who-wants-your-sperm storyline is boring and trite; we've seen this "plot twist" on TV so many times that you can could amass a fortune in Vegas betting on some version of it cropping up any time an adult lesbian appears on the small screen.

Nina (along with her girlfriend Pam) is one of the few lesbians of color we've ever seen on network TV, and this episode also includes one of the more realistic-looking butch lesbian characters we've seen on network TV. Unfortunately, Pam is presented firmly as an object of ridicule: the editors intercut the slow-motion pan up her body with flashes of Mike's horrified look to invite viewers to sympathize with Mike's shock and dismay at Pam's masculine appearance.

On the plus side, the words "gay" and "lesbian" are used matter-of-factly and liberally throughout the episode, and aside from Mary's overreaction when she woke up in bed with Sam, the straight female characters exhibit a relaxed and accepting attitude towards lesbian sexuality. Mary, Delinda and Sam have little difficulty pretending to be gay, and Sam's comment at the end that "you fall for the person, not the gender" is a nice nod to bisexuality, even if we know Sam isn't really ever going to date a woman.

In the end, this episode of Las Vegas offers a few funny, entertaining lesbian moments while reinforcing a lot of stereotypes at the same time. But even with its flaws, this is likely to be the most diverse representation of lesbians we'll see on a scripted network TV show this season.