On
January 17th, Fastlane
aired its "lesbian episode," and despite
the cringe-worthy title ("Strap On") and a few negative
stereotypes, the series did a surprisingly good job of realistically
and positively portraying lesbians and lesbian relationships.
The
Fox drama, which has just moved to Friday nights at 8pm, is
centered around three undercover cops in L.A.: Officers' Van
(Peter Facinelli) and Deaq (Bill Bellamy) and their boss, Lt.
Wilhelmina 'Billie' Chambers (Tiffani Thiessen, formerly known
as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen). Each hour-long episode revolves
around a specific undercover assignment, and the series features
liberal use of the slo-mo and multiple-windows camera techniques
accompanied by a lot of flashy clothes and hip music.
The
storyline in the lesbian episode basically boils down
to this: Deaq's house is robbed by a pair of
female burglers--Sara and Jill, played by Jaime Pressly and
Colleen Porch, respectively--and in order to catch them, Billie
goes undercover as a lesbian/bisexual women and develops a relationship
with Sara after "accidentally" meeting her in a lesbian
club.
Tiffani
Thiessen is best known for her roles in the long-running television
series Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills 90210,
and Jaime Pressly for her role as a cheerleader in the teen
movie-spoof Not Another Teen Movie.
The
portrayal of lesbian and bisexual women in this episode
is interesting. In some ways, the episode is very progressive
and gay-positive; in other ways, it's is regressive and stereotypical.
To better illustrate this, I've categorized the episode's lesbian-related
content into three areas--the good, the bad, and the mixed bag--based
on how they portray or reflect upon lesbians and lesbian relationships.
The
Good
1)
Overall, Billie and Sara's interactions are very believable--in
fact, the two are more believable as a couple than many characters
in lesbian movies. The way their relationship develops is fairly
natural and realistic (for TV), and the two have very good chemistry.
2)
Billie is clearly not at all uncomfortable with lesbians and
displays of lesbian sexuality. She illustrates this several
times throughout the series by frequently acting as the aggressor
with Sara (grabbing Sara's ass in the parking lot scene and
pulling her close, instigating the kiss in the hot tub, etc.)
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