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Fastlane's
Lesbian Episode a Fun But Uneven Ride
(page 4)
by Sarah Warn,
January 2003
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Overall,
the episode was better than most special
"lesbian episodes" at dispelling stereotypes and normalizing
lesbians and lesbian relationships, with a few disturbing exceptions.
It was a fun episode to watch, however, and displayed
probably one of the most realistic portrayals of affection between
lesbians so far on television. This is likely due to the fact
that the writer of the episode, Kim Newton, is a lesbian, as
she indicates here in an interview with Gay.com:
"There
are multiple on-screen kisses that I had to do a little fighting
for, because people get nervous. There's a hot tub make out scene
and a kiss in Girl Bar. We definitely show the physical contact,"
Newton says. "We don't go as far as a true sex scene, but
we have two really nice kissing scenes."
A
producer of Fastlane recently hinted that the character
Billie may actually be a lesbian in a recent interview with
Entertainment Weekly, but this statement appears to
be made mostly in jest as indicated in this excerpt from the
EW article:
''We
want to hint at something in Billie's character -- is she bisexual
because she's doing her job, or is she a lesbian?'' teases exec
producer John McNamara, who says Fox's standards and practices
department gave them major leeway to tell the story (so look
for plenty of making out). ''One thing about the show that's
worked is that it is not afraid to be outrageous when it needs
to be outrageous.''
The
fact that he believes this episode is "outrageous" seems
to imply that it will not be a regular part of the series.
On
the other hand, Newton left open the possibility that Billie might
be gay in her Gay.com interview:
"[Billie's]
character is mysterious, and the guys are always speculating about
what her life is like," Newton
says. "In the first episode we did after the pilot, featuring
motorcycle gang girls, [Van and Deaq] were like, 'You're a lesbian,
aren't you? It's OK with us.' And she doesn't answer them. So
we kind of planted a little seed that she could be gay."
The
episode deliberately left Billie's sexuality ambiguous.
When Van and Deaq are trying to work up the courage to ask Billie
if she's gay or bisexual, they chicken out and instead ask her
if she misses working undercover. The show cuts to a scene of
what Billie is thinking, which is dancing in the club with Sara,
clearly having fun; cutting back to the scene in the office, Billie
smiles and replies, "Yeah, I do."
Clearly,
the producers wants to maintain the ambiguity around whether Billie
might be gay--only time will tell whether this is a ratings ploy
more or a reflection of a real intention to eventually reveal
that Billie is a lesbian.
Update:
Ratings for this episode were up 32% from the previous
week's Fastlane episode, and it was the highest-rated
show on Fox that evening. But
it wasn't enough to make up for the overall lackluster ratings
for the season; in May, 2003, Fastlane was officially
canceled by Fox.
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