A "Mistress" goes back to men?

First of all no I don't think she will go back to women, even though I think she should... and secondly in general I really disliked this first episode, not because there was a lack of girl on girl but because the characters have all become super boring except from one who has just become a whore... I like the last season when they were all having affairs and ruining lesbian weddings. 

I am in two minds about this... Of course I would love her to have a relationship with a woman as I am a lesbian, but at the same time I don't wanna get down on the show or the character because she's now with a man. How can drama ever portray a bisexual woman effectively if every time they're with a man it's seen as a disappointment.

The important thing for me is that she was never a lesbian, and so she is not a lesbian who has 'gone back' to men and perpetuated the awful sterotype that women just need a good man to convert them.

Isn't the first season supposed to air in the states sometime soon?  I need an update because I really want to watch this show.  Shelley Conn is basically irresistible.

http://www.nimzigirls.com

Its typical that when the girl whose into girls goes on a break from the series, she ends up coming back with a man!

I just have a funny feeling that once again, television has disappointed us and stuck the bi/lesbian character in a show back with men. And some how, I have a feeling that she's not going to end up with a girl any time soon either!

 I had real hopes for the show too! Shelly is hot!

It was obviuos that Jessica will get back to men. Clearly it is more fun just to play around with female characters like that. She's a lesbian when it's convenient, but all in all she's straight. And her new partner is cheating on her... Great...

But I'm willing to believe that it's just a phase (though it could also be said about her female crush...).

First of all, did she ever say she was gay? If she hasn't, she isn't going back to men, the relationship simply ended. Secondly, why do people keep focusing on the way this ended? She had an affair with a woman and (from what I've seen) it wasn't treated different from an affair with a men. Plus, she isn't portrayed as some brainless chick wanting some girl-on-girl action, she just was attracted to another person. Is it so hard to be satisfied? They could have made it into some crazy straight-girl-turns-gay-and-has-an-affair-but-gets-dissappointed-and-starts-to-stalk-her-ex-and-then-goes-nuts-and-kills-her-and-goes-straight-again-thing, but they didn't.

I don't mean this in the wrong way, but I feel like the 'going back to men' thing is just projection.

Also, if you (meaning both AE writers and readers) are so profoundly against  the stereotyping of lesbians, maybe you should stop doing it yourself! 'We gay women need closure', that's just BS! Yes, there are people who 'need closure' but please, don't make it a gay thing!!!!

I doubt Jess will meet a woman in this series and have a meaningful relationship. However, from my understanding Jess is in an 'open' marriage, so the writers could still well write in a female fling for her character I suppose, but doubt that will happen either.

 

I will say that Shelley's character never actually came out as gay, and I think it would have seemed weird had she done so, so it's perfectly reasonable in a context-free world for her now to be dating a man. Maybe she's bisexual, maybe she is 'anna-torv-sexual' (that I would definitely understand *smile*), we don't know ... all we know is that she didn't id as gay/lesbian.

However, that said, this isn't a context-free world, and what that means is that any action and/or character-portrayal comes with a large background. And that background is one where bisexual women are portrayed in the media of merely dipping a toe into the gay/lesbian pool, and than leaping out again, never to be seen anywhere else but the straight pool-surround.

Just for once I would love to see a bisexual character date a woman, and then next, date ANOTHER woman afterward ... making out bisexual women as either bouncing between alternate genders like a tennis match, or merely having one flash with women before returning to the safety of men are BOTH huge disservices to bisexual women, as I say such as a lesbian woman.

Again, yes, if there weren't a long and virtually 100% history of portrayals of bisexual women being of the pool-dipping variety in the media, Shelley's character now dating a man would be disappointing (hey, I am a lesbian after all *smile*) but not something we could take that much umbrage at as the life of a bisexual woman.

But the thing is, we don't live in a world without that history. And so, this is me reeks of just yet another cliched example of a media  exploitation of bisexual women for titillation before she returns to the supposed inevitable reality of effective straightness.

I mean, I feel shitty enough about this as a lesbian, I can't imagine how bad it would be as a bisexual woman to see portrayal after portrayal like this. 

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http://kiwi-grrl.livejournal.com/

That doesn't surprise me, I thought they'd drop the storyline completely. At the same time it's still very disappointing though.

I'm glad you brought this to light Trish. After watching the first episode of the second season last night, I too wondered how other gay mistresses fans felt about the apparent gloss over of Jessica and Alex's love affair. For me, D-i-s-a-p-p-o-i-n-t-m-e-n-t, was an understatement.

Initially I felt completely deflated... Yet another sapphic storyline abandoned. Boo!! To add insult to injury, they married her off to a complete twat, who she has known two minutes...with not even an ounce of the chemistry displayed by Jessica and Alex. 

However, I have faith in this fabulous show and I can't help but watch on. I believe that this storyline is the result of Torv being commited elsewhere (as Trish suggested). As we are aware, Jessica is sexually fluid and I think that this genuinely would be her reaction to whatever she had, felt and lost concerning Alex. It sucks, yes! But this is not the end of jessica as we knew her, I'm sure. I just hope we won't be let down.

I wasn't sure if this series would get a second chance...and where was that storyline?! Is the BBC turning in to ABC?!?!  I'm joining you all with the disappointment though. Jessica, I would've signed that thing then sued his ass!

Well quite uneventful...though I think that guy was a little dodgy...what goes around comes around.

I think the best part was trying to spot where the different locations were around my own city, Bristol! Spotted a few in my neck of the woods - but none of the lovely ladies...yet! 

"Happiness is only real when shared"

“The core of mans’ spirit comes from new experiences.”
- Chris J McCandless

I'm kind of in two minds as well, although it would of been awseome if Jess was with another woman rather than a man, but I understand that she never labelled herself as lesbian/gay, so its not like she's doing something completely out of character. Before she met Alex, she was very into men, like in a sluttish way (usually I don't like characters like this, but come one, it's Shelley bloody Conn! Hot much?!) so the whole alex storyline was much more out of character than this one. Also, I'm actually glad Torv's character isn't in this series, although I did love her don't get me wrong, but I thought the way they ended it in the last episode of season 1 was really nice (well as nice as a break up can be) and I loved the way Conn portrayed Jess in that scene, and of course the music, which is always amazing in this show IMO, (The song was Sigur Ros - Untitled #1 [Vaka] is anyone wanted to know) made it seem beautiful and like, final. I think if they'd of brought Alex back it would of dragged on a bit, and that wouldn't of been good. I liked the way they ended it with Jess 'valuing' (sp?) herself too much to carry on. Yes it would of been great to see Jess in another relationship with a woman, but I love the show enough to still like her character even if she is with a man. Plus I love all the other characters too, and think the shows one of the best things to come from the BBC in the last few years for sure. It'd be great for lesbian/bi visibility to have a lesbian/bi character on such a big show, but I think the way they handled the Jess/Alex relationship was really great so I can kind of forgive them for her being with a man this season I think :) The fact Shelley Conn and the other 3 leading women are majorly attractive (Orla Brady - *melts* For some reason I have a huge love for N.Irish accents!) certainly doesn't hurt :P

Wow, ok thats longer than I'd planned haha, my bad! Also, apoligies for my lack of correct grammar, but it's late and I'm knackered lol!

:)

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http://gangstapirateyo.blogspot.com/

I bought the dvds I enjoyed this different show on british telly,
but i heard about Jessica being back with a bloke and decided I'd rather like to stay with my image of series 1 and decided not to bother with this season. HA HA

all is well in my verison lol :P

 

balance and perservance

I probably won't watch season 2 but it's more for a lack of interest rather than being disappointed with the show. I enjoyed the lesbian relationship in the first season and really like the way it was handled. The friends discussed it but it wasn't scandalized or trivialized - it just was what it was.

 

I never saw Jessica as being lesbian or even necessarily bi, even though if we were to force a label on her bi would probably fit. She just seemed sexually free from the beginning and so open to whatever experience came her way.

Holy Crap!!

I knew Anna Torv looked familar when I started watching Fringe!

 

It's the BBC, so she won't. Despite having showed some good lesbian themed dramas like Tipping the Velvet and Figersmith these are fairly one-off programmes.  I would classify the BBC as the most conservative of the UK's five primary TV channels, so I'd be highly surprised if a recurring character in a programme like Mistresses found lasting love with a woman (apart from the men of course!).