Last night we witnessed the birth of a new show on FOX called Rosewood, and it was certainly a special event because we saw not one, but TWO lesbian characters. The show follows Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. aka “Rosie” (played by Morris Chestnut), a private pathologist in Miami, who is on a mission to find out how his victims actually died. He also happens to have a lesbian sister, Pippy Rosewood (played by Gabrielle Dennis) who assists her bother at his autopsy lab.
(Speaking of the lab, did anyone else feel like they were going to be beamed up to outer space when the lights went down or was that just me?)
Anyways, Rosie’s sister Pippy is engaged to Tara aka TMI (played by Anna Konkle) and within the first five minutes we already are seeing a lovers quarrel when Pippy refers to their upcoming nuptials as “my wedding” which Kathy quickly corrects her: “You mean OUR wedding.” Whoops.
TMI is also an employee of Rosie’s high tech lab, which means Pippy and TMI are working together. If anyone has ever worked with their partner before, we know this can sometimes be a deadly move, but so far so good for them.
While handling the “morning rounds,” as Rosie likes to call it (basically going around making sure his sister didn’t screw something up), in walks Pippy’s mother Donna (played by Lorraine Toussaint aka Vee from OITNB) who says she had an ex-student that was killed so she paid to have the body shipped to Rosie’s lab for him to do an autopsy on because “something didn’t sit right” with her.
As TMI, Pippy and Rosie enter what I will call the “hub” of the laboratory, they begin to do a full autopsy on the body and within minutes, Rosie sees something he clearly doesn’t like. He tells the girls to fast track the tests while he takes a visit to the police department, where he meets a very lovely lady cop Detective Annalise Villa (played by Jaina Lee Ortiz). Rosie tells her about how the autopsy on the body he just examined was a murder (even though police say she accidentally drove off a bridge in her car), and also starts flirting with the cop profusely, making the scenes a little uncomfortable. WHERE ARE THE LESBIANS?
The next morning Pippy goes to Rosie’s and, when he asks her what took so long, she responds with, “Unlike Beyonce, I don’t wake up like this.” (Favorite line of the episode right there). As they banter back and forth as siblings do, Rosie has a realization about how the girl in the accident died and asks Pippy to call TMI so they can all meet at the lab to figure this out. Apparently TMI is unavailable because she is taking a POLE DANCING CLASS in order to “prep for their honeymoon.” (Ladies, who here has done pole dancing on their honeymoon? We need to talk!)
Cut to later in the day: Pippy shows up at the lab to find TMI working and she starts barking orders at her asking for things, which TMI quickly points out, “I don’t like your tone” and follows up with “I don’t appreciate it.” Pippy tells her that she is dragging her “adorable little feet” by not getting her something on time. And this is why working with your partner scares me.
As the episode moves forward, Rosie and the hot detective are on a mission to find out who killed the girl because she most definitely did not drive her car off a bridge on her own. Rosie is suddenly playing pathologist and cop. While Pippy, TMI, Rosie and Detective Annalise are breaking down the evidence, Pippy and TMI have a little moment looking into each others eyes while Pippy rubs TMI’s back. This is the second time we will have seen the couple make physical contact with each other and it’s weak. I am choosing to see where this goes though considering its the first episode and they were technically at work, so that would be inappropriate. Therefore, they are forgiven.
The show has somewhat of a Dexter vibe to it; perhaps it’s Miami setting or the Spanish music playing in the background in virtually every scene (can we maybe tone the music down a bit, Fox?). Of course Rosie isn’t a serial killer nor was he a cop, but you get what I’m saying! I was expecting a more serious, cop type show and although there was a serious storyline, there is a lot of silly humor not to mention a cute lesbian couple, so it was a lot more fun to watch than I anticipated. Keep in mind it was the first episode so we’ll see where it goes from here!
Let us know if you liked the show and if you’ll keep watching.
Rosewood airs Wednesdays at 8pm on FOX. You can watch the pilot on Fox.com.
Follow Erin Faith Wilson: @erinfaithwilson
