I’m back from Barcelona, but as the new season of Wynonna Earp only comes out weekly and I’m already done with the new season of Orange is the New Black my days are empty. I did a bit of research and found another four-piece batch of LGBTQ+ series that will keep me entertained for the rest of Summer.
G.L.O.W.
Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling presents the unexpected success of female wrestling on television in the 1980’s, in true Netflix fashion. I can safely say I have never seen a wrestling match in my life before watching this show. Since then, I’ve even attended live matches. The story is about a group of women who, unsuspecting, show up to an audition, only for the director to turn them into wrestlers in a blink of an eye. The first season introduces the characters, the main conflict is borne of the differences between the two main characters, Ruth (Zoya) and Debbie (Liberty Belle) both on a personal and on ring-politics level. By the end of the first season both of them turn out to be sympathetic, and the second season just doesn’t take itself seriously, making the overall tone of the series even better. Even though the LGBTQ+ arc only really comes into play by the end of the second season all the episodes are worth watching. The world is captivating and will pull you in very quickly.
Brooklyn Nine Nine
It took me a long while to get to this series, but at least I had five whole seasons to watch all at once. The story presents the life of a police station, and, let’s just say the tone isn’t necessarily serious. In the first season we ‘only’ get one LGBTQ+ hero, Ray Holt, the Black captain of the station, but by the fifth season we find out that Rosa Diaz (one of the detectives) is also bisexual. All the other characters are lovable too, and besides staying hilarious all the way through, the show also satirises the day-to-day politics of the US. For a moment it looked like the original network the show aired on would cancel it, but fortunately the NBC stepped in and a sixth season was greenlit. This way we can continue to follow Rosa’s bumbling efforts at dating.
Black Lightning
Just like in the case of Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, the characters come from the DC universe. In Freeland, the director of the local school is trying to save Black children via education, even though eight years before the beginning of the story he was doing the same as the superhero Black Lightning. After a new drug turns up in the city Black Lightning returns while one of his daughters, Anissa, also finds her powers. Anissa is a Black, educated lesbian girl, who after discovering her air-manipulating powers takes up the fight against the city’s drug-dealers while also trying to live up to her family’s expectations and dating. Superhero action is always central to DC series (except for Supergirl sometimes, which has gotten enough flack for this) – and so it is here also. Let’s hope the second season will show more of Anissa’s relationships.
Vida
The surprise of my Summer – I must admit I only watched it for the sake of the rec list, as I had other series lined up too. This drama is about two sisters, it takes place in California, in the Latino community and starts after the death of the girls’ mother. Emma is a successful businesswoman, Lyn is living the high life in a big city. When they get the bad news, they have to put their lives on hold and go back to their hometown for the funeral. In their old home they meet Eddy - along with a score of old problems that piled up over the years. Both girls have to face their pasts and there are a lot of unresolved issues. All characters are interesting but Emma is my personal favourite because she’s simply smart, all her actions show she knows what she’s doing and she’s radiating confidence. If you sit down to watch the show, I can guarantee you’ll only get up after the sixth episode.
Translated by Zsófia Ziaja
