Right up until last fall, there was a certain thing that had never been done on a primetime major-network drama. That thing would be a serious kiss between two adult men. Grey’s Anatomy did this thing last fall, and I’m glad. And on the season 15 fall finale - two episodes after the kiss - they aired an actual love scene between those same two actors, Alex Landi and Jake Borelli.
I have never watched the show, but I admire the entire team for taking on this storyline and for not doing a kiss and then running away. “Hey we did it! Check that off the list.” I also am pleased that the follow-up stories are not all things like ‘Jake Borelli reports death threats.’ I am so pleased, in fact, that I’m probably going to acquire season 15 and watch it.
One reason this is of interest to me is I think it’s a long-overdue and culturally significant milestone in representation. Imagine for a moment that every primetime drama features a romantic subplot in which both lovers are men. Or both lovers are women. None of those couples are man-woman.
If you are part of a man-woman romantic relationship, you’re going to watch those shows thinking ‘why are these stories never about ME?’
So now you know how gay people feel.
Especially gay men, who have been relegated to The Joke or The Villain for most of TV history. A few female-female relationships have been treated seriously in mainstream TV, and a couple of teenage male-male relationships, but no adult male-male relationships. Those are apparently very scary.
But it’s happening here and there. 9-1-1 Lone Star has done it, as of early this year. A Fox show! Bravo, y’all! Before long - I hope - these relationships will simply be part of the TV world the way they are part of the real world.
The other reason the subject is of interest is, two of my fictional characters do that thing. The first serious kiss between two adult men in a primetime major-network drama thing. My novel EXPOSURE (first published as a novella in 2018) features an actor named Victor Garcia who plays a detective on a cop show. His lover Andy Martin is offered a role for the express purpose of breaking that taboo. In story time, this happens in spring of 2015 (4.5 years before Grey’s did it, if you’re counting), and death threats are not the least of what Andy and Victor face.
Now, with very little fanfare, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a parallel relationship happening on The Rookie. I was hoping for this. Last season, the character Jackson West was established as gay. It was further established that nobody in the police department much cares; it is simply a fact, part of who he is, not controversial. He was given a relationship in season 1 that was largely conducted offscreen. But in season 2 he was introduced to a new character. The new character is an actor who plays a cop on TV. The attraction was set up right away. There was a Moment. And then we kind of didn’t hear anything about the relationship (including any hints about whether it even was a relationship) for the rest of the fall episodes.
But - BUT! - they brought it back in, and in a way that makes me really happy. (Unlike some internet commenters who complain about how there is a gay character in every show now and why. Well, because gay people exist everywhere and take part in life. Get over it.) Sorry, digressed a little there.
What The Rookie did with Jackson West was, simply, let him have that relationship. We recently saw that he and the TV cop are indeed together. And we saw them kiss. Not in a big OMG DRAMA way; in a perfectly natural way, the same way male-female couples kiss on TV shows all the time. One person opening the door, hi honey; the other person leaning in for a kiss, so good to see you; and then on to conversation. This is life. This is how couples behave.
Of course, the story then went to some conflict. Personally I thought it was quite-realistic conflict: the TV cop has publicity to do, and it screws up Jackson’s ability to function as a real cop. It looked for a minute as if they would have to break up. And they did … but it was fake. Oh the glee. Oh the real appreciation of the writers (and producers, including Nathan Fillion, thank you) for having that scene play out with the help of Jackson’s trainer on the force, Angela. She doesn’t care if he’s gay. It’s irrelevant. She only wants him to be happy AND to be able to function as a police officer.
Angela’s (male-female) relationship has been given approximately 20 times as much screen time as Jackson’s. All the other relationships on the show are male-female. Jackson’s story will not be turning The Rookie into a pride parade. But it’s significant, and I’m glad they are doing it.