And 100% agree that the writers didn’t need Jess lying to Vanessa to prop up Murphy. Murphy and Jess already had a great friendship. Having a lesbian treat her gf like shit, a girl she supposedly is in love with at that, and saying she could never treat her friend the same way is just gross. Almost as gross as the constant focus on “real” lesbians without acknowledging that bi women exist & aren’t thirsting to be w men when they’re in f/f relationships.
I don’t know if they’ll have Jess and Vanessa actually break up, everyone’s so messy, they might be able to get past it once it’s revealed, which surely it inevitably will be?. But maybe not, this might be the messiest thing someone “good” has done.
And so messy! I know she has her insecurities, that’s consistent, fine, and it’s not even bad character writing, I just don’t see why it would have led to cheating? We’re meant to think Jess is rattled, sure, and upset about Vanessa dismissing her concerns (which–they had to write Vanessa as suddenly flighty and dismissive too, huh), but she’s such a goody two shoes, this just seemed so contrived. To parallel her guilt about Wesley’s death, I get that, but are we really meant to equate her action of, what, being pressured to have a killer in her trunk for a few minutes and then not calling the cops when he gets hit by a car with cheating? The writing in this ep was definitely more about serving plot than character.
And another anon:
The biphobia on In the Dark this episode is so annoying. I gave them a pass with the strap on storyline, because I thought it felt real and at least Jess’s insecurity was understandable given Vanessa’s comment, but this episode just reinforced the worries I had in the back of my head during that storyline. To me, the main issue isn’t even that Jess is acting biphobic, but that the writing is. They don’t even acknowledge that Vanessa is bi, they act like she can only be a lesbian or experimenting
Yes! That’s the weirdest part, that those are the only two things anyone on the show thinks Vanessa can be. I don’t care if characters act a certain way, that’s actually organic and natural writing. People have different opinions, or even when they know something in their head, their heart feels differently, but if it’s the only opinion presented and there isn’t even an effort made to question that? As I’ve said before, if it’s something that’s already clear cut in real life, cheating is bad, murder is bad, I don’t need that to be called out as bad, but when it’s something hazy, when too many people are ignorant about it, I can’t understand why anyone would reinforce it.
At this point I’m left to wonder if the writers actually think that themselves, if everything they write is with that approach.
Hell, it’s not even good writing to act like nobody in this group of young people knows what bisexuality is.