Just in case you’re on your phone, Last Tango in Halifax spoilers!
So… I honestly held out a sliver of hope, but it’s pretty much confirmed now, yeah? I’ve been reacting for a while, since the speculation started before the end of the season, so this isn’t a shock, but it’s certainly still a major downer. I keep thinking they can’t do it, they could NOT kill off the queer character, surely they must have an idea of what a hurtful, overused trope it is. But nope, apparently it’s still the go-to plot device.
To kill off a woman who’s JUST, the DAY BEFORE, gotten happily married, who is in the final stages of a pregnancy she’s wanted for years, carrying her first child… And, of course, the only freaking PoC (it need not be said, the only WoC and the only Black woman) on the show. That is pretty goddamned cruel. On a show like Last Tango in Halifax, lauded as a warm and funny drama, what sadistic person would think this is a good twist?
I mean, okay, let’s face it, as excellent as Nina Sosanya and Sarah Lancashire have been, and they have definitely elevated this pairing into something really lovely, Kate was always yanked around and treated as a foil for Caroline. Full praise to NS, she carried it off, but there were some pretty weak choices. Still, still, they’re together, Kate is pregnant, Caroline proposes, they’re happy. And then they can barely get a wedding, the episode focusing inexplicably on Gillian and John, Alan and Harry, pretty much everyone else, except for the few minutes to hammer in just how happy they are, and how shoddily they’ve been treated by the people around them, just so that it’s all the more painful and dramatic when it happens.
You know, this used to be my happy rec, when people’d just watched another queer lady storyline go south, I’d say, here, read Kase-san, watch LTiH, it’s okay. So thanks for that, Sally Wainwright, I guess? But I’m out now. If you can’t understand your characters or your viewers or people enough to know what you’re writing, then what am I watching the rest of the show for? You didn’t even have Celia make up for her behavior, instead she doesn’t have to deal with her Black daughter-in-law at all, Lawrence’s problems are cleared up too. Instead of actually addressing the issues, they can apologize after the fact. How nice for them. And I don’t care that Caroline is still on the show. One heartbroken, devastated lesbian and one dead QWoC?
The lesson is, again, don’t ever be too happy. If you’re watching in the hopes of seeing the only healthy, long-term f/f relationship on TV aside from the Fosters, stop, because they’re going to die.
Just in case you’re on your phone, Last Tango in Halifax spoilers!
So… I honestly held out a sliver of hope, but it’s pretty much confirmed now, yeah? I’ve been reacting for a while, since the speculation started before the end of the season, so this isn’t a shock, but it’s certainly still a major downer. I keep thinking they can’t do it, they could NOT kill off the queer character, surely they must have an idea of what a hurtful, overused trope it is. But nope, apparently it’s still the go-to plot device.
To kill off a woman who’s JUST, the DAY BEFORE, gotten happily married, who is in the final stages of a pregnancy she’s wanted for years, carrying her first child… And, of course, the only freaking PoC (it need not be said, the only WoC and the only Black woman) on the show. That is pretty goddamned cruel. On a show like Last Tango in Halifax, lauded as a warm and funny drama, what sadistic person would think this is a good twist?
I mean, okay, let’s face it, as excellent as Nina Sosanya and Sarah Lancashire have been, and they have definitely elevated this pairing into something really lovely, Kate was always yanked around and treated as a foil for Caroline. Full praise to NS, she carried it off, but there were some pretty weak choices. Still, still, they’re together, Kate is pregnant, Caroline proposes, they’re happy. And then they can barely get a wedding, the episode focusing inexplicably on Gillian and John, Alan and Harry, pretty much everyone else, except for the few minutes to hammer in just how happy they are, and how shoddily they’ve been treated by the people around them, just so that it’s all the more painful and dramatic when it happens.
You know, this used to be my happy rec, when people’d just watched another queer lady storyline go south, I’d say, here, read Kase-san, watch LTiH, it’s okay. So thanks for that, Sally Wainwright, I guess? But I’m out now. If you can’t understand your characters or your viewers or people enough to know what you’re writing, then what am I watching the rest of the show for? You didn’t even have Celia make up for her behavior, instead she doesn’t have to deal with her Black daughter-in-law at all, Lawrence’s problems are cleared up too. Instead of actually addressing the issues, they can apologize after the fact. How nice for them. And I don’t care that Caroline is still on the show. One heartbroken, devastated lesbian and one dead QWoC?
The lesson is, again, don’t ever be too happy. If you’re watching in the hopes of seeing the only healthy, long-term f/f relationship on TV aside from the Fosters, stop, because they’re going to die.
