I'd been thinking about that for a while, with respect to all the TV shows I've watched at least semi-regularly. I'm sure things are different for The L Word, Queer as Folk, or other dramas that focus on queer characters, but in my viewing experience the answer is no for weekly television dramas. (In one episode of Arrested Development, two police officers reveal to the main character that they're in a homosexual relationship. Camp acting and gay jokes abound, as per usual on AD. They walk off with their newborn baby and survive the credits, but then again, it's a comedy.) In the comedy-drama Wonderfalls, Sharon and Beth have a tumultuous on-and-off relationship, but Sharon's a main character. I can't recall whether their relationship is referenced after episode 9 (of 13 total episodes).
On DW, there's one lesbian couple in "Gridlock" who I think survive the credits. As for Torchwood: all the female same-sex encounters/relationships we've seen thus far fit the Evil/Dead Lesbian cliché pretty well. (I'm not counting Suzie kissing Gwen, since Gwen doesn't reciprocate, but Suzie would be another one for the Evil/Dead category if the atmosphere of that scene were different.) In two of three extant cases, the female body is possessed by a sexually aggressive killer alien (Carys, Mary), whom Jack then kills. The predatory way in which that sexuality is exercised is directly tied to the alien's characterization as Evil. I don't think it matters that much that "Carys" ends up rejecting Gwen in favor of male victims; the female body inhabited by the alien goes on a man-killing rampage across the city. While I don't think the ruthless, sadistic bi-lesbian imperialists in "Fragments" are supposed to be out-and-out evil, they certainly fit the Lesbians Are Scary mold. Apparently lesbians yearn to torture a walking, talking Ken doll with nipple clamps (http://spiralsheep.livejournal.com/202851.html?thread=2885731)! Thanks for sharing, RTD! (Plus, they remain anonymous onscreen during that episode, unlike Gerald and Harriet in "To the Last Man." It's easier to dehumanize characters who aren't granted names. The character Alice Guppy returned in the S2 finale and might have been named onscreen then; I don't remember because I was trying to block her terrible acting, heh.)
As for Jack's TW references to past same-sex encounters/relationships, plus possibly the photos of Jack with men in "Something Borrowed"—I'm glad they're there, I'm sure they'll continue, and I believe some or all of his homosexcapade stories are true. But we don't get to see flashbacks to any of them, so their emotional impact is much smaller than what we do watch on-screen. That last arc of DW S3 made it clear the Doctor wasn't going to reciprocate Jack's feelings; even the Doctor's response to Jack's affection is really guarded, to say the least, except when the Doctor talks about Rose. Of course, they both have time to reevaluate things during that year on the Valiant; Jack declines the Doctor's invitation back to the TARDIS and moves on. We don't have a concrete image of Jack and John's five-year relationship, although we can deduce that it was characterized by a lot of sex, violence, and probably psychosis before they parted as Time Agents. Considering Jack's lack of real surprise after John betrays the TW team and admits to murdering a lover, odds are in favor that Jack's seen John commit murder in cold blood before. (Or am I misinterpreting based on Barrowman's always-questionable acting skills?) It's nice that it turned out John was in a do-or-die bond with Gray, as opposed to John being obsessively and murderously fixated on Jack; I have to think Gray forced John to murder the unnamed woman of color depicted in the hologram, too, or I don't know why Jack would let him loose on Earth at the end of the finale. However, Jack and John are certainly not a relationship that survives the credits, since the reciprocated part of their relationship was over before we even saw it: the kiss near the beginning of the S2 opener was really both hello again and the postscript to that end.
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branchandroot
Representation and privilege, part 1
Date: 2008-05-19 08:13 am (UTC)On DW, there's one lesbian couple in "Gridlock" who I think survive the credits. As for Torchwood: all the female same-sex encounters/relationships we've seen thus far fit the Evil/Dead Lesbian cliché pretty well. (I'm not counting Suzie kissing Gwen, since Gwen doesn't reciprocate, but Suzie would be another one for the Evil/Dead category if the atmosphere of that scene were different.) In two of three extant cases, the female body is possessed by a sexually aggressive killer alien (Carys, Mary), whom Jack then kills. The predatory way in which that sexuality is exercised is directly tied to the alien's characterization as Evil. I don't think it matters that much that "Carys" ends up rejecting Gwen in favor of male victims; the female body inhabited by the alien goes on a man-killing rampage across the city. While I don't think the ruthless, sadistic bi-lesbian imperialists in "Fragments" are supposed to be out-and-out evil, they certainly fit the Lesbians Are Scary mold. Apparently lesbians yearn to torture a walking, talking Ken doll with nipple clamps (http://spiralsheep.livejournal.com/202851.html?thread=2885731)! Thanks for sharing, RTD! (Plus, they remain anonymous onscreen during that episode, unlike Gerald and Harriet in "To the Last Man." It's easier to dehumanize characters who aren't granted names. The character Alice Guppy returned in the S2 finale and might have been named onscreen then; I don't remember because I was trying to block her terrible acting, heh.)
As for Jack's TW references to past same-sex encounters/relationships, plus possibly the photos of Jack with men in "Something Borrowed"—I'm glad they're there, I'm sure they'll continue, and I believe some or all of his homosexcapade stories are true. But we don't get to see flashbacks to any of them, so their emotional impact is much smaller than what we do watch on-screen. That last arc of DW S3 made it clear the Doctor wasn't going to reciprocate Jack's feelings; even the Doctor's response to Jack's affection is really guarded, to say the least, except when the Doctor talks about Rose. Of course, they both have time to reevaluate things during that year on the Valiant; Jack declines the Doctor's invitation back to the TARDIS and moves on. We don't have a concrete image of Jack and John's five-year relationship, although we can deduce that it was characterized by a lot of sex, violence, and probably psychosis before they parted as Time Agents. Considering Jack's lack of real surprise after John betrays the TW team and admits to murdering a lover, odds are in favor that Jack's seen John commit murder in cold blood before. (Or am I misinterpreting based on Barrowman's always-questionable acting skills?) It's nice that it turned out John was in a do-or-die bond with Gray, as opposed to John being obsessively and murderously fixated on Jack; I have to think Gray forced John to murder the unnamed woman of color depicted in the hologram, too, or I don't know why Jack would let him loose on Earth at the end of the finale. However, Jack and John are certainly not a relationship that survives the credits, since the reciprocated part of their relationship was over before we even saw it: the kiss near the beginning of the S2 opener was really both hello again and the postscript to that end.