It’s April and don’t you worry: Riese has released her highly researched monthly gay streaming guide into the wild! This week, Natalie also crowned the 2023 Autostraddle: March Madness Trope-y Wives champion! Recaps? We got ’em! This week. Drew recapped Drag Race, Kayla recapped Yellowjackets, and Natalie recapped Stef and Lena’s return to Good Trouble. We’ve also got a special edition of To L and Back to bid adieu to Gen Q. (Gen Q has been yanked from Showtime’s streaming services???) Heather made a list of excellent LGBTQ TV parents. Carmen wrote beautifully about Mo’Nique coming out in her new Netflix special. Drew interviewed Mae Martin about their new comedy special and she also told us why she’ll watch anything queer made before 2000.
But our other Elite 8 Chefbian Karen Akunowicz wasn’t as fortunate, falling in the round to 2021 TOC Champion Maneet Chauhan. The randomizer forced the chefs to make a raw and cooked dish using chicken livers, hearts of palm, tostapane, and camel milk. Both chefs fried their chicken livers but Chef Karen’s sauce dampened her livers’ crunchy exterior which seemed to disappoint the judges. — Natalie
Carina and Maya wake up together in Carina’s hotel room after spending last night in bed. Ok so they both have their clothes on and slept facing each other from opposite sides, so maybe not exactly what you think (yet), but I found something romantic in the two wives sharing space. Carina agrees with me, telling Maya: “It’s nice to feel safe with you” before jetting out the door.
Before Carina can leave, Maya asks if maybe they can.. share space… again tonight, but Carina’s not quite sure. She’d prefer if they check in first after they see how the day goes. Which isn’t an unreasonable request! Though it’s hard not to have a little heartache over Maya’s small and understandable disappointment.
So let’s check in on their day, shall we? Carina and Bailey, along with Ben Warren for a lil backup, tour a Pregnancy Crisis Center that has stolen the name of Bailey’s clinic and is using it to trick patients into coming in to meet with anti-abortion activists basically cosplaying as doctors (if you want to read more about Pregnancy Crisis Centers I really recommend it, I appreciated last night’s episode taking the topic head on, even if I found some of the dialogue clunky). Watching Ben and Bailey together helps Carina realize how much she misses Maya and wants her back. She ends her day running to the forestation to be with her… but first!
On Maya’s day, she is out on an emergency call with Station 19 in response to a house that’s essentially also a sinkhole (just follow me here). And I bet you can see where we are going here, but this sinkhole-like situation also helps Maya get some clarity about Carina. Ok great! Now back to the end-of-the-day forestation.
Maya is cleaning the truck when Carina comes rushing in (we did not talk enough about how sensation Stefania Spampinato looked last night, by the way). And I thought that Carina was going to do a big Shondaland romantic gesture, a swooping kiss while all the firefighters cheered and a swell of music. But what happens next, fittingly, felt so much more secure.
Maya tells Carina that she gets it now. She wants to be back with Carina, of course she does, but you see — when they first moved in together, it’s hard to remember from where we are now but it was the middle of the pandemic and it came after they’d had quite a few original bumps in the road. Then there was everything with Maya’s dad, her demotion at work, and all of that contributed to a place where they had a weak foundation to build from. And instead of strengthening that foundation, Maya tried to build a whole metaphorical house on it (get it?), which made everything worse. But she’d like to try again. She’d like to build a stronger foundation this time, for them both.
Carina tells Maya that she wants to be back together with her, she does. She can feel their magnetic pull whenever they are together, and it would be so easy to just give in. But she can’t. She needs to take it slow this time. She needs Maya to pursue her.
And so Maya, full of swag and hopefulness, breaks into a smile that could light a thousand suns. If Carina wants to take it slow, how about they start with Maya Bishop taking her wife out on a date.
