This topic has always been at the back of my mind, but as a gay woman growing up in a world with little to no representation of other gay women in the media, I kept quiet because I thought any representation was better than no representation. Thanks to the recent events on the television show "The 100," I can no longer keep silent on a recurring theme in television shows: no lesbian couple can ever be happy.
My statement might sound broad but if you look back through the years at all the television shows that have featured lesbian couples, most of them do not have a happy ending. These couples end in either one of two ways: break up or death. I can already hear people saying “So what? People in T.V. shows die all the time. Why are you making a big deal about this?” I’ll tell you why this is a big deal. Heterosexual characters are the majority when it comes to being the main, supporting, and even background characters on shows. Straight people might feel a bit sad when their favorite character dies but that pain fades away quickly, like a paper cut or when you stub your toe. They do not have to deal with real heartache because they have been, and always will be, represented in whatever show they watch. When it comes to the LGBT community, we do not get that luxury. Sometimes we have to squint really hard to find even a glimpse of someone like us. And, even when we find those characters that we can connect to so intensely, they are almost always ripped away from us. And that, my friends, is not fair.
You can find examples of this problem all over the place. For example, in the earlier seasons of "Pretty Little Liars,"Emily Fields fell in love with girl next door, Maya St. Germain. These two teenage girls find solstice and love with each amongst the terrible situations surrounding them. Everything was going swimmingly until Maya was tragically killed by a guy she met at rehabilitation camp who stalked her back home. Her grisly end was cruel and unusual and completely out of nowhere. Sure, Maya wasn’t a main character but the love she shared with Emily was real and the fans who basked in their relationship were heartbroken, myself included.
There are so many other examples I could list but I really want to get into the real reason that launched me into writing this piece. I want to talk about the worst lesbian relationship ending in 2016. I am talking about Clarke and Lexa from "The 100." I will admit I was not a fan of the show when it came out; not because it wasn’t a good show but it is not my usual cup of tea so I never watched it, that is until one night when I was on Tumblr and saw a gif set of these two beautiful young women: Clarke and Lexa. Their chemistry was out of this world and I knew I had to start watching just so I could catch some of their romantic moments. And I am so glad I did start watching because their relationship was so realistic and genuine that I became a total fangirl. Clarke and Lexa were two young women forced into the role of leader of their people and they both had to make tremendous sacrifices in the name of keeping their people alive and well in the apocalyptic world that surrounded them. When they first met in season 2, Lexa was cold hearted and blood thirsty while Clarke was rational and optimistic. After the traumatic events at the end of the season that I cannot get into without crying, Clarke and Lexa met again but this time they switched rolls. And even after the betrayal, loss of trust, and outright rage they had towards each other, Clarke and Lexa helped each other grow into amazing leaders and even better people. That is why the events of last week’s episode were so hard to swallow. Lexa was hit by a stray bullet and died in Clarke’s arms just after they finally shared a romantic moment that fans had been waiting for since their first kiss in season 2. Finally we thought we had one stable power lesbian couple who survived so much and decided to take a shot at a real relationship again. Fans of Clexa (their ship name) could not even bask in that beautiful moment before it was ripped away in the worst way possible. Even if the show planned on killing Lexa off, why did they have to put all of it into one episode? Why did they give us the hope of a happy ending if they were just planning to snatch it away with no warning? Lexa was an amazingly strong character that deserved a much better way to go than some cheap gunshot death.
I know some of you will read this and think “it’s just television, why are you so mad?” and you would be wrong to think that. This is not just about some character dying on T.V; that happens all the time. I mean, just look at "Game of Thrones." No, this about us living in the year 2016 and still television writers cannot produce a long lasting, happy lesbian couple. I am not saying I want some robotic couple that has the perfect life; no one’s relationship is perfect. And, yes, there have been some shows here and there that actually carry a happy storyline for lesbian couples, but the bad outweighs the good in this situation. For every one happy straight couple, there are ten lesbian couples that reach an ugly end.
Television show writers, we are not asking for a lot. I promise you that there are happy lesbian couples out there that have been together for years. So, for once, let the lesbians be happy, okay?
RIP to these couples. Gone, but not forgotten.
Tina Kennard and Bette Potter, "The L Word"
Yes, in the end they did get together but those seasons they were not together were so tragic that they still deserve to be on this list.
Maya St. Germain and Emily Fields, "Pretty Little Liars"
Sameen Shaw and Root, "Person of Interest"
Please let Shaw come back in Season 5!!
Clarke and Lexa, "The 100"
Will. Never. Be. Over. This.
Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins, "Grey's Anatomy"
Come on Shonda, give them back to us!
Luisa and Rose, "Jane the Virgin"
True, Rose was a big bad drug lord but still.
Naomi and Emily, "Skins"
Dana and Alice, "The L Word"
Cosima and Delphine, "Orphan Black"
There are so many more examples I could list but I don't want to end this on a sad note. So, to balance everything out, I will shout out the one lesbian couple who have survived the odds and stayed together.
Lena and Stef Foster, "The Fosters"