Brain Dump: Queer Eye 5, Vida, and Batwoman

It’s a day for emptying out short thoughts on this and that. I’ll give you a quick wallop about season 5 of Queer Eye, the end of Vida, and the new casting on Batwoman.

Queer Eye, season 5

Season 5 of Queer Eye takes place in Philadelphia. It’s like all the other seasons – the cast bring love and acceptance along with a makeover to some lucky person. I want to mention two things.

First, Jonathan Van Ness is now identifying as nonbinary. Jonathan shows up in skirts a good bit of the time in season 5. Go, Jonathan!

Secondly, Karamo Brown makes the most brilliant statements about race and immigration and black lives matter. He does it without saying a word. The messages are on his tee shirts. I wish I had written down everything from Karamo’s tee shirts, because he said some powerful things.

Vida

Vida ended after 3 seasons. I think this is a damn shame! The series told important stories about Latinx people encompassing all sorts of issues. The characters were just beginning to get a grip on who they were and what kind of future they wanted for themselves. I feel lucky to have seen this series. It’s the kind of real storytelling we need on television.

Were you a fan of this series?

Batwoman

I’m sure you’ve heard that Ruby Rose left Batwoman. At first, the word was that Kate Kane would be recast and the show would go on with a new Kate. While not perfect, that was better than the next announcement.

The showrunner (Caroline Dries) announced that a new character, a woman named Ryan, would come in and take over the part of Batwoman. This seems problematic to me. Rachel Skarsten as Alice, Meagan Tandy as Sophie, Dougray Scott as Kate and Alice’s father – all those roles and relationships depend on Batwoman being Kate Kane.

Without Kate, everything and everyone else is out the window. This seems like a bad idea to me.

What do you think about the new character vs. a replacement in the role of Kate?