Earlier this summer, Danielle Brooks--a.k.a. Taystee from Orange is the New Black--wouldn't tell us much about Season 2 of the Netflix hit, but she did reveal that she'd finished an episode of Girls Season 3, saying, "But I don't want to spoil it for you guys. Another show that explores female relationships in a grittier way. I play a totally different character, for sure."
Since it's Girls, I naturally expected her storyline to be shocking in some way but, again, since it's Girls, it was beyond what I expected--making it that much better. That's Lena Dunham's brain for ya--always out there, always keeping viewers on their toes.
Like her Orange character, Brooks's guest role (Laura) in the episode, titled "Females Only"/"Truth or Dare" finds herself in a highly-regulated institution, but this time it's rehab, not prison. She's in close quarters with Jessa (Jemima Kirke), who really just needs to be in rehab for a chronic case of foot-in-mouth syndrome. Case in point: She dismisses Laura's very real problems of drug addiction and history of sexual abuse and just announces to the group that she believes Laura is a lesbian. Nice. [Some SPOILERS ahead, so stop reading if you don't want to know the big Ep 1 "reveal."]
Even though Jessa is brutally insensitive, she apparently has some spot-on gaydar, which we find out when Laura admits that she's indeed gay, and that she is worried about telling anyone because they might ask to her to "do sports." Always remember: Not all lesbians want to play sports with you.
Then, Jessa pulls a Sarah Michelle Gellar circa Cruel Intentions, but since it's HBO, we don't just get a makeout session--we get Jessa going down on Laura. Yet another instance of this show "exploring female relationships in a grittier way."
Since the stereotypical Andrew Rannells' recurring character Elijah (who doesn't show up in the premiere of the season) has been the only representation of gay culture on the show up until now, I'm hopeful that Girls will continue to explore more LGBT characters, especially ones like Laura who don't fit cookie-cutter "gay character" molds. Come on, Lena, we think you can muster that.
GIF set via Jenna-Maroney.tumblr.com
