In an effort to build a space for queer people like myself, every Tuesday I’ll be posting interviews, opinion pieces, listicles, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latinx community since I am Latinx.) Welcome to Queerly Not Straight! Enjoy and leave a comment below if you have a suggestion for what I should cover next.
I’m concerned about CBS. As a fellow queer person, this is a channel I have avoided for a really long time. Their shows have always been too white and too straight. And in the year of Our Goddess 2021, it’s time for a change. And somehow, probably copious amounts of money spent on research to see if we’re a money-making community when everyone and their mom knows that we are, they finally landed at the conclusion that their shows need to be more diverse. That’s where NCIS: Hawai’i comes in…
Enter Yasmine Al-Bustami as Lucy Tara. Not only is she a Middle-Eastern actress, but she’s also on a major show and network. She’s not playing the terrorist. She’s not playing the grumbly badass. And she’s not a stereotype. She’s an NCIS agent that is funny, flirty, and brilliant enough to totally understand and retain the memory of a report she saw one time and while upside down. That’s talent. Oh, yeah. And she just so happens to be part of the LGBTQ community, something that even I as a Latina can see how extraordinary and groundbreaking that is for the communities who see themselves in Tara. And that report, well she was reading it while clearing flirting with the unattainable DIA Agent at the office.
Enter Tori Anderson as Kate Whistler. She’s a straight-laced woman in a position of power. Her career is absolutely important to her, probably more than we know at this moment, and she’s got clear goals, a plan, and there is nothing that will get in her way. And somehow, along the way, Lucy becomes someone important to Kate. We don’t know how they got to the position they are in now or the ins and outs of their relationship. But there is something there. Something that burns and draws them to each other. And no matter what Kate does, she can’t seem to ignore it and gives in to the feeling that pulls her to Lucy. Same thing for the latter.
And I knew that there was something up when Lucy and Kate looked at each other and every moment they interacted, even if they were just a handful. Lucy sasses, flirts, and challenges Kate. And Kate makes Lucy act like a schoolgirl with the way that stars shine through her eyes when she looks upon Kate. Well, looks up at Kate to be exact; something I didn’t think would matter but I’m absolutely down for them playing big spoon and little spoon or Kate leaning down to place a forehead kiss upon Lucy. See, they’ve only been here for a couple of hot, tension-filled, and banter-filled moments and already I’m sold. We’re sold.
This is the ship of NCIS: Hawai’i. And it’s hella refreshing that this show, according to producer Jan Nash, isn’t waiting until season 2, 3, or 4 to give us the LGBTQ representation we know is out there and part of the lives of the men and women who serve and protect. The time is now. The moment is now. And while personally, I’ll still be side-eying CBS for doing something they should’ve done ages ago, I have to give props for those behind the scenes and in them for giving us the beginning of a new LGBTQ ship in the form of Lucy and Kate.
NCIS: Hawai’i airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.
Queerly Not Straight posts every Tuesday with opinion pieces, listicals, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latinx community since I am Latinx.)
