Scary
butch lesbians. Oversexed feminine lesbians. Lesbians
who just want to get pregnant. This week's episode of NBC's
drama Las Vegas served up more lesbian stereotypes
than almost any show on network TV this season--but also offered
two lesbians of color, a rarity on network TV.
Episode
37 ("Sperm Whales and Spearmint Rhinos"), which
aired on January 10th, opens with series regular Mike Cannon
(James Lesure), part of the security team for Montecito Resort
and Casino, spying his old college flame Nina (Sharon Leal,
Boston Public) at a craps table. Mike describes Nina
to his co-worker Nessa (Marsha Thomason) as the one who got
away, and Nessa urges him to go up to Nina and say hello,
suggesting he might be able to win her back since "she's
not with anyone." Mike takes her advice and Nina greets
him warmly, introduces him to her two friends, Debbie and
Rhona, and then agrees to meet him for coffee later.
Later,
when Mike and Nina are chatting over coffee, Nina tells Mike
that there's only one thing missing from her life. But before
she can elaborate on what that is, Nessa comes over and kisses
Mike, pretending to be his girlfriend to make Nina jealous,
and Mike leaves before Nina can finish her statement.
Later, we see Nina and her friends still on a winning streak
at the craps table. Casino host Sam (Vanessa Marcil) introduces
herself to Nina and offers to get the three women into any
club of their choice in Las Vegas. The women agree excitedly,
and Rhona spies series regulars Mary (Nikki Cox) and Delinda
(Molly Sims) across the casino and tells Sam to "invite
them," too. Debbie chimes in with "those girls are
hot!" as she and Rhona check them out, and it finally
dawns on Sam that these women are not straight. So Sam invites
Delinda and Mary, but doesn't tell them the other women are
gay.
In
a limo on the way to the club, the six women drink
champagne and make small talk about relationships. "Food,
machinery and sex. Men are simple," Nina comments in
response to Mary and Delinda's complaints about men. Debbie
agrees, laughing "Where's the challenge in that? I want
complexity. I want to peel the onion."
When
Mary and Delinda don't disagree, Rhona takes this as proof
that they're gay, and tells Debbie she knew they went to the
same church. When Mary acts confused, Nina tells her she means
"we're all gay." Mary and Delinda suddenly get it,
and turn to Sam with "why didn't you tell us?" looks,
which Sam shrugs off, saying in a low voice that she needed
to get the women out of the casino, and anyway, they're being
"perfect gentlemen." Delinda rolls with it, telling
Sam and Mary jokingly that "I get the one in the gold
top" (referring to Debbie).
At
the strip club, all six women are stuffing money
in the strippers' g-strings and talking about lap dances as
a few half-naked women dance on the stage in front of them.
Mary asks, "so most of these strippers are gay?"
and Sam nods, adding "These men throwing their money
away like idiots, thinking these girls actually want to be
polishing their belt buckles with their asses. It's enough
to turn any girl into a lesbian." We see a quick glimpse
of Rhona getting a lap dance in the corner, and a few minutes
later, there's a quick shot of all the women except Mary getting
lap dances.
The
next morning, Sam and Mary wake up in bed together with only
a little clothing on, which momentarily freaks them both out:
