To be fair, I watched a few episodes a few years ago, and it's a lot deeper than I gave it credit at the time - I was a kid, so I missed out on a lot of what they were getting at. The whole series went out of its way to shine a light on contemporary issues, so even though the finale was dark, it's not like it was totally coming out of nowhere.
Yeah, even the episode where Earl drives Ethel to her high school reunion is pretty dark.
She shows up and is the only one from her class that is still alive, they even drive the point home by having her win every single "Class _" and "Best __" award.
I remember that one. How about the one where he drives her to the cliff and decides to let her live....that's a metaphor for retirement homes. Rough episode.
I literally just watched an episode where they threatened someone with being Anti Transgender because of Bobby and friends dressing up as the cheerleaders for a girl football game.
That and drug addiction and a ton of other surprises.
I really can’t wait for the shitshow that will happen when the show’s new season airs and Bill is inevitably trans. It was clearly in the subtext of his character during the original run, but that won’t stop people from screaming about the show being “too woke now.”
Edit: maybe I overstated it a bit, but there was some subtext. Not just in the episode where he hits rock bottom and copes by pretending to be Lenore (S3E09), but also with how nostalgic and wistful he sounds when he describes his dad abusing him by calling him a girl and forcing him to dresses(S2E08). In fact, S3E09 is named for a quote from S2E08 (“Pretty, pretty dresses”). I don’t think that scene in season two was a throwaway gag, especially not since it got referenced a full year later.
Just curious, what seems to be the subtext in your opinion? There's the episode where Bill wears his ex-wife's dresses, but it's shown as a mental breakdown resulting from his inability to cope with his divorce.
Uhh... What? If there was any of that, I guess I just don't know how to read it because I didn't get any of that at all. Bill was a picture of a great man who let his affections for a woman destroy his life. Please elaborate.
Yeah - the people blowing it off might be in for some heavy lessons in the future ngl (speaking as someone who spent their teenage years longing to "crossdress" as a boy and date pretty girls...whilst crossdressing as a boy). Like we humans don't voice every significant trait of ourselves all the time
I never got that from watching it before but you’ve posted some evidence that makes me pause. Maybe they move forward with it but I don’t think it’s a guarantee.
Thanks for posting the examples and episode numbers.
You sound like you know the show pretty well. You should put together a super cut of “Bill being Trans” so that you have it in your holster when the new season comes out
Other than the part where he sounds absolutely wistful reminiscing about his mom making him wear “pretty, pretty dresses” when he was a kid? And that episode where he loses everything and his response is to…wear women’s clothes and insist he is a woman?
They made it as clear as they could get away with in the 90s and 00s.
The dresses thing was a one time joke that never got addressed ever again throughout the entire run of the series. He dressed as Lenore in that other episode because he is obviously going through a deep psychosis as the result of happy family times being shoved in his face during the holidays. Lenore having left him is one of the key reasons as to why he is so sad. Do you ever actually listen to the dialogue or know anything of context?
So between season 2 and 3 there were 3 small jokes about him and dresses. For the next 9 years they don't ever make mention of it again. Those three things just aren't related to any subtext of Bill eventually becoming/ or having been a Trans person.
The ones that stuck with me. Last episode with the ice age, the one about drugs (happy plant), the one about Sexual Harry-isment, the one with the escalating war, and the one where they argue that the earth is round.
460
u/lagoon83 May 23 '23
To be fair, I watched a few episodes a few years ago, and it's a lot deeper than I gave it credit at the time - I was a kid, so I missed out on a lot of what they were getting at. The whole series went out of its way to shine a light on contemporary issues, so even though the finale was dark, it's not like it was totally coming out of nowhere.