Double Feature Edition Bomb Girls 208 and 209: Burlesque, Babes, Other B-Words

Sorry for the lateness, Bombshells. I have three jobs: Two of them are in customer service, and the other one is being a professional Internet presence/consumer of cheesy lesbian media. Can you guess which one I’d like to do full-time? Ha ha ha! Ha. Ha ha. Ha. Anyway, I combined the last two episodes into one gigantic amazing gooey ball of lesbian fun as a way to make it up to you.

Let’s start with Episode 2×08! In this episode, Lorna tried to get all her girls into a top preschool, Betty started a fight club, and Gladys became the Bond Girl she was born to be. Actually, none of these things specifically happened, but if you’re an English major working in retail who has a lot of extra time to embellish the truth, you could say these things did, in some way, happen. In other matters of almost but not quite, apparently I misspelled Teresa’s name last week. Maybe if we knew more about her as a character beyond the fact that she enjoys scissoring with Betty and is in the army, I’d know how to spell her name. #SHOTSFIRED

The episode starts at the Jewel Box, where all the girls are making out with each other and then crying about it in the bathroom. Oops, sorry, that’s just every lesbian party I’ve been to ever. On this particular Episodic Jewel Box Outing, Betty and Gladys are dancing with each other in an adorable way. I’m gonna continue to be the only one in the room saying it but gosh darn it, I ship it. I gosh darn ship it.

via victorymunitions1942.tumblr.com

Gladys is still on her emo kick, though, and really wishes the band would play some “deeper cuts,” so she goes to sit down and drown her sorrows in alcohol and the memory of Conor Oberst’s better tracks. Teresa takes her place, and she and Betty do some jazz hands-type movement that I believe is a 1940s lesbian mating ritual. Then Betty reveals she learned to dance on a refrigerator door which is an image that only took me a good ten minutes to sort out in my head.

Picture 530

and later i’m gonna make you my fridge door and bang you all night whenever i get hungry

A mysterious dude buys a drink for Gladys because these things are always happening to Gladys. She doesn’t accept because feminism.

trynawithmyeyes

Gladys heads to the ladies’ room where she is accosted by the worst spy of all time.

Picture 533

HEY GIRL HAVE YOU GOT AN OB ALSO DISH ME SOME FACTORY SECRETS UR THE BEST GIRL

Gladys comes to the obvious conclusion that something is fishy and not in the lesbian joke way.

Vera and Gladys are going to go to the movies and see the Hitchcock version of exactly what Gladys is dealing with in her weekly storyline. It’s a heavy plot device but at least it allows us to see yet another adorable friendship on this show. I am running out of friendships to adore, guys. It’s all too much.

Picture 534

still laughing at amanda bynes’ twitter

Since Bob got his pay day and needed shade and a vacay, Lorna is home alone and into Sheila’s suggestion of community service at the hospital. She thinks she is gonna enlist the factory girls because they are going to need way more community service on their resumes if they’re ever gonna get into the right schools. She tells the girls that dudes are dying for their right to party and they should feel bad about it. I’ve decided Lorna is the factory’s resident Catholic Mother, as she seems to employ a lot of intense guilt in both motivation and discipline.

Picture 535

there are starving children in africa who would love to have clean nails and safety regulations

Betty has decided that her community service will be servicing Teresa’s vagina. The icy tension between her and Kate continues to solidify into a thick enough layer that you could probably safely ice fish on it. Maybe for perch, or trout. I don’t know. What would be considered the most lesbianish fish? Someone get on Wikipedia and brainstorm this out with me.

yeah my schedule is full up with lesbian activities which is kind of like that time i proposed you do lesbian activities with me and you turned me down? is that ringing any bells, kate?

yeah my schedule is full up with lesbian activities which is kind of like that time i proposed you do lesbian activities with me and you turned me down? is that ringing any bells, kate?

Reggie is sick of her racist landlady and her bullshit policies, and is generally the most overlooked character on the show. Reggie! Where have you been? Please tell me that we didn’t see you in these last episodes because you were too busy forming a girl gang and making zines about intersectional feminism. Anyway, Lorna’s maternal instincts are all over this situation.

Picture 537

and don’t get me started on the people who can’t pronounce “Quvenzhané Wallis”

Down on Ye Olde Factory Floor, Gladys is mindin’ her own beeswax just makin’ bombs when she spots the Worst Spy Ever on the factory floor! What even, girl? Gladys goes over to confront her, but girl pretends she is not even that lady and puts up some major cold fronts. Worst Spy Ever, what is your deal? This is like that time my ex saw me making out with her ex at a party and I told her it wasn’t me even though we totally made eye contact and had a conversation at the time. Same thing.

Picture 538

i’m not that mysterious lady from last night and that ob definitely didn’t last me a much longer time than expected with such an easy insertion method! what a quality tampon product!

Gladys takes this to Akins who tells her they have new security at the factory. Security is Mysterious Drink Buyin’ Dude Who Was Tryna! He has the worst British accent I have heard in a long time. The last time I heard that bad of an accent was coming from my own mouth when I was trippin’ balls at a La Roux show and thought I could pretend to be Elly’s back-up dancer. Ha, those were the days!

They want Gladys to point out the worker on the factory floor, but of course Worst Spy Ever is nowhere in sight. Akins once again chalks this up to women and their menses cycles, and Worst British Accent decides to ask Gladys out because boy is still tryna! Gladys accepts because third wave feminism.

Picture 539

OI! WOT’S ALL THIS THEN?

Over at the only wing this hospital seems to have, Lorna is working especially hard at her Helicopter Mom impression. She literally brought Sheila’s childhood stuffed animal today. Sheila is like, totally embarrassed, because now all the popular nurses are gonna see and they’re never gonna let her sit with them at lunch! Thanks a lot, Mom!

Picture 540

Ashley Benson-Carver says stuffed animals are for girls who stuff their bras, mom. You, like, don’t even know what is cool because you went to middle school when there were dinosaurs.

Kate gets fixated on a non-responsive patient because this is all an impressive metaphor for seemingly impossible situations, am I right? He’s probably representative of the McAndrews fandom following most of the events of season 2.

look i respect the fandom but you guys do not respect my agency and that is getting on my last nerve buddy

look i respect the fandom and the top notch fanfiction but y’all gotta learn to respect my agency as a character

Over at the movies, Betty and Teresa are nudging each other with their fingers and then finger-clasping which is just about the gayest thing ever, good for them. Gladys and Vera are also holding hands, which is such an interesting commentary on female sexuality and the way women are socialized to be desexualized in their affection with each other, thus the “invisible lesbian.” In less academic jargon, Lorna is sad and can’t believe she ditched stalking her daughter for this depressing sitch.

Picture 543

a pair of lesbians in the wild, performing the traditional lesbian call to mating that is known by experts as “finger bumpin”

Picture 542

near the lesbian watering hole, a pair of “should be lesbians” have gathered and are performing their own unique rituals of affection

Teresa and Betty walk home from the movies. They have the conversation we have all had with our first girlfriend, the one who had actually done this whole lesbian relationship thing before, while we were the young eager puppy with no idea our hearts were about to be stomped to all oblivion by something called reality. This conversation is prompted by some drunk guys being rude and trying to get up on them. The guys call them bull daggers and reach for Teresa, which causes Betty to punch them in the fuckin’ face. Betty fuckin’ McRae, ladies and gentlemen.

50 cent's "many men" plays in the background

50 cent’s “many men” plays in the background

Teresa: I have a lot at stake and you have a lot to learn. I keep my head down and I keep my business to myself.

Kate decides the best way to connect with the McAndrews fandom is to sing to him. It’s super effective! That’s because Kate is actually a Disney princess and I refuse to believe anything else.

Picture 546

the hillllsssss are aliiiiive with the sounds of fangirls complaining about me not sleeping with their favorite character

Gladys goes out with Fake Brit Worst Attempt At Accent Ever and it’s not going super well. First of all, they go to the Jewel Box because apparently there are no other night spots in Toronto. Now all their work friends and lesbian buddies could walk in at any time and spot this truly awful trainwreck of a date taking place. This is like my first and only date with a boy where we ended up going to a Chinese restaurant where the entire JV girls’ soccer team was seated next to us and watched the 16 year old awkward go down. In this case, we’re running the gamut from dead ex-boyfriends to ridiculous sounding British childhoods. Bond he is not, ladies and gentlemen.

Picture 548

still tryna

Betty and Teresa have another “talk” that makes me more than a little sad inside.

Teresa: I will not risk my career. Not even for you.

Picture 549

when they start paying me to be a lesbian, i’ll let you know. until then, respect the hustle.

It’s such an interesting turn to see Betty dealing with all of Teresa’s boundaries, especially when Betty was all about chivalry and self-sacrifice when her romantic energy was focused on Kate. To have that type of love and infatuation not returned twice seems like the worst kind of torture for someone who is a walking ball of emotions. Ah, Betty. You and I have that experience in common ten times over. Call me when you wanna get matching “Tender Butch” tattoos, boo.

Not Actually Brit takes Gladys for a drive to a dark and super foggy bridge. Seems like a good idea. Bad Accent Fake Brit tells Gladys to get out of the car and follow him onto this unlit bridge where he will definitely not murder her. Like, definitely!

Picture 550

what if i told you i was a time traveler on a very specific mission, gladys? the mission to kill jenny schecter.

Turns out Bad Accent and Worst Spy Ever are spies who want to recruit Gladys to also be a spy. Is this seriously how they are doing the whole spy recruitment program in Canada? Kinda unprofesh, guys. Feel like their Spy Headquarters is actually a treehouse where the redhead turns bottlecap knobs on a cardboard box control panel and sends everyone on top secret missions to annoy each other’s brothers.

Back at the hospital, Lorna learns from Dr. Patel that he is actually engaged to an Indian lady via an arranged marriage and this whole thing with Sheila is just kind of an “in between thingy” that they’re both totally down with. Obviously this is a super modern idea for Lorna, and for television in general (a relationship we cannot call endgame????? what????????) so everyone is a little shocked and appalled. This was not what Lorna was expecting when she packed Sheila a lunch with the sandwiches cut into hearts and a note that said “LOVE YOU SO MUCH DONT SLEEP WITH DR PATEL XOXO MOMMY”.

Picture 551

i’m sorry miss jackson i am for real

At the Jewel Box, bad shit is about to go down. And by bad shit, I mean the men from earlier come back and beat the shit out of Betty. It is exactly as heart in your throat tears down your cheeks bad as you think it is. I was a straight up mess. They are trying to drag her into their car for whatever dark purpose I would rather not consider, when Vera shows up and saves the day. Vera, I didn’t think I could love you more, but I do. I really, truly do.

Inside, Teresa and Betty have a moment. It might be the first moment where Teresa “gets” what this relationship means to Betty and what her pride and determination have to do with her identity. It’s pretty lovely.

Betty: What’s that for?

Teresa: Being a hero.

Betty: I’m not trying to be a hero. I’m trying to live my life.

Picture 552

Baby girl, you are perfect.

Lorna thinks Sheila shouldn’t be in a situation where marriage is not the endgame. Think of the fanfiction, Lorna pleads, but Sheila tries to explain that doomed ships are typically the most popular in the fandom. It doesn’t go well.

Picture 553

HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN THE HARRY/HERMIONE TAG ON AO3, MOM? SHIT IS RIPE!

Betty shows up to work with a shiner and Lorna stands up for her. Everyone gives her a round of applause because feminism. Betty makes a lot of faces that will take out your heart and smash it with a million silver hammers of emotional justice.

Picture 554

Lorna invites Reggie to move in with her which I’m pretty sure already happened, right? Like wasn’t girl eating breakfast there in 2×02, that one where I was making a lot of L Word jokes? Writers, what you smokin’? You get lost in the spy storyline, too? Y’all still working on that whole Teresa character fleshing out thing? I hope y’all get your shit together for the next episode.

And guess what? They do! Because didn’t I tell you this would be a double feature? I did. And as Jay-Z says and as I say when I pregame and rap over Jay-Z, on to the next one.

Pages: 1 2See entire article on one page

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Kate

Full-time writer, part-time lover, freelancing in fancy cheese and cider.

Kate has written 130 articles for us.

40 Comments

  1. This latest episode was amazing because feminism. ALL THE TYPES, ALL THE WAVES!

    I was cheering. And the recap, epic, as usual.

  2. My heart was shattered into a million tiny kittens and gay rainbows when those douchecanoes attacked Betty and she was subsequently applauded by the entire factory.
    brb, going to bust out my toolbox and sign up for Reggie’s gang.

    This was the double feature of my dreamssssss.

  3. Hey, that is Helo you are talking about! That accent is pretty bad though. They couldn’t hire an actual British actor? Not that I’m complaining too much because Helo!

    Vera continues to be the most precious thing ever. I can never decide who I love more, Betty or Vera so I choose to love both unconditionally,

    I have so many feelings about that proposal and none of them are good. Where are the writers going with this?

    • Helo is Canadian with a British dad, but good lord, that doesn’t undo the awfulness of his clipped deliberate pronunciations that are so alien.

    • Helo’s accent is so terrible that I’m convinced that he’s actually a doll sent on assignment to infiltrate Vic Mu but there was a glitch in his programming that effed up his accent.

    • As soon as I recognized him as Helo I felt my weird assessment of Betty McRae as similar to Kara Thrace was justified.

    • Despite the fact that I’ve seen BSG way more times than I’ve seen Dollhouse, my first thought was “oh for fucks sake, it’s Paul Ballard.” (Actually, his spy prowess and accent skills are about on Paul Ballard’s level.)

  4. I was very excited when Helo/Ballard showed up with his dodgy accent because it cemented my belief in Gladys Witham’s Special Destiny. He’s patently sketchy as fuck, but I understand how Gladys was easily swept away by his dubious debonnaire-ness, owing to her pathological addiction to shenanigans and Helo’s irresistably heroic jaw.

    Commies and Nazis couldn’t possibly have such a strong chin, which is why, when all of this unravels, Gladys will be doing her surprised face, which is my joint favourite Gladys face, tied with all the others.

    Now I just can’t decide whether she will turn into:

    a) a cylon

    b) a doll

    c) Michelle of the Resistance

    For fashion purposes, I am pinning my hopes on C.

    • LEESTEN VERRY CARFULLY, AH SHALL SAY ZIS ONLY WENCE!

      I’m going to need a moment to think about Gladys with a trench coat, ankle socks and a pair of mary janes. Sweet lesbian Wombat, I think you’ve uncovered the future of the show.

      Gladys’s surprised face may truly be the finest of them all. I’m pretty sure that if it was ever in the same room as Betty’s ‘Tears of a Tender Butch’ expression then the sheer emotional intensity would tear a hole in the fabric of space (or, you know, my heart).

  5. I had to make episode 9 into a double feature with A League of Their Own because I apparently hadn’t had enough 40’s feminists (is there such thing as enough? I think not.)

    Also, Vera has come a long way since the beginning of this series and is officially battling it out in my heart with Betty for most awesome character ever.

  6. 208: my heart shattered and I couldn’t breathe when those assholes were dragging Betty into the car. An absurd amount of cuddling was necessary before I unpaused the episode.

    209: MOTHER. FUCKING. FEMINISM. This episode was amazing. Every thing that Vera said and did was just beyond incredible. What a BAMF, seriously. I don’t think I’ve seen much feminism in any TV show, regardless of the time period for the show. Marco’s burlesque was adorable. And I really did not like the proposal. It was so sad when Betty was asking Kate if it was too soon, and Kate said “He loves me and he’ll take care of me.” Yeah, girl, I’ve been in that same boat. She does not love the dude but it’s easier than saying no. #sadface

    • “209: MOTHER. FUCKING. FEMINISM. This episode was amazing. Every thing that Vera said and did was just beyond incredible. What a BAMF, seriously. I don’t think I’ve seen much feminism in any TV show, regardless of the time period for the show.”

      YES. this all of this, and also this

  7. I already thought Vera was flawless but then called him Ivan the Terrible and I loved her even more.

  8. This whole show is made of win. Plus, the recaps never fail to fill my heart with rainbows and ladies with pin-curls.

  9. I don’t know why “bull dagger” is an insult, because a dagger in the shape of a fucking bull is just about the most hard-ass thing I can think of.

    • And I’m pretty sure Gladys had creamed cauliflower on her face, because I remember saying, “Eww, fucking creamed cauliflower?!”

      • Oh I just read the sentence after that and feel like a total putz. But c’mon… creamed fucking cauliflower, amiright?

    • I believe bull-dagger is a corruption of “bulldyker” or “bulldiker.”

      Incidentally, it seems the following only appears on dictionary.com: Some old bulldiker strutted in and ordered a beer and a chaser. She was described by her friends as a “bull-dagger,” and I can’t imagine what her enemies called her.

      Is that not the most awesome use-in-a-sentence example ever?

  10. “WHAT IF I TOLD YOU I WAS A TIME TRAVELER ON A VERY SPECIFIC MISSION, GLADYS? THE MISSION TO KILL JENNY SCHECTER.”

    hahahahaha

  11. Ah, i liked the sound of music reference at the beginning.
    And the rest of course, your recaps are always hillarious and one of my favourite things :P

  12. Ok, I know Underwear Week is technically over, but surely it isn’t too late for a Bomb Girls Style 1940s Ladything Undergarments feature? I NEED IT ON MAH BODY

  13. Why does everyone think that Vera saved the day? She grabbed Betty’s hand, but Teresa grabbed a couple of soldiers who beat up the would-be rapists.

    • True that. I just don’t understand why people keep saying this when it’s pretty clear Teresa did it. She tried to slap the guys and after Betty got punched, she ran into the Jewel Box and came back with the soldiers. Vera helped, of course, but Sergeant Hill deserves the credit.

  14. Ok I know that I’m totally late to the party but WHERE can I find episodes from season two? I just finished season 1 the other night and PLEASE LOVE ME BETTY.

  15. Outstanding deployment of Kat Stratford gif. I really had such a crush on Julia Stiles circa 1999

  16. Well, if it’s any consolation, Kate didn’t seem to be in a yay-I’m-getting-married mood. It was a mood close to Betty’s I’m-trying-to-look-happy-but-I’m-really-not face.

Comments are closed.