Visibly Invisible: The Questionable ‘Ghosting’ of Lesbians in Nancy Drew
Lesbian love is a fantasy. At least that’s the message TV series Nancy Drew would like you to believe. Based on the popular novels penned by Carolyn Keene and recreated from the 1970s show, the new and improved detective is more Doc Martens than heels, and equally tough, as she battles supernatural forces in her hometown of Horseshoe Bay with her gang of equally passionate friends.
At first glance, the series appears to check off a lot of diversity boxes. Though Nancy Drew (played by Kennedy McMann) is still fronted by a white lead, the show updates several of the tried-and-true members of the “Drew Crew,” including Bess, who gets a facelift by being portrayed as a lesbian instead of a boy-crazy hetero as in the books.
Season One’s storyline for Bess (played by Maddison Jaizani) mostly focuses on her ‘real’ identity of being a ‘Marvin,’ and acceptance into her wealthy family. It is later revealed, she’s also a lesbian, another piece of her past she’s kept secret. Gradually, over 18 episodes, she opens to the possibility of love with Lisbeth (played by Katie Findlay), amid the difficulties presented by Bess’s new family, who don’t like Lisbeth—not because she’s a lesbian, but because she’s an undercover detective bent on discovering the family’s unlawful secrets.
What seems like a promising lesbian relationship—without the stereotypes shows often rely on, including coming out, or re-coming out by having to mention/remind/clarify being a lesbian to new people—the show seems to give Bess a storyline that focuses on handling life, love, and ghosts like any of her hetero friends. It takes a quick nosedive in Season Two, when suddenly, Bess has a commitment crisis and stands Lisbeth up at the all-important ‘meeting the parents’ dinner. At the same time, Bess betrays her family and is cut-off by them.
Alone, Bess has to begin anew, but rather than focus on matters of the heart (e.g., reconciling with Lisbeth or finding someone new), her love life is put off and eliminated from the season. We never see Lisbeth again and there is no ‘after dinner’ resolution. Bess is often relegated to the background, even in a crisis. Gradually, though, what is introduced is a subtle, but visible-invisibility for its lesbian character, that gradually enforces the doctrine that lesbian love is a fantasy by substituting a real love-interest for Bess, in favor of one that is a ghost.
A ghost-lover is not new. A lesbian ghost might have potential if the ghost was not indwelling in Bess’s straight best friend Georgia ‘George’ Fan (played by Leah Lewis), who is dating Ned ‘Nick’ Nickerson (played by Tunji Kasim). The ghost, Odette, is a white, rich, French woman who was murdered in the past and has suffered the loss of both her life and lover. Her flirtation with Bess is meant as comic relief as Bess finds herself conflicted by being attracted to her best friend—or rather Odette’s spirit inside her. Viewers can anticipate the story will go toward a girl-kiss, but it is quickly squashed—thankfully—or so it seems, when Bess is called out by Nick, and it becomes a matter of consent. Bess and Odette remain friends… or NOT…
Though Bess realizes her faux pax of having unrealistic feelings for a ghost, she continues on anyway, further insinuating that she doesn’t believe she can do better than a fantasy, and that real love with a woman is out of reach. To support this, viewers get the shocking news that Bess is married to (you guessed it) a man. The writers attempt to backtrack from this cliffhanger the following week by saying that the marriage is a sham. But Bess is promenading through town as if she were married to the opposite sex in a storyline that is as unfair to Bess as it is to viewers.
The damage done, it is moments like this, that support the widespread hetero belief that ‘lesbianism is a choice,’ or something that can be turned off or on by circumstance. If the show wanted to be loyal to the lesbian experience, they would’ve simply had the sham marriage be with a woman—that would’ve been shocking enough, and also provided a deeper backstory for Bess, one which might’ve (actually) explained why she sabotaged her relationship with Lisbeth. Imagine if this storyline were flip-flopped for a straight character: if Bess was heterosexual and we learned she was married (sham or otherwise), it would most likely have been with a man, not a woman. Her spouse would not have been randomly female when her character was straight.
Another telling moment comes when the entire Nancy Drew gang encounters a memory-erasing device. In the vein of Groundhog Day, the #Drewds face a deadly monster and are forced to wipe their memories to stay alive. Upon each waking, they discover notecards cluing them in to important details about who each of them are. Bess Marvin is the only character to be reminded that she’s a lesbian, as if it is something separate and chosen, that would need remembering. No other character has to be told they are heterosexual.
The damage is delivered in a scene between mind-erased Bess and ‘Ace’ (played by Alex Saxon) and meant to be comical (again), when Ace flirts with Bess. Bess checks her card, announcing she likes women (another coming out). The real joke, would be for Ace to say, “Oh, says here, I like women,” which would hit home on the obvious discrimination the showrunners are guilty of.
With most of the season passed, Bess remains in the background, invisible. Odette hammers the nails in the coffin of Bess ever finding real love again. George gives Odette, her ghost passenger, the go-ahead to kiss Bess goodbye, a consolation prize since Odette resolves to ‘be silent’ in her bodily imprisonment and not come out anymore (the subtext blatant from a murdered lesbian). Odette goes to Bess, acknowledging, “You and I may’ve been a fantasy…” And it’s clear by Bess’s choice to not pursue love in the real world that she accepts this fate.
The scene culminates when Bess and George/Odette kiss, which feels more like a cheesy shock-value scene, as it’s shown from centerfold-like angles, meant to exploit same-sex couples for the sake of a hetero audience that gets off on seeing two women kiss. [A similar moment occurs in episode 15 when a closeted gay man gets Nick’s permission to kiss and take a selfie to post to social media as his formal ‘coming out.’ UGH!)
A more legitimizing experience for Bess would be for her to come full circle in addressing her past, along with her fear of commitment. Rather than meeting with Odette, Lisbeth could’ve returned, allowing Bess to be honest with her feelings of failing the relationship, like she’d failed her family. Since the Marvins were an obstacle to their relationship, out of the way, it frees them up to be together. Reconciled, they would naturally kiss—not the fake hetero/homo kind. And with Odette as a witness, her resolution comes from seeing that times have changed. Returning to her body, George would see that true love is possible, prompting her to propose to Nick, which seems out of left-field when it happens.
But sadly, Bess never gets her happily-ever-after.
And she’s not the only lesbian trending to the sidelines in season two. TV shows, most likely appeasing network demands to make it ‘less lesbian,’ are no longer wanting to be outed for killing LGBT characters off, and are simply ghosting them (literally in Nancy Drew’s case). Take Mel Vera in the revamp of the hit TV series Charmed (2018). In Season One, Mel Vera broke open the prison doors of stereotyped lesbians and offered us a Latina witch, and an out-and-proud feminist, and a lesbian in a normal relationship (though not without its usual bumps!) Wow. But Mel doesn’t get her happily-ever-after either.
By the end of the season, the only option, when facing yet another supernatural threat (you might see this one coming), is for Mel and her sisters, to use magic and rewrite history, which means erasing all traces of her loving relationship. Though retaining their memory of being in love with women, as the second season returns, Mel’s storyline is less ambitious: gone are the campus protests; her teaching appointment—where she leads the next generation of bright stars in social justice advocacy—also gone; and though a new love interest is introduced, it is presented once again in a fantasy world, that may or may not have happened. The love interest leaves town and Mel is relegated to the background, in favor of the more important hetero romances.
Another memorable axing for lesbian relationships comes from Hallmark Channel’s The Good Witch. Season Seven of the supernatural hit series ‘made history’ by introducing a romance between Joy Harper (played by Kat Barrell) and Zoey Taylor (played by Kyana Teresa). The beauty of it is found in the sweet innocence of new love—and the fact no one in town misses a beat to acknowledge or feel the need to accept what is usual: two women in love. But Joy and Zoey don’t get an ever-after, even on a channel famous for it—and rather than kill one or both lesbians off or ghost them to the sidelines, the network goes next-level, and simply cancels the show.
While there are plenty of shows portraying lesbian characters with astonishing strength, value, and normalcy, there are plenty of others thinly reinforcing the idea that our stories are better left to fantasy. We can and must do better. If not, we forfeit a future where LGBT suicide, discrimination, and violence will continue to prevail—in real life—and that’s unacceptable in terms of ensuring human rights equality for all people.
As for Nancy Drew, what became of Bess Marvin in Season Three? After two seasons of messages that lesbian love is silent and unequal, it was far too much fantasy for my tastes. Instead, my queue is filled with shows grounded in reality, where love, marriage, sex, and relationships between two women are told in a way that is timeless and beautiful, much like my own life. No gimmicks or ghosts needed.
