Motherland: Fort Gaylem

*Spoilers for s1e5 of the Sex Lives of College Girls*

The fact that we didn’t get to see Leighton and Alicia hook up for the first time is downright criminal. They highlighted Leight’s bossy, cold nature in the first two episodes mid-hookup. While I guess the before and after is enough to show a difference, it lessens the effect of the difference. For that to truly be effective, we would have needed a scene of her post-hook up brushing a girl off with no plans to ever see her again (the blocking scene could count, but it doesn’t quite work for me). Otherwise we don’t actually get the satisfaction of pay off, to see if there’s been a change in demeanor because we’re being exposed to her demeanor in two different scenarios. 

I’m so curious if she still took as much control as she did in the first episode. Because maybe that’s just the way she likes things. Maybe Alicia fought her for it a little bit, made it less easy than her past hook ups. This really could’ve gone either way, a quick and passionate first hook up between horny teens who were very attracted to each other or an intimate first moment between two people who had a deep connection. The fact that I will never know frustrates me. 

Or the show could’ve done something really interesting with making this first time more animalistic and physical like her usual hook-ups, but after a couple of hook ups Alicia wants to slow her down. This is being very new to Leighton, would be a bit of an adjustment. It’s quite common for closeted kids to be somewhat romantically/sexually stunted and especially after just having sex with a guy, I feel like Leighton might have some issues. Her shift to enjoying the intimacy felt a bit rushed, but that’s what you get with four stories to tell and only ten (?) episodes to tell them in. One of the things I don’t love about streaming services is the shortened seasons, for this very reason.