#1 Derek Nurse Stan

But then he comes to Samwell, and he meets Bitty who is openly gay and Lardo who isn’t shy when talking about being bi. And he’s like “it’s really cool that they’re so open and honest. I will support them and have their backs 100%” and thinks (not in so many words) “wow, I am such a good Straight Person for being so ~chill~ about this.”

And now he’s around Shitty more than ever before and Shitty’s talking about how many people have come out to him and how it was so FUCKED how scared Bitty was to come out to him. And it makes Nursey feel sad, thinking about Bitty being scared, and he sort of thinks to himself “why come out? if you’re that scared?” And part of him wonders if there’s anything in the world that scares him like that...eh probably not.

And there’s Dex, of course. And so “yeah this redhead with the big ears makes me feel weird and good when he gets all flustered and his cheeks get all red but like that’s just what it feels like when you one up your nemesis. It’s nbd. It’s chill, whatever.”

And yeah, he was a little surprised when Dex came out to them, but like that’s chill. That’s cool. So he can’t look at Dex for a week? So Nursey’s heart feels like it’s beating out of its chest ever since he told them because if Uptight Maybe A Republican Dex can come out then Nursey has some reevaluating to do.

Of course, he doesn’t do any reevaluating, but he stores it in the corner of his head as something to think about “later.”

Nursey’s a FLIRT though and his flirting gets to Alex Claremont-Diaz levels before Dex finally huffs (the totally irritating, not at all endearing huff) and says “you are ridiculous” and then he kisses Nursey.

And like Nursey likes girls, okay? There is no doubt about it, but, like, kissing Dex makes him feel—surprised, sure, and also good?

nursey: i used to play piano when i was younger

dex: oh cool do you know chai coffee

nursey: ?????

dex: idfk how to spell his name

nursey:

nursey: do you mean

I’m not saying you’re wrong, anon, but if that was meant to be his storyline, then I really would have enjoyed seeing that angle developed a bit more and seeing Whiskey’s struggle and hearing him talk about it more. I realize that would be a difficult feat, because he didn’t particularly seem to like Bitty most of the time, and it wouldn’t avoid the stereotypes I have a problem with, but it would let him have an arc and make it clear that being closeted is not an easy thing to deal with.

There are so many opportunities for Whiskey in terms of story. He’s Latinx in a sport that’s vastly white, and he’s secretly struggling with his sexuality in addition to already being outwardly different than his teammates in a sport that enormously emphasizes conformity. So his plot being barely developed and then ending on the note that he’s either yet another lying, cheating bisexual in a piece of media that’s intended to be queer-friendly or a closeted gay man who feels trapped in his situation and doesn’t get the happy ending Bitty gets (and us as the audience not even getting a solid conclusion as which one it is), with no hint that his situation will improve, doesn’t quite sit right with me.

Also, in all honesty, it gives me more than a little bit of pause that the storyline of “queer man struggles to accept himself” doesn’t get put on either of the white main characters and just so happens to be instead shunted onto a side POC character so he can go through the more problematic behaviors that you mentioned are typical to these scenarios, such as cheating on his partner. Check Please has never had a problem with being unrealistic before, so it’s frustrating that when it decides to be realistic, the person who has to deal with realistic struggles is the lone (? IIRC) queer man of color, rather than either of the two white mains who have been prominent in the story from Day 1, for three years before Whiskey even arrived on the scene.