During Sex and the City‘s sixth season, Samantha is trying to launch Smith’s career as an actor and she says, “First come the gays, then the girls, then the industry” as he questions her publicity practices.
She couldn’t be more right… at least with the “gay” part.
As soon as Richard Gadd‘s Baby Reindeer dropped on Netflix, people immediately flocked to it like moths to a flame. Like all culturally relevant information, I received word about Baby Reindeer through the vast, sophisticated queer word-of-mouth communication system (aka Instagram). I watched and everyone was right: this show is wild and it reminded me of the 30 Rock episode where Jenna was obsessed with her stalker… but a lot darker.
Based on Gadd’s award-winning Edinburgh Fringe one-man play, the dark comedy spotlights struggling comedian Donny (Gadd) as he becomes tangled in a relationship with his female stalker Martha (Jessica Gunning) as trauma returns to the forefront of his life. Martha and Donny develop a deeply complex and almost co-dependent relationship as he tries to move on with his life and girlfriend Teri, played by Nava Mau, one of the many breakout talents that come from the critically acclaimed series.
Mau’s character explores the complexities of being a woman who enters into a volatile situation. We Teri have agency over her narrative. She is a fully fleshed-out character that Mau was able to sink her teeth into and add to a tapestry of trans characters where their identity isn’t their whole being.
Her stellar performance has already been thrown into the ring for Emmy season and she recently received the “Breakthrough Performance” award at the Critics Choice’s inaugural Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema and Television. In fact, I recently walked past a whole FYC campaign celebrating Mau and the show plastered on a building — literally.
The pull quote is right. Mau is a powerhouse, indeed. She is also from San Antonio, Texas. And guess who else is from San Antonio?
Me.
I had the opportunity to sit next to her and her wonderful entourage of friends at the Critics Choice LGBTQ+ celebration. And when I find out someone is from the problematic Republic of Texas, my ears perk up. Even though Texas is filled with racism, bigotry, transphobia, misogyny, homophobia, etc., there is a unique sense of pride when you have spent the majority of your life in the Lone Star State. So when Mau told me she was from San Antonio, I squealed and she immediately knew what I was gonna ask next: “What high school did you go to?”
Mau told me she attended Health Careers High School, a magnet school where future doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals go. As a Filipino American, I had a lot of aspiring friends and family that went there. I was also toying with the idea of attending Health Careers but ended up going public and went to Judson High School, the school that defeated the football team on which Friday Nights Lights was based.
When we both found out we were initially set on a career in medicine we both had a good laugh. Now we are in an industry that is as unstable as it has ever been.
Life’s great, isn’t it?
