This article will contain spoilers
BY EMILY O’MULLANE, IMAGE BY DISNEY+
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
The second season of Rivals, adapted from Jilly Cooper’s novel of the same name, has been praised for its open conversations about sex and desire. However, the recent mid-season finale left many queer viewers disappointed after the show dramatically changed the fate of one of its LGBTQIA+ characters from the source material.
Among the programme’s ensemble of characters is Monica Baddingham, who has spent the majority of the show trapped in an unhappy marriage after suppressing her feelings for another woman when she was young. After confronting her husband about his infidelity and asking for a divorce, she appears to finally come to terms with her sexuality. However, moments later, Monica’s storyline is suddenly cut short when she is seemingly killed in a stormy car crash.
The backlash from fans was immediate and many went online to express their emotions. One X user wrote that they were “genuinely pissed off” that one of the only queer characters died just as she finally has the chance to be with the woman she loves. Another fan speculated that Monica might have faked her death, showing that viewers are desperate to imagine an alternate, more positive fate for her character.
This frustrated response speaks to a long history of disappointment regarding queer storylines on television. Monica’s death in Rivals reflects the “Bury Your Gays” trope, a term which is used to highlight the disproportionate number of LGBTQIA+ characters that meet tragic fates. Critics of this trope do not argue that queer characters should be exempt from pain but rather seek to highlight the pattern of punishment for LGBTQIA+ characters who have just embraced their identity. This pattern is harmful as it repeatedly associates queer self-acceptance with suffering.
Furthermore, when the “Bury Your Gays” trope is used in media, the harm done to queer characters is almost always unnecessary for the overarching plot. This is the case in Rivals, as Cooper’s original novel ends with Monica finding happiness with her childhood sweetheart. By changing this ending, the television adaptation transforms an important representation of queer fulfilment into another story centred on loss.
Producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins defended his decision to change Monica’s storyline by arguing that her death is necessary as it allows her husband to “pay some penance for what he has done”. This explanation echoes another criticism of the “Bury Your Gays” trope that queer characters’ deaths are utilised to further the plotline for other characters.
For a series that proudly champions sex positivity, the decision to seemingly kill off a queer character feels more predictable than provocative. Rivals may have intended for this twist to be shocking, but for many queer viewers, it is unsurprising to see another LGBTQIA+ character denied a happy ending they were about to embrace.
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