October is LGBTQ+ History month, which means it’s the perfect time to find a new sapphic show to obsess over! Sapphic shows have a long history of being canceled far too soon. That means they need, and have always needed, our love and support! Personally, I consume sapphic media like it’s my job, so here are my recommendations for the shows you need to be watching (or may have missed)!
A League of Their Own
Starting off strong is one of my all-time favorites, Prime Video’s A League of Their Own. Inspired by the 1992 movie of the same name, the show follows Carson Shaw, a female baseball player who joins the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the second world war. Carson’s journey is paralleled with Max Chapman’s, a Black pitcher trying to find her team. The variety of representations of queerness, race, and gender is unlike any show I’ve ever seen. It depicts the beauty and joy of being queer while also staying truthful to the dangerous realities of the time. It will both break your heart and put it back together. This show may have fallen victim to the curse of being canceled after its first season, but it’s just too incredible to stop me from recommending it to everyone I know!
Dickinson
Apple TV+’s Dickinson is a sapphic interpretation of Emily Dickinson’s life as a young woman. The show focuses on her journey as a poet while depicting a romantic relationship she likely had with her stepsister Sue. What makes the show unique is its deviation from a typical period drama by leaning into Emily Dickinson’s wild imagination and creativity as seen in her poems. Emily hallucinates a giant bee, does opium with her friends, and takes carriage rides with Death (played by Wiz Khalifa). And that’s just season one! Dickinson ran for three seasons and brought the fascinating genius of Emily Dickinson to life in absurd ways, all while staying true to the real history found in her letters and poems.
Heartstopper
Netflix’s Heartstopper just debuted its third season at the beginning of October so if you haven’t already been watching, now’s the time! The show follows the relationship between Nick and Charlie, two teenage boys, along with the lives of them and their friends. While the main relationship is between two boys, there are two sapphic relationships to watch out for! One is introduced in season one, between Tara and Darcy. The end of season two also hints at a potential new sapphic pairing, but I won’t give away too much! Heartstopper is a sweet depiction of queer teenagers that’s simultaneously unafraid to tackle more difficult issues young people face.
Agatha All Along
And last but certainly not least is Marvel’s latest project, Agatha All Along! A sequel to WandaVision, this show follows the witch Agatha Harkness down the Witches Road with her coven and a boy under a protection spell keeping him from saying his own name. This show marks the first MCU project with an explicitly sapphic romance. Agatha’s antagonist, Rio Vidal, is also her ex-lover and the two have a tumultuous and complicated history. And even better, Rio is played by none other than Aubrey Plaza (IYKYK). The scenes between Agatha and Rio are packed with tension and the showrunner has teased much more to come. Not only is it sapphic, but witches are perfect for the Halloween season. That means you have to catch up on Disney Plus now so you can watch the rest of the season live and get into the spooky spirit!
And that wraps up my all-time and current favorite sapphic shows that you should be watching! From all different genres and streaming services, there’s bound to be something for you. I hope you come to love them just as much as I do!
