Growing up, my mom would watch literally any murder mystery that graced our screens at any time of day (especially when doing laundry and such). I’m talking Murder, She Wrote and Matlock and every iteration of Law & Order that existed (though she preferred SVU and Criminal Intent over the others). And if it was a British mystery? Especially an Agatha Christie adaptation? You better believe she was watching.

Because I was raised around them, of course I’ve taken to watching them myself. Castle, Bones, even my favorite Miss Marple mysteries starring Geraldine McEwan (my favorite Marple, by the way). Miss Fisher? Hell yeah. And don’t even get me started on the Cumberbatch/Freeman Sherlock.

Nowadays, I tend to watch shows that I’ve seen before as a kind of comfort. There’s no surprise because I already know how it’s going to end, I’m aware of any potential cringe and can skip it pretty quickly, and I just let myself marvel in the nostalgia of when I was seeing it for the first time. Mostly, I do this with comedies. But every now and then, I need something new.

So I’m watching old mystery procedurals to see if I enjoy them. Lie to Me was kind of a bust. Didn’t get far into season 2 before I realized I’d been bored for more than a few episodes. Started watching a brand new show called High Potential, which has been enjoyable for certain. And I decided to try an old show, The Mentalist. All of these titles and more, and then I started to realize a huge opportunity:

We need a new cop/consultant mystery procedural show, but it better be gay as hell.

Sure, Sherlock felt like a big ole bait-n-switch to many as the chemistry between the two male leads (and throw in the main antagonist for fun) was insanely high. And yeah, it’s kind of an already existing canon that never addresses the homosexual tension or admiration or whatever you’d like to call it. But why have I never seen a US or UK show where the lead crime solvers are out, proud, and the best in their field?

Let’s be honest here. We all know the tropes of the shows I’ve named. If they aren’t two straight men with wives/girlfriends/a list of seductress exes a mile long, or an independent investigator that may as well be ace, then we’ve got one man and one woman doing their best to solve a crime and not tear each other’s clothes off.
–Bones: hottie FBI agent Boothe and beautiful forensic anthropologist Brennan dance around their attraction until finally sealing the deal at the end of season 6.
–Castle: brilliant detective Beckett and crime author-turned-consultant Castle tease out their affections until she admits her feelings at the end of season 4.
–Law & Order: SVU: if you think for one second that fans aren’t screaming for detectives Benson and Stabler to finally cross that threshold after a whopping *twenty-six years* of onscreen tension, think again.
–High Potential: While we’re still in the first season of this show, it’s already HEAVILY implying that there will be a romantic relationship between Detective Karadec and consultant Morgan Gillory.

The closest we’ve come *IS* the UK’s Sherlock adaptation, and they still ended with <<SPOILERS>> Holmes only really showing any real attraction to Irene Adler, and Watson mourning his wife Mary’s death. The showrunners were more satisfied with Holmes being ace before showing him as legitimately affectionate toward Watson, and Watson was always asserting he was straight. In the US? Rizzoli & Isles had 2 female crime-solving leads, but they were both straight!

So here we are, ‘in the year of our lord’ 2025, and we have no crime-solving duo who are super gay for each other? We’ve had the popularity of Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death having great gay romances (some that break our hearts every time we watch them).

Ignoring the fact that the current political climate is making all the worst possible people crawl out from under their rocks and mudholes they were hiding in so they can shout their bigotry with pride (because if the Orange Man and his Nazi Moneybags can do/say it, then they can, I guess), why else don’t we have one US show that fits this bill??

It’s very possible that I’m now setting myself up to write something in this vein, even though I’m not great with writing mysteries or crime dramas. But dammit, I think we need it.

-K