Ben finds himself in the body of a high school basketball coach, whose daughter is trans, on his team, and faces prejudice from the community.

The show’s most powerful, emotional episode yet. Full disclosure/warning: anyone who thinks marginalized groups (any marginalized group) are “pushing an agenda” or “forcing their views on people” or need to “just shut up” probably won’t like the episode or this review.

Ben leaps into a high school basketball coach whose daughter Gia plays on the team, kind of. Turns out she rides the bench until the coach puts her in due to a teammate’s injury. Chaos erupts. The problem? Allowing a trans girl on the team. Horror of horrors. Protestors in the bleachers scream “cheater” and storm out with their protest signs.

The episode’s main antagonist, the mother of another team member, wants the coach fired and his daughter kicked off the team. She’s a one-note character and much as I like nuanced, complex characters, I have zero problem with that in this case. Too often, people mistake ‘nuanced, complex’ for correct. Kudos to this episode for not making apologies for bigots.

The true drama comes from Gia’s loving, accepting parents who only want to protect her. Therein lies the problem. Without telling her, her dad caved to pressure from the principle (and other parents) and agreed not to let her play – a fact Ben couldn’t have known when he sent her in. The episode shines in showing people taking the absolute wrong actions for the best possible reasons. Gia’s parents want nothing but the best for her and believe that going behind her back and lying to her will accomplish that. That dilemma handles the complexity and nuance well. They can’t imagine that their ‘solution’ worsens the situation to a huge degree. This gives viewers the best kind of conflict, one without any bad guy.

When Gia learns of this ultimate betrayal (she is still also an angst-ridden teenager after all) she runs away never to be heard from again in the original history. This gives us a wonderfully tender bonding scene between Ian and Addison. Ian talks about what they overcame growing up. Addison talks about commanding a unit that included trans soldiers and not knowing how to help them when the military kicked them out. She acknowledges that she could not have prevented it at the time, but she still feels guilty about not saying anything at all. Which leads to a nice tangent about allies (good) vs. accomplices (better).

Her parents find Gia with the leader of the support group for trans kids she attends. The woman who runs that group, with one of the episode’s best lines of dialog, gives the parents the answer they need to hear. They keep talking about sharing Gia’s burden and protecting Gia from her burden of being trans. The woman knows full well the challenges and troubles of being trans; she lived and is still living them. Nonetheless, she tells the parents to quit treating it as a burden.

The show wraps everything in a neat little bow. No complaints about that. Entertainment is entertainment and doesn’t have to be “real life”. The conclusion is perfectly plausible, and I’ll never object to a happy ending. The team rallies around Gia, including the one girl telling her mother to stop with the attacks. Idiots still show up with protest signs, but Ben points out all the signs in support. They win their big game and are well on their way to making the playoffs. The teachers’ union rep introduces himself to Ben (as the coach) and says to let him know if there’s any trouble. Showing she’s gone beyond mere ally to accomplice, Addison brings Ian to the big game.

Verdict: Without glossing over any difficulties, the episode makes a strong case for the solution to the problem being, quit considering it a problem. Once enough people do that, issue solved and the tiny number of troublemakers will be irrelevant. Be an accomplice, not just an ally. 9/10

Rigel Ailur

http://www.BluetrixBooks.com