Amy and Karma both wanted to make up with one another on Faking It, “Let’s Hear It for Oy,” but neither were willing to give in. So what happened? Well, matters between the two only escalated and grew worse.

The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test

“Let’s Hear It for Oy” did not pass the race test but it did pass the Bechdel and Russo test.

There were a couple of non-White individuals in “Let’s Hear It for Oy,” but the episode did not pass the race test, and the episode did not pass this test because non-White individuals never talked to each other. “Let’s Hear It for Oy” did, however, pass the Bechdel and Russo test.

Named women (of which there were several in “Let’s Hear It for Oy”) talked to each other several times in “Let’s Hear It for Oy,” and out of those occasions, there were a couple of instances where men weren’t mentioned so the episode passed the Bechdel test. “Let’s Hear It for Oy” passed the Russo test (and easily so) because there were three LGBTI characters in the episode, Amy, Lauren and Shane, and all three of these characters weren’t solely defined as being LGBTI (e.g., Amy and Shane were also defined as being friends and Lauren was defined as being a sister) and their removals from “Let’s Hear It for Oy” would have significantly affected the plot’s episode as “Let’s Hear It for Oy” was about Amy and Karma reuniting with one another and Amy, Lauren and Shane all played important parts in this attempted reunification.

*The Bechdel test entails three requirements:
1. It has to have at least two (named) women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

**The Vito Russo test entails three requirements:
1. The show contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and/or transgender
2. The character must not be solely or predominately defined by her sexual orientation, gender identity and/or as being intersex
3.The character must be tied into the plot in such a way that her removal would have a significant effect

***The race or people of color (POC) test has three requirements:
1. It has two people of color in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something other than a White person

****Just because a show passes the Bechdel, Russo and race test does not mean that it is not sexist, heterosexist, racist and/or cissexist, etc. The Bechdel, Russo and race test is only a bare minimum qualifier for the representation of LGBTI individuals, women and people of color in television. The failure to pass these tests also does not identify whether the central character was a woman, a person of color or a LGBTQI individual and it does not dictate the quality of the show.