The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test: Lucky Romance – Season 1, Episode 12

Bo-Nui and Soo-Ho began to date on Lucky Romance, episode 12, and they enjoyed “fooling” their coworkers into thinking that they were not dating.

The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test

Episode 12 did not pass the Russo test but it did pass the Bechdel and race test.

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Bo-Nui and Soo-Ho go out on a date.

Episode 12 did not pass the Russo test, and the episode did not pass this test because there were no LGBTI characters in episode 12. The episode did, however, pass the Bechdel and race test.

Episode 12 passed the Bechdel test because there were named women in the episode and there were a couple of occasions where some of these women talked to each other without mentioning men. The episode passed the race test because there were many instances where non-White individuals talked to each other without mentioning White people as the entire cast was Asian and none of the characters ever mentioned White people.

*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.