The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test: Lucky Romance – Season 1, Episode 14

On Lucky Romance, episode 14, Soo-Ho secretly commenced creating a program to counter the ransomware. Bo-Nui, in the meanwhile, kept contemplating whether or not she should leave Soo-Ho for his own sake.

The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test

Episode 14 did not pass the Russo test but it did pass the Bechdel and race test.

lucky-romance-ep-14.jpg
Young-Il assists Soo-Ho in his efforts to defeat the ransomware.

Episode 14 did not pass the Russo test, and the episode did not pass this test because there were no LGBTI characters in episode 14. The episode did, however, pass the Bechdel and race test.

Episode 14 passed the Bechdel test because there were several 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 easily passed the race test because there were numerous 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.