Sperm receipts and Sheryl Sandberg.
What happened in the season finale?
What happened last week?
We took a trip to 2005 to find out how student Leila met coder Sadie at a lesbian networking event – she was trying to give Deniz a lesbian baptism, but couldn’t find a lesbian bar – and pitched her the idea for their eventual business. Then, back in 2018, Leila apologised to Sadie and they slept together!
The programme opens on Leila and Sadie in bed together and it seems like everything’s back to normal, with Sadie gently rebuking Leila for grinding her teeth in her sleep, until Leila asks to talk about last night.
Sadie tries to get out of it by saying that they have a lot to do on launch day, but when Leila presses the issue and says she’s happy that they had sex, Sadie tells her it was a “mistake” as they both changed during the breakup. Leila tries to explain that it isn’t important as they can work on building a stronger relationship now, but Sadie drops the bombshell that she’s trying to get pregnant and leaves abruptly before Leila can respond.
After stewing on this for a few minutes while Sadie showers, Leila confronts Sadie with all sorts of questions from where Sadie’s going to live to how she’ll get to the hospital, neither of which seem like immediate concerns. Then, she gets onto the big subject: who’s the daddy? Sadie admits that she went to a sperm bank, but refuses to tell Leila whose sperm she picked; likely because it was the Iranian guy we heard about in episode 3, which indicates that Sadie isn’t over Leila.
When Sadie leaves to get dressed, Leila looks through her phone and finds the receipt for the sperm and calls Deniz for help– she’s serving a customer at the time and knocks her open drink over him when she hears the reason.
When Leila and Sadie arrive at work, Hye Me reveals that she’s got a new job and quotes Sheryl Sandberg as she (finally!) tenders her resignation, before reminding the pair that she isn’t “particularly fond of either of [them]”, something Leila says has been made “quite clear” already.
Hye Me: If you’re offered a place on a rocket ship, you don’t ask what seat. You just get on!
Mine! Launch Party
At the launch party, Francesca gushes over Ruby’s blog, her interview about scarves with Malala – apparently, Sadie actually made that happen. However, Deniz’s arrival draws Leila, the viewer, and even Gabe away from the hero-worship. In her office, Leila shows Deniz the receipt for the sperm and explains that Sadie’s getting pregnant, which massively confuses Gabe, prompting him to ask: “Is she sleeping with guys now too?”
After rolling her eyes, Leila explains that Sadie’s being inseminated and shows him the receipt. He suggests looking up the guy using his donor number, but Deniz argues against that “fucked up” notion as it will just make things worse. Leila says she wants to have a baby with Sadie, but Deniz sighs, explaining that Leila isn’t ready, she’s just trying to catch up with Sadie.
Leila: Straight people become parents before they’re ready all the time. It’s only because we’re gay that everyone’s five years past ready before anyone’s pregnant.
But, as Deniz points out, Leila dumped Sadie when she last brought up starting a family at the beginning of the series and it’s an incredible violation of privacy to look through Sadie’s phone to find out about her pregnancy status/sperm donor/ etc.
Deniz says that if Leila really wants to do this, she has to do it on Sadie’s terms, something that Leila was ready to accept until Gabe shouts “Holy Shit! He’s Iranian!” and starts to play the interview with the donor. Leila now believes that this is a sign that Sadie was still thinking of them raising a family together, despite Deniz’s scepticism.
Speech Time
Sadie and Leila are called up to give a speech, but in the midst of Leila’s comments praising Sadie and the team, she’s interrupted by Ruby who announces that Vice not only bought her blog, but they’re giving her a book deal and her own show. So, she quits, taking another employee with her, and quotes the same Sheryl Sandberg line that Hye Me did earlier. Did someone read Lean In and decide to steal all of Mine!’s employees?
After the party, Leila and Sadie are clearing up and bitching about Ruby before they finally get to the talk that they abandoned earlier and Sadie asks why Leila left in the first place.
Leila: Because I didn’t know myself outside of being yours. I gave you my 20s.
Sadie notes that she gave Leila her 30s and asks which of them is really worse off, probably because she could have had a baby in that time, which prompts Leila to tell Sadie that she thinks Sadie wants her involved with the baby. At which point, Sadie reveals that she isn’t pregnant and tries to list all of the reasons why she’s glad that the insemination doesn’t take, but Leila sees through this, hugs Sadie and tells her that she loves her. However, Sadie is too upset and leaves the office.
Leila heads back to her flat, where an equally upset Gabe is playing video games on the couch – he proposed to Francesca and she made it clear it was only about her obtaining a visa. Neither of them wants to talk about their problems, so Leila convinces Gabe to lie down with his head in her lap to make himself feel better.
And holy crap, I can’t believe that was the end. How could Sadie and Leila not have gotten back together? Who was stealing Mine!’s employees? I have my fingers crossed for another season to answer my questions. What about the rest of you?
