When Lexa took a rando bullet to the tit on The 100, it highlighted a murderous trend on TV: for the life of them, lesbians could not survive. Since her death back in March, more than 12 other queer ladies have caught bullets with their chests, cars with their faces, and poison with their mouths. (Also some died because of magic swords?) But no one could have anticipated the other major trend Lexa’s death would highlight: Dead lesbians transforming into artificial intelligences.
In the final episodes of the third season of The 100 it was revealed that Lexa’s big brain had been uploaded into a tiny chip along with the big brains of all the Commanders before her and that her digitized spirit was all that stood between humanity and an evil AI.
Meanwhile over on Persons of Interest, Root and the rest were battling their own evil AI, Samaritan. But more hot and heavy than the gunfire was the center stage romance between Root and a Winter Soldier-ed Shaw. Shaw (a tiny Persian assassin) managed to escape Samaritan’s clutches and find her way back to Root. The two women confessed their affection for one another in the way only soldiers of a dystopic cyberpunk war can—by threatening to shoot themselves.
Then—a whole episode later—Root took a bullet to save Harold, the accidental architect of the AI war at the center of Persons of Interest.
She would have just been another dead lesbian if the show had left it at that, but for the last three seasons Root has harbored a religious love for the show’s “good” AI, the Machine. Root’s goal in life, beyond saving Shaw from torture and death, has always been about finding a way to be one with the Machine—a creature she views as a god operating in the world of men.
And the Machine acknowledged Root’s worship and now speaks with Root’s voice and perceives the world through the lens of Root’s personality—effectively merging with Root.
It’s a perfect end for one of television’s best characters, but also, you know, the start of a hot new trend. TV’s lesbians, please stock up on a bullet proof vests and USB drives!