I am Cait: Great Scott!
The second season of Caitlyn Jenner’s I Am Cait premiered episode 5, “Great Scott!” on E! Sunday night. This season follows Cait and her pals Candis Cayne, Jenny Boylan, Chandi Moore, Zackary Drucker, Kate Bornstein and newcomer Ella Giselle as they get on a bus and travel across the country to raise transgender awareness.
***Spoiler Alert***
The girls started out on the bus this week as they headed to St. Louis, Missouri. We find out that Jenny pronounces Monday as “mundee”. Caitlyn hears from Scott Disick, the father of her stepdaughter Courtney’s children. He just got out of rehab and heads out to St. Louis to spend some time with Caitlyn and the girls.
Chandi sits down with Cait and they talk about Chandi’s past. They discuss why so many transgender women of color are among those who are murdered. Chandi tells Cait how she was afraid to come out to her familiy and how it lead to her being out on her own and unable to get a job. She resorted to white collar crimes and confides how she spent time in prison. They discuss “survival crimes” and how it is often the only option for transgender women, particularly transgender women of color. Chandi went on to discuss the difficulties she had with her mother when she transitioned. She also points out how the plight of transgender women of color is something that Caitlyn needs to embrace, but it is something that she will never understand.
Meanwhile Candis hires a personal trainer and there is a lot of flirting going on. His name is Andrew and they go for a walk and eventually have lunch together. Candis gets her hopes up about dating yet again.
“I am used to being around a lot of women. I am not used to being asked to become one.” – Scott Disick
Scott shows up next with the hope that some time spent with Caitlyn and the girls will inspire him. They meet up with Van Barnes, Zachary’s friend, and make Scott an honorary trans woman. Van talked about having to transition twice because she could not get a job. She had to present as male in order to gain employment. Caitlyn, Van’s husband and Candis go for a motorcycle ride, but Candis bails after they wipe out and she nearly kills herself. Meanwhile Scott is trying desperately to have a talk with Caitlyn, but she ignores him.
“Is it really your ears or you just don’t want to listen?”
The girls and Scott go on a cruise around St. Louis and the subject of surgery comes up. Scott ends up relating to the process when they compare it to cars and oil changes. Afterwards they all go to dinner. Andrew shows up at dinner while Cait continues to ignore Scott. Finally he calls her out on it and Caitlyn blames her ignoring him on her bad hearing. “Is it really your ears or you just don’t want to listen?” says Scott. He leaves dinner upset. Meanwhile Candis goes outside with Andrew and despite more flirtation, he finally tells Candis he doesn’t think he can “go there just yet” when the subject of the two dating comes up. Candis leaves disappointed yet again.
The next morning Caitlyn, Chandi and Chandi’s mom have breakfast and they discus her road to accepting her daughter. In the end Chandi’s mother supports her and lets her know she is proud of her for the great things she has done. Meanwhile Candis speaks with Andrew again and he let’s Candis know that he has a problem with her being transgender. For Candis the same problem continues over and over as most men do not want to date transgender women.
“We are the first generations who are actively bringing about the end of transphobia.”
Cait and Scott finally sit down and work things out as they compare both their struggles while pledging that they are both there for each other. They also discussed the importance of being who one truly is. Scott joins Cait and the girls as they go to a Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony. The show highlights the names of the members of the community we lost in 2015. Kate Bornstein brought the episode home when speaking at the ceremony stating, “We are the first generations who are actively bringing about the end of transphobia.”
Mila Madison – | Twitter | Email
In the midst of the Scott Disick grab to get some of the Kardashian viewers, this episode actually touched on some important issues affecting the transgender community. They talked about the plight of transwomen and the struggles of transgender women of color. They talked about the difficulty members of the community have finding employment. Chandi, brought out her past and talked about coming out to her family. They continued to highlight the troubles transgender women have with dating. In the end they also highlighted the Transgender Day of Remembrance. I thought it was really well done as they spoke and displayed the names of those we lost. It really got to me. Kate Bornstein summed it up well pointing out we are the generation that will change things. I thought it was a good episode and well worth the watch. Hopefully it will expose some people to many of the issues we face as a community.
P.S. – What a jerk this Andrew guy is. I feel bad for Candis.
