SXSW: Day Seven – 'Drag Queens Are the Marines of the Queer Community,' Says Symone

Watch Symone speak in a panel along with Jaida Essence Hall and Gottmik at SXSW.

Every year at South by Southwest, the festival includes an Independent TV Pilot Program to showcase new television shows looking for distribution and a pickup order. I caught this program on my seventh day at SXSW, hoping to discover a hidden gem in the bunch. Boy, was I in luck with the new series "Marvin?"

"Marvin?" comes from Dutch director Anton van der Linden, who serves as the show's showrunner alongside George Gottl. The pilot takes place in Amsterdam and centers on two friends, Dave (Cameron Tharma) and Sam (Sarah Rose), stereotypical stoners looking for success and trying to get a handle on their queerness. They come upon a refrigerator they negotiated a good deal for and promptly name it Marvin. But Marvin isn't an ordinary cooling device. It can manifest objects, and even animals, using magic.

The pilot that premiered at the festival, "Marvin?" primarily focuses on introducing these two characters and their downtrodden lifestyle in Amsterdam. The two lovable ne'er-do-wells lose a dog they are taking care of, but by the end of the episode the dog appears in the fridge because they wish for him to return. It's nonsensical, and yet hysterical at the same time.

The episode does leave off on a cliffhanger, which should hopefully be resolved if the series is picked up. Judging from the one episode, "Marvin?" is full of sketchy situations that feel experimental as the episode progresses, but the chemistry between the two leads is undeniable. Cameron Tharma is deliciously funny and endearing as Dave, while Sarah Rose speaks to the rebel in us all with her portrayal of Sam. I recommend watching this show if more episodes are produced in the future.

Next up, I took advantage of the conference side of the Film & TV Festival and attended a featured session entitled "Don't Be a Drag, Just Be a Queen." A lively discussion was had between The Trevor Project's Kevin Wong and featured drag queen guests Jaida Essence Hall, Symone, and Gottmik. The room was filled to the brim with adoring fans of the three drag queens, all of whom have competed on "RuPaul's Drag Race," with Hall and Symone winning in their respective seasons.

The session largely dealt with recent legislation passed by the Tennessee legislature and signed into law by Governor Bill Lee that restricts drag performances in the state. But other topics riled up the guests, including the current divisive political climate surrounding the LGBTQ+ world. Jaida Essence Hall specifically noted that drag is an essential part of this world, and exclaimed at one point, "Drag queens are the marines of the queer community," which received thunderous applause from those in attendance.

For her part, Symone spoke about her upbringing in Arkansas, and how frustrating it is to see the state's governor following in Tennessee's footsteps when it comes to drag representation. She stated, "I just think about the younger people. How important it was for me and how important it could be for them. Also, fuck Sarah Huckabee Sanders!" That statement also received a massive reaction from the audience.

After cleansing my soul with the wonders of drag, I took to the streets and made my way to the premiere of "Slip" at the Stateside Theater.

"Slip" is a Roku Original created by and starring festival darling Zoe Lister-Jones. Known for her acting roles in "Life in Pieces" and "New Girl," Lister-Jones is also a prolific writer and director of such indie hits as 2017's dramedy "Band Aid." This time, she has moved from writing and directing movies to take her work to the small screen with "Slip."

"Slip" debuted at SXSW with the first three episodes of the seven-episode season. Zoe Lister-Jones plays Mae Cannon, the Associate Curator of an art museum in New York City. Unhappy in her dull and sexless marriage to Elijah (Whitmer Thomas), Mae slips up and has a one-night stand with Eric (Amar Chadha-Patel), a man she met at a bar after her museum's gala. The next day, she wakes up to find that she has somehow traveled to a parallel universe where she is married to Eric and living as a celebrity spouse. By the third episode, Mae has sex with a queer woman named Sandy ("Schitt's Creek" star Emily Hampshire), and they are living a quaint lesbian life together with their child.

The premise of "Slip" is a diluted take on the long-running series "Quantum Leap," but this time Mae is doing everything and everyone in an attempt to get back to her everyday life. The series demonstrates Lister-Jones' talent in front of the camera as she bares it all, quite literally, to present the many variations of love and relationships. Sex is the vehicle Mae uses to travel to various universes, embodying versions of herself that Mae could never be while she was married to Elijah. Yet, she longs for the boring 9-to-5 life she once had, illustrating how much she took for granted when she seemingly had everything she wanted.

Dazed and confused, Mae goes on an epic journey to understand her new surroundings and find herself in a new life in each episode. It's a female-driven dramedy that focuses on sex and liberation while dealing with complex issues within the relationships that Mae forms. It's claustrophobic and deranged, accompanied by existential questions beyond Mae's control. I'm interested to see where the series takes its audience once it debuts on The Roku Channel in April and if the queer storyline is meant for a bigger purpose than a small story arc in a larger premise.