Bechdel test: No, not even close
Feminist points: 
Movie/Episode: 
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey play Marty and Rust, two miss matched police officers in the Louisiana homicide department. They immediately get confronted with a murder which is going to haunt them for the next 17 years.
The first episode of the popular HBO series starts off with presenting the first female “character” naked, dead and tied to a tree. The 2nd and 3rd are prostitutes. The fourth is Marty’s wife Maggie (Michelle Monaghan), who is introduced with a shot of her ass, whilst lying in bed. The only female authoritative figure, Cathleen, who’s the receptionist at the police station (which makes her rank below the male officers), is addressed for the first time with an affectionate joke about the colour of her skin. Oh I almost forgot, Marty’s got a young mistress, of course!
There is an apparent lack of women in the small town Louisiana police department (as seen in the picture), but I guess that the reason is to minimize the risk of sexual harassment?
Oh wait, there’s a woman in orange in the back cleaning the floor.
It’s sad to see that this show, which is supposed to be the BEST of the best, have such flat female characters with zero complexity. I just hope that the next episode will present us with less misogyny and more philogyny.
-D
davethefeminist.wordpress.com 