The opening of the second season premiere of the E! reality series "I Am Cait," finds our eponymous star perched on her commodious, invitingly neutral bed, with multiple, fluffy white pillows stacked behind her, an unpacked duffel at her feet, speaking into a handheld camera about her journey.
The journey is, of course, the established conceit of all reality television from "American Idol" to "The Bachelor." In the case of "I Am Cait," the journey this season is to be a literal road trip across the back ways of our country, Caitlyn Jenner and her posse of peers and mentors packed into a bus like loquacious sardines, all the better for Caitlyn, 66, to at last get the memo on what it really means to be transgender in the world outside of Malibu's gilded celebrity culture.
Before the bus of trans reckoning rolls out, however, we get a quick scene of an impeccably lit Caitlyn ensconced in her creamy Nancy Meyers dream of a house, connecting with her two youngest daughters, Kylie and Kendall, the latter of whom argues that Caitlyn "got pretty lucky" with her family, as far as judgment and acceptance goes. They call Caitlyn "Mad," a merging of "mom" and "dad."
With the Kardashian cross-promo over and done (for now), we dive into the meat of the message -- basically, Caitlyn's "Come To LGBT Jesus Tour" -- the delivery of which seems to rest primarily on the erudite shoulders of author and educator Jennifer Finney Boylan, whom we met in season one, and whose role as lecturer and Trans 101 translator is further cemented here. Boylan reads studies and newspapers, y'all. And she tries, often, to enlighten Caitlyn on the facts, laying out statistics and other immutable LGBT math, which Caitlyn proceeds to shrug off like so many designer dresses, preferring instead to share that her future dating plans will probably involve men, as for with women she has "been there, done that."
After this revelation, Caitlyn surmises of her travel partners, "I've said what everybody wants to hear. Â… Maybe now they might leave me alone for a while." Because that is exactly what happens in reality television shows, no?
Boylan is proud of Caitlyn's sexual evolution. But she has bigger fish to land, gamely trying, as she is, to shape Caitlyn into a more politically and self-aware version of her new self. In this, she has help from performer Candis Cayne, activist Chandi Moore and new cast member, beloved rabble-rouser and self-proclaimed "gender outlaw," author Kate Bornstein, who brings a welcome level of depth and sophisticated analysis to the proceedings.
Kate casually asks Kendall and Kylie when they first knew they were girls, for example, a deceptively incisive question that cuts through the whole thorny business of transition and gets straight to the heart of what is happening with their Mad, namely the exteriorization of what, for her, she has always felt to be true. Later in the episode, when the women are all laughing and wrinkling their noses over dinner at the notion of "tranny chasers" (a subset of folks who are attracted specifically to transgender men and women), Kate piercingly observes that by keeping that desire in the realm of "the perverted" they are only holding back societal (not to mention self) acceptance.
"It has to become as beautiful to love a trans person as it is to love a cis person," Kate says wisely.
This elucidation appears to be lost on Caitlyn. And it is not the only one, as the entire episode -- during which the women helicopter over the Grand Canyon and peruse kitschy gift shoppes and sleep at a Best Western, but mostly talk -- reveals Caitlyn stubbornly clinging to the beliefs and values of her past, even as they directly conflict with the pressing, current agenda she proclaims to embrace.
"I think I can keep all my views the same," she argues plainly, even as Boylan confronts her with evidence of specific Republican legislation that has denied equal rights to the LGBT population. After which, Candis laments, "It's frustrating to me that Cait doesn't see the obvious. I mean, it's not like we're saying to her, 'the sky is pink.'"
Caitlyn paints herself as an emissary, a role model. But she also remains a proud conservative, one who wants to serve as Ted Cruz's "trans ambassador." (Which is about as likely as serving as Trump's thesaurus.)
Her Republicanism itself is not the issue. She is welcome to any viewpoint she chooses. However, it gets tricky when you are advocating for change most of the folks in your party actively legislate against.
When Boylan suggests as much, Caitlyn rolls her eyes and snaps, "I'm not going there."
"We are going there," a heated Boylan counters. "That's why we're on this trip."
Caitlyn may not be the spokeswoman the trans community chose. But she is one nonetheless. Her visibility carries weight, for better or worse. Her journey matters.
If only she would get on the damn bus.
"I Am Cait" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on E!
