Simply the Best: Celebrating “Schitt’s Creek”

HRC celebrates the series finale of "Schitt's Creek" and its portrayal of LGBTQ issues and characters.

Imagine the lavish lifestyle you’ve grown accustomed to is stripped away and you’re forced to move to a small town in the middle of nowhere. For the Rose family, this is reality in the beloved Canadian sitcom “Schitt’s Creek.”

Co-created by father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy - a member of the HRC family - the show portrays the ups and downs of readjusting to unforeseen life circumstances and how we have to adapt to the changes around us. Over the past six seasons we’ve witnessed the family’s unforgettable members, Alexis, David, Johnny and Moira, navigate their new normal after losing nearly everything to a financial planner-turned-embezzler. From Moira’s venture into local politics to Johnny's entrepreneurial endeavor with the town’s motel, we have followed along closely as caricatures of former wealth and privilege evolved into the three-dimensional characters we now welcome onto our screens every week.

While we have many reasons to love “Schitt’s Creek” - Moira’s wig wall being just one of them - it’s the show’s exploration of LGBTQ issues and characters that truly makes it such a standout. David Rose, played by Dan Levy, breaks barriers by being one of television’s few openly pansexual characters. Rather than simply throw out the term in a passing conversation and call it a day, the show takes the time to explore what David’s pansexuality means to him and showcase a part of the LGBTQ community commonly overlooked in mainstream media. His open conversation with best friend Stevie in the episode “Honeymoon” hits at the heart of what we all know to be true: Sexual orientation focuses on who a person is, not the labels they may carry.

“Schitt’s Creek” also pushes the envelope by making LGBTQ acceptance the norm rather than the exception. Television shows of the past traditionally explored queer issues by casting the community as an “other” that people eventually came to tolerate through getting to know LGBTQ characters firsthand. In the humble town of Schitt’s Creek, however, one’s sexual orientation or gender identity is never called into question. In fact, the townspeople never seem to bat an eye at David’s pansexuality or his relationship with Patrick (played by Noah Reid), and instead embrace them as part of the community. This representation speaks volumes for queer people around the world living in rural areas and sends the message that acceptance can be found anywhere. The one challenge we do witness to this theme of acceptance, found in the form of Patrick coming out to his parents, ends up becoming a heartfelt moment showing how most parents want to ensure their children are happy no matter whom they love or who they are.

There’s a lot to appreciate about “Schitt’s Creek” and the characters we’ve grown to love over the past few years, but it’s the show’s LGBTQ representation that will always be in our hearts. Through David, Patrick and the people of Schitt’s Creek, we’ve seen how queer people do not have to accept the tragic plots once prescribed to us through television and instead can live happy, fulfilling lives just as everyone else.

To “Schitt’s Creek,” there’s just one last thing to say: You’re simply the best.

You can tune into the finale of “Schitt’s Creek” on Tuesday, April 7 at 8|7 C.