In the fourth episode of an already shaky third season, Revenge gave fans something to celebrate with the quick consummation of a will-they-or-won't-they flirtation that began the moment Patrick (Justin Hartley) set foot in the Hamptons earlier that season.

"I just thought," Nolan stammers, "you showed up at my party, and we saw each other at the beach club, that maybe we, uh…"

"We did," Patrick finally answers, pulling Nolan into a passionate kiss.

With little fanfare, Revenge showed audiences a tender man-on-man kiss, something that shouldn't feel revolutionary in 2013 but still proves to be noteworthy.

Contrast the Nolan-Patrick kiss — and the steamy embraces that followed — with Nolan's fling with sexy con artist Tyler (Ashton Holmes) in Revenge's first season. As sexually charged as their interactions were — largely a tribute to Nolan's portrayer, Gabriel Mann, who has chemistry with just about everything — their coupling was relatively chaste. The first kiss, designed to out Nolan as bisexual, was implied, with the camera cutting away before Nolan or Tyler had a chance to slip some tongue.

In many ways, the transition from Nolan and Tyler to Nolan and Patrick shows how quickly things can change when it comes to LGBT representation. But while Revenge deserves credit, to be sure, the climate as a whole isn't nearly as progressive as it purports to be. By and large, gay characters are sexless. And when they're not, their trysts are still more insinuation than anything explicit. LGBT audiences aren't looking for porn on network television, but we need more than the occasional hint that two same sex characters are attracted to one another. It comes down to depictional equality: If the straight couples on a show are making out, the gay couples ought be able to make out too.