As I've been both anticipating and contemplating the forthcoming finale of the fifth season of Schitt's Creek — airing tonight on Pop TV — I've often found myself lavishing in the gift that is perhaps the best relationship on TV right now: David Rose and Patrick Brewer. While the Canadian series — which follows the shenanigans of a wealthy family running the town of Schitt's Creek after they lose all their wealth —garnered generally favorable reviews from its inception, it wasn't until late in season 3, with the prospect of the too-cool-for-school, obsessive compulsive David (series co-creator Daniel Levy) and hyper-practical, extremely thoughtful Patrick (Noah Reid) becoming an item, that the Pop TV comedy series started to gain a newfound traction.

The show was regularly live tweeted. Viewing parties started popping up at well-known LGBTQ bars in major cities like New York and Los Angeles. The early seasons dropped on Netflix. And, lest we forget, Kyle MacLachlan gave his best performance since Twin Peaks in the #FruitWineChallenge . Sure, good writing and a cast rounded out with comedy heavyweights like Eugene Levy (also a co-creator) and Catherine O'Hara were a big part of it, but good comedies come and go; what built Schitt's Creek into a great comedy was when, thanks to the development of David and Patrick's real, reflective relationship, the series grew a big heart.

We respond to David and Patrick's burgeoning love because we actually see it, physically, on screen.

After season 3, Schitt's Creek dove head first into the David/Patrick of it all, taking the best of romantic comedy tropes and wrapping them all up in a neat little package for our greedy little hands to unwrap. There was secret pining and unexpected confessions of attraction, but perhaps the most memorable moment was Patrick's acoustic rendition of Tina Turner's The Best, which got a sweet callback in a later episode when David returns the favor in form of a private lip sync performance of the original recording.

It seemed impossible that season 5 could top the warm and fuzzies the show had already given us, but in a satisfying turn of events, the saga of David and Patrick continued to exceed expectations, naturally progressing from those cute, early-relationship getting-to-know-you moments to, ya know, the stuff we actually butt up against when we settle into another human being. Across the span of 14 episodes, we witnessed the couple explore themes of jealousy, intimacy, open relationships, and even Patrick’s coming-out. Of course, that wasn't the first time a character publicly professed they were gay on TV, but Schitt's Creek did it without the often-painful tools other pop culture moments have employed to tell these stories in the past. (Think Ricky being disowned by his parents in My So Called Life, Jack on Dawson's Creek, Emily on Pretty Little Liars, Kurt on Glee.)

Further, we respond to David and Patrick's burgeoning love because we actually see it, physically, on screen. Outside of queer-centric series with more creative freedom and less censorship — HBO's Looking, Showtime's The L Word, even pioneer series like Will & Grace — gay affection can frequently be reduced to occasional hand holding, hugs, and tight-lipped pecks, while straight characters get to be more...demonstrative shall we say. David and Patrick's relationship's physicality, however, is just as present on screen, in moments that range from a kiss goodbye when someone leaves a room to flirting to sneaking off to find a place to be alone because you just can't keep your hands off the other person. In Patrick and David, Schitt's Creek grants us all of that — along with a proposal the likes of which you've only seen in an early 2000's Jennifer Lopez movie.

If this were all limited to the world of Schitt's Creek, it would be enough to celebrate. But, thankfully, David and Patrick exist in a pop culture world where, at last, it seems like queer stories — and queer romcoms in particular — have more staying power. As of 2019, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jane The Virgin, Grey's Anatomy, and Good Trouble are a few of the shows on major networks currently featuring queer storylines involving main characters, and characters of color at that.

Back in October, it was announced that comedian Sabrina Jalees will be developing Hanging On, a comedy for Fox about a retired couple who move across the street from their estranged daughter and her wife. The project is one of two queer-centric comedies slated to premiere on the network. The other, Middle America, stars Leah Remini as a "conservative lesbian" working with her ex-husband and new wife to raise a family in — you guessed it — middle America.

Even the film world is realizing the viability of LGBTQ relationships as rich ground to explore the ways in which people — gay and straight — come together. Along with period dramas like Vita & Virginia, about the relationship between famed authors Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, and Tell It To The Bees, an adaptation of the Fiona Shaw novel of the same name, there's Wild Nights With Emily , a biopic with a romcom twist that focuses on Emily Dickinson's relationship with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert.

Culture is finally catching up to the reality many of us have known or lived for most of our lives.

Also, in February, it was announced that Billy Eichner would both star in and co-write (with Nick Stoller) a romantic comedy, produced by Judd Apatow, about "two men with commitment problems attempting a relationship." Lastly, Clea Duvall will direct and write, along with Mary Holland, the Kristen-Stewart-starring Happiest Season , yet another romantic comedy about "a young woman whose plan to propose to her girlfriend while at her family's annual holiday party is upended when she discovers her partner hasn't yet come out to her conservative parents."

They say three's a trend, right? Well, what about eight? Only, that's the thing: For maybe the first time in a entertainment history not only are there multiple films featuring queer storylines in queue, but there are even more accessible stories on television to tide us over in the meantime — meaning this isn't a trend, it's just culture finally catching up the reality many of us have known, observed, or lived for most of our lives. So, at last, we don't have to endure years-long gaps between queer-centered films that may not even get a worldwide releases.

A final boon to this bevy of LGBTQ content: Queer stories that don't end in tragedy. We had to wait 12 years between Imagine Me & You and Love, Simon after all. And Daniel Levy has often said of Schitt's Creek that "I have no patience for homophobia. We show love and tolerance. If you put something like that out of the equation, you're saying that doesn't exist and shouldn't exist." Here here! Schitt's Creek may be coming to an end after its sixth season, but, clearly, it has a legacy that is due to live on for a long, long time.

Seasons 1-4 of Schitt's Creek are streaming on Netflix, and the season 5 finale airs on Pop TV tonight at 10 p.m.

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