As I said, I think it’s a legit gripe sometimes, and you’re right about there being few heterosexual examples (Mulder and Scully is the biggest one I can think of). But the way it’s getting thrown around (like so many other buzzwords that people fundamentally misunderstand) is getting a bit ridiculous. And, like, it’s fine that you wanted them to kiss — a lot of people did while still enjoying the show, which was excellent. But when people start suggesting that those characters should have kissed, as if the writers behind the show were cruelly and incorrectly depriving the audience of that, that’s where I draw the line. That can lead to toxic fandom in which people are claiming ownership over something they didn’t create and isn’t theirs.

I don’t think the show was ever about explicit interpersonal romance in the traditional sense. In fact, it was about an extremely unique, extremely taboo, very obviously untraditional sort of intimacy between them that I think a ‘climactic’ kiss or some reveal that they’re both bisexual would have dumbed down quite a bit, honestly. But that’s just me. I’d argue that the two of them teaming up to take down Dolarhyde and then jumping (or, Will pushing Hannibal — it’s left a bit ambiguous) off that cliff is the kiss, for all intents and purposes.

Queer-baiting (when it does actually happen) is essentially indebted to the “will they or won’t they” trope of two main characters on a sitcom taking years before they get together. It’s a tried and true device that gets viewers coming back for more and waiting for the eventual hook-up. When it’s being clearly dangled and never given in a context like that, I’m more inclined to call it what it is. Then it becomes part of the bigger issue of media being super chaste with regards to showing gay sex and gay intimacy. That’s finally changing, at least a little bit.