Che functions as Miranda’s primary romantic and sexual partner, prompting her to abandon her marriage to Steve and relocate to California. Creator Michael Patrick King explicitly wrote the role for Ramirez to explore themes of internalized oppression, and the production consulted GLAAD to shape the character’s dialogue and podcast segments that repeatedly invoke microaggressions, gender, and race.

These choices make Che’s identity the engine of multiple episodes rather than incidental background. A parallel arc centers Charlotte’s child Rock, born Rose, whose coming-out as non-binary via TikTok triggers extended family negotiations, school meetings, pronoun enforcement, and Charlotte’s planning of a “they-mitzvah” with a trans rabbi. The storyline occupies substantial screen time across the season and forces the other characters into repeated ideological processing sessions.

Together the Che and Rock threads demonstrate how the series subordinates traditional character development to contemporary identity narratives. The show’s dialogue and podcast sequences further foreground social-justice terminology, producing audience backlash that labeled the season preachy and caricatured. This reception gap underscores how the deliberate foregrounding of progressive language and casting decisions compromised entertainment value for many viewers.