Just when you think you can't possibly love a character more, they go ahead and do something even more spectacular. Though a majority of The Astronaut Wives Club finale focused on the moon landing and complications of Apollo 13, Rene Carpenter tackled the topic of women's issues on live television in pretty much the best way possible. You see, it turns out that the higher-ups at Rene's TV news segment job preferred that she use her time on the air to demonstrate how to bake a pineapple cake rather than talk about, you know, the actual important issues that she wanted to discuss. And the only solace that her male boss could give her? "Hey, cooking's a woman's issue, right?" Nice, dude. Really helpful.
But being the amazing person that she is, Rene wasn't about to take that sitting down. Midway through her baking segment she went completely off book and started pointedly talking about serious women's issues, such as the struggles of being a single mom and birth control. She even pulled out a diaphragm and used an egg to demonstrate how it works — something that had probably never been done on national television before.
One of the main themes throughout this entire season has been that these astronaut wives are so much more than, well, astronaut wives. They have their own desires and the right to speak their mind, which is a quality Rene has continually used for the great good of her gender. She wanted to talk about more important things than baking and did let the fact that she's a woman (gasp!) keep her from doing just that. It's no wonder that she eventually went on to get her very own national talk show. Rene is an inspiration to us all and we really shouldn't have expected anything less. In other words, you go, girl!
Image: Cook Allender/ABC
