Bernard

> "*There's so many lame dudes who call themselves feminists just to hook up with women. Not me, I'm an ally.*"
> —Bernard to Penelope, *To Zir, With Love*
>
>

**Bernard** is a minor character on One Day at a Time. He is a part of the group Elena leads, the Feminist Gamers of Echo Park. He is portrayed by Benjamin A. Hoyt.

## Bio

Bernard is a member of Elena's feminist gamer group along with Syd, Dani, and Margaux. In the final version of To Zir, With Love, he is a character who does not speak but sits on the right armchair during the first scene.

On Benjamin A. Hoyt's IMDb page, he has a demo reel that reveals that Bernard had a speaking part in To Zir, With Love, but it was edited out of the final cut.

Penelope asks if he is a gamer feminist too. He responds by saying that so many other guys pretend to be feminists so they can hook up with women, but he's not one of them. This makes him sound overly-defensive of his intentions in the group. This creeps out the others, and Penelope sarcastically responds with "that's nice." Then she whispers to Lydia to keep her eyes on him.

## Storyline

### Season 2

At the beginning of "To Zir, With Love," Elena enters the Alvarez living with the group, saying that her friends were a part of an advocacy group she joined. The group first only talked online and this was their first meeting in real life. Penelope asks for everybody's names and each of the members introduces themselves. They all state their names and pronouns, which confuses Penelope. Elena explains that some people prefer to use certain pronouns because they are gender non-conforming.

Elena tells Penelope and Lydia that they are going downtown to protest a video game, Bloodsplosion 6. Dani and Syd say it's because when you go to select your avatar, there were only three gender non-binary characters and the advertising strongly suggested that there would be three.

Penelope tells her that she doesn't mind the protests, but to make sure she keeps up with her homework so she can build up her transcripts and crush the PSATs. After getting confused about the pronouns, Alex comes out and says sup. Lydia warns him that he is not flirting with the right people.

Later, Elena comes back to the apartment with her friends. It turns out they didn't get them to change the video game because the building was closed on Saturday. However, if they come back later, they can tour the building and get T-shits. Dani says they will wear them ironically. Lydia invites them to stay for dinner but Dani can't stay so Elena tells them all to go home.

Lydia tells Elena that she knows she has a crush on Dani. Elena denies it, but Lydia tells her that she can teach her how to flirt. Elena says that she's too young to date but Lydia says she isn't that young to flirt. Both Lydia and Alex show her how they flirt. Penelope arrives home and asks what's going on. Lydia tells Penelope about Elena's crush. Penelope says that she can't date. She says that they don't let anything get in the way with their education. Lydia tells Penelope that flirting can be fun and that it doesn't hurt anyone.

Later, Elena has the group over at her house, all of them wearing Bloodsplosion 6 unisex shirts. Lydia asks if she needs some courage and offers her some rum. Elena says no and that she's not going to do anything until she knows for sure that Dani is gay. Lydia assumes she's gay because she wears Chapstick instead of lipstick.

### Season 4

The Feminist Gamers of Echo Park are alluded to in "Perfect" on Elena's college essay ideas board, saying *"I met Syd through a non-binary gaming community."*

## Trivia

* Bernard's pronouns are not mentioned until Elena gives out orders and refers to him as "he and him."
* He is most likely the only member of **The Feminist Gamers of Echo Park** who is not LGBT.
* His intentions are most likely to hook up with one of the people in the group. This isn't likely since Dani already has a girlfriend, Elena and Syd are dating, and Margaux seems very uninterested in him.