The lesbians may not have died at the end but I still have to call out the writers for what this episode was: a badly written, badly planned out ‘romance’ with no soul
If it’s any consolation, (and it’s not really because it’s an example of how devoid the show is these days of properly developed relationships), Hercules and Meg knew each other for all of 5 minutes and barely even interacted before they were declared TL and she was allowed tp cross over to Olympus to be with him. And Hades and Zelena fell in TL after one bike ride. So at least it’s the straight couples as well that they’re just not putting the effort in with.
However, in tv shows, they tend to signpost a little more when a character is interested in both genders or people from both genders. Ruby being interested in Dorothy kind of came out of left field.
This is a reason why I was so reluctant to get on board with the speculation that Red would be in the LGBT relationship, because I figured it would just feel OOC for her, given how they’ve only portrayed her as being straight in the past, (first with the boyfriend she ate, and then with the obvious setup they were doing for Frankenwolf before they ditched Red’s character). I’ve got no issue with it if Red discovers that she’s something other than straight, but I had no confidence in the writers to portray her dealing with that discovery in a believable way. I think they at least attempted to do it, when they had Red sitting on a log and quietly freaking out, unsure of how to handle these newfound emotions, but it was a pretty half hearted attempt.
Had they had Mulan encourage Red by talking about how she understands what she’s going through, because it threw her off when she was attracted to Aurora as well, and she had to take some time to figure out what it meant and who she is, and how accepting yourself as you are and trusting in what you feel and who you feel it for is an empowering thing, even if it can be confusing at first. Then it might have felt a bit less like it was totally out of left field, (and it also would have given Mulan some actual purpose to be in this episode, and might have softened the blow of her having to stand by and watch this all happen while she’s still there alone).
Her conversation with Snow was probably another attempt at them trying to convey Red coming to terms with believing that it’s a real thing that she’s fallen in love with a woman. But again it felt like they fell short in portraying it.
As you said elsewhere, the whole pronoun game with Mulan might not even be the writers’ fault, if it’s the result of executive meddling due to Mulan being a Disney princess.
It probably is Disney’s fault. There are so many people out there with bigoted, ignorant, hateful views who don’t accept that LGBT people are just normal people who deserve to be able to live and love happily like all the straight folks, that they surely knew that this episode would be divisive, and cause some people to get all riled up, because the lesbians are oh so evil. Can’t have such negative attention and controversy associated with one of their Disney Princesses.