The L Word - Lesbian Series for Showtime Network

[Paint the Sky]

Thank you for you're reply.

[maudmac]

Decent episode. No complaints.

Bette is magnificent, as always. And, damn, she wears a blindfold really well. Gosh.

Die, Jenny, die!

Holy shit, Shane pushed Painkiller Jane too far.

That's all I remember.

[GayNow]

Yes, Jenny must die. Slowly. Painfully.

[Hemiola]

I certainly agree about Jenny's nastiness: a bad case of "Hollywooditis" I thought she was lost at sea???
I still think the little Pomeranian dog is cute, though.

Shane remains incorrigible and, in her own way, hilarious--I got a kick out of her attempting to flirt with the women in prison!.......

Maybe I missed something: can somebody tell me why the English woman (forgot her name) is in prison? What is she supposed to have done??

I can't really say I "bought" the idea of the ghostly appearance to Alice--it was a little too "cutesy" for my taste.

[Culzean]

RE: Helena in prison - when Alice, Shane and Tina went to visit her they asked her (in a whisper) where she had hidden the money. Helena indicated that she didn't feel she had stolen it, she was entitled to it.

I assume she stole money from her previous boss, the woman who was teaching her to gamble. In their last scene together that woman had persuaded Helena to gamble all her money, $100,000 I believe, on a horse race. Naturally, their horse lost.

I loved the panicked look on Shane's face when Paige said she understood Shane's behavior and thought she could live with it. For a second I thought Paige was putting her on just to watch her squirm. Actually, that would have provided a sweeter (and safer) revenge - just spend a few days chasing after Shane, profess undying love, and continue with the plans to move in together. I mean, why risk getting arrested for burning down Shane's business when she's so easy to torture? Mind you, I like Shane. But I think it would have been more fun (and revealing) to watch her squirm for awhile.

RE: Jenny - the title of the episode was "LGB Tease." I think the writers/producers teased all the LGB's in the audience with the last scene in last season's episode when they let us think Jenny might just drift away and not come back, only to bring her back more obnoxious than ever. I can't believe we lost Dana and kept Jenny.

Oh, and Bette and Jodi - they are SO not right for each other. They're great individually, but combining a control freak with an independence freak - that's just an explosion waiting to happen.

Alice and Tasha are my current favorite couple, though they're doomed as well. And Phyllis needs more screen time. She's funny! Cybill Shepherd looks like she's having a ball with this roll.

[Paint the Sky]

Is there anyone out there that like's Jenny? I too was hoping the little yellow dinghy had floated off on a one way voyage to oblivion.

Bette and Jodi make an interesting combination. I think it will do Bette good not to have everything her own way, a bit of humility does no-one any harm.

Not a great opener, so things can only get better, hopefully.

[Alcy]

The opening episode was okay, I'm not quite sure what they are trying to do with Jenny's character...make us all hate her more? Well, that's working quite nicely.

I can't stand Jodie and I hope she makes an exit fairly promptly, she's a bitch with a capital B.

I'm sad Shane is such a slut, I really liked Paige!

The only part of the storyline I really enjoyed was Helena's. Although she didnt get enough screen time. Rachel Shelley is gorgeous and looked hote even in her orange jumpsuit, I can't wait for the next eppy if it's got more of her in it!

Alcy

[Rocktoddy]

Completely and one hundred percent in agreement with Alcy!

Rachel Shelly is one hot mama-yama and I have found myself growing really fond of the character of Helena, ever since the Dylan storyline... man, how hot was she with Alexandra Hedison? And then living with Alice, whaha, too funny. It's great how the writers of the show discovered the tragedy of Helena. Putting her through the wringer always turns out so hilarious! Poor baby. Good thing she's pretty.

Aaanyway, first episode... meh, good, but not great. I'm feeling the Bette and Tina thing again, even though they really don't deserve each other after all the shit they put one another through the past years, but hey... relationships are all about forgiving each other right? Plus, I really just wanted to see Bette getting unto that floaty with Tina and see some good old splashy TiBette action, heh.

[maudmac]

I thought last night's episode kind of sucked.

I understand that Shane is supposed to be completely irresistible, but I just do NOT buy all those women at the wedding throwing themselves at her that way. Also, um, what exactly is it she is doing when she's having sex with them that is soooooo mindblowingly fantastic?!? To be graphic - it would seem she is simply finger fucking them and, while that is awesome, I am not understanding why it is depicted as the be-all, end-all of sex. It reminds me of Papi's apparently magical "circles" that blew every woman's mind as the Best. Sex. Ever.

I sure don't have a problem with the show depicting lesbian sex as awesome, but this is bugging me. I swear, at some point, Shane had both her hands on one woman's boobs. We know she's strapped it on before (with Cherie/Sherie/whoever, Rosanna Arquette), but are we to believe that she arrived to do hair at the wedding already wearing the thing or that she carries it with her at all times?

I don't get it! Help me understand.

Other comments:

I was amused at the conversation in the conference room with the guy and Tina and Jenny when he demanded MORE SEX in the script and they showed these possible pairings. Jenny said something like "No one would EVER want to see Nina having sex with anyone!" and I got a chuckle out of the hatred she and Tina have for each other now. Also, anything that shows Jennifer Beals kissing any other woman is going to be okay with me. Anything that shows Jennifer Beals doing anything at all is going to be okay with me.

I was also amused at seeing Pam Grier in prison. Anyone seen Black Mama, White Mama?

Speaking of prison, I did not like seeing incarcerated women portrayed as being so predatory. I do realize that some women's prisons are indeed brutal, but I'm not crazy about depictions being so one-sided like this. Then again, one-sided depictions are something the show does well.

Jenny is exercising extremely poor judgment in allowing an obsessed fan to insert herself in her life this way, but I can see that such a person is exactly what Jenny wants - someone to worship her. Which reminds me, is there a rule at the show that every season, Jenny must change a lot but always in a way that will guarantee that she is despicable and widely hated?

I really feel for Tasha and I'm glad the show is having her wanting to stay in the military while giving voice to the question of why someone would want to be part of an institution that doesn't want them. The dialogue there between Tasha and Alice was good. I am very much in the Alice camp on this issue, but I appreciate having the other side so well represented and I hope the show will handle that well.

I appreciate the problem Phyllis and Joyce are having and I feel for both of them. I do think it would be wise for Phyllis to play around some before she settles down, but I also understand Joyce's desire not to be seeing someone who is seeing other people. They're both right.

lol, anyone watch The Big Gay Sketch Show on LOGO? The last ep I saw had a skit about lesbian phone sex. They were making fun of what lesbians think is spicy talk - political and social stuff about patriarchy and sweatshops and environmentalism and such, all presented as extremely arousing. At one point, the caller is asked "What do you want?" and she's rolling around in ecstasy, right, and she says "For the L word to be written better!"

[FunkyBeccaBecca]

At one point, the caller is asked "What do you want?" and she's rolling around in ecstasy, right, and she says "For the L word to be written better!"

HAHAHAHAHAHA. so true.

[Culzean]

I just read an interesting bit of trivia. The woman playing Helena's cell mate, Dusty, is Lucia Rijker. She's a Dutch woman who is an undefeated champion in both women's boxing and women's kickboxing.

[Paint the Sky]

The Shane thing was lazy writing, for me. Was anyone watching surprised that she had both the bridesmaids and the mother of the bride.

And as for Jenny, jeez, can she get her head any further up her own ass?

The obsessed fan plot. Anyone else thinking 'All About Eve'?

[dlline]

And as for Jenny, jeez, can she get her head any further up her own ass?

To that, I can only add "Amen."

[Alcy]

I think they should just make the whole damn show about Helena in prison, I don't care if it's one sided...it's hot! Yes, I know they already made a drama set in a women's prison, Bad Girls *cough*crap*cough* but none of those women were half as hot as Rachel Shelley.

Shane's storyline was whack, I'm with maudmac in saying that finger-fucking is good...but did it really warrant all that screaming and crying? I don't really think so. Though it was pretty funny at the end with Shane being driven away with three crazy women running after her.

Would someone please tell Jodie that her hair is just as whack as Shane's storyline, seriously, what was up with that poodle look?

[Shaucker]

I just read an interesting bit of trivia. The woman playing Helena's cell mate, Dusty, is Lucia Rijker. She's a Dutch woman who is an undefeated champion in both women's boxing and women's kickboxing.

She's actually been on the show before. Rijiker played Dana's trainer in a Season 2 episode.


Is anyone else liking Max these days? He's the only one who tries to make Jenny act like less of an asshat.

.... and from what's been/being hinted at, he's got an interesting storyline coming up.

[gorn]

I don't mean to interrupt -- I don't get Showtime and I've never seen The L-Word -- I just have to ask ... "asshat?"

[Shaucker]

A person, of either gender, whose behavior displays such ignorance/obnoxiousness that you would like to make them wear their own ass as a hat.


I seem to be a 21 year-old girl stuck inside a 15 year old boy sometimes.

[diamondforever]

Asshat is a part of my everyday vocabulary.

I'm actually kinda digging Max this season. And the storyline with Tom should be interesting! I like Tom. And if Tom likes Max, and they go about it right, it could very well be the first worthwhile Max plot since he was introduced!

[maudmac]

Yep, I'm in agreement about Max and the potential of the storyline with Tom (that's Jodi's interpreter, right?). Of all of them, at this point, Max is probably the only one I'd want to actually hang out with. I love me some Bette, but...she really can be difficult and I doubt I'd enjoy her company much just to hang out. Max seems like just a regular person, someone you could be yourself around.

I love the way they just drop stuff (how did Jenny get off that boat?) and make these radical changes to characters. Once I figured out I needed to expect the show to just be a soap opera, it quit bothering me so much.

About hair, over at afterellen, someone said something about Bette having soccer mom hair now. It's so true!

About Helena...I definitely understand her sense that she's entitled to that money, but is it really worth the prison time? How did she even get caught? What exactly is the charge? How long is her sentence? Would she have even been able to avoid prison (or get less time) if she'd turned in the money? Does she expect the authorities to ignore her spending money she shouldn't even have once she's released? Even when she finishes her sentence, that money still isn't hers.

Oh, whatever. Yeah, I expect Helena's prison sex to be seriously hot.

[Ben Varkentine]

Just curious what people think of this Showtime promotion for The L Word:

http://www.celebridiot.com/2008/01/18/s ... he-l-word/

Titillating in a "guilty pleasure" kind of way, or...

BTW, the line about a lesbian's fantasy being that this show is better written...now that's funny.

[Alcy]

Stupid was my first thought...and my lesbian fantasies are waaay better written than the L word thank you very much Miss Chaiken and your writing minions....they don't involve killing off my favourite character or leaving a beautiful woman at the altar...or an arrogant and conceited little shit that first thinks she's a writer and then a movie director.
...okay, they might involve prison sex everynow and then!

[Zooeys_Bridge]

Alcy:my lesbian fantasies are waaay better written than the L word thank you very much Miss Chaiken and your writing minions....they don't involve killing off my favourite character or leaving a beautiful woman at the altar...or an arrogant and conceited little shit that first thinks she's a writer and then a movie director.

[maudmac]

Ah! Okay. So Helen wasn't in prison, she was in jail. They kept calling it prison! There is a difference between jail and prison.

Anyway, that Charlie's Angels bit at the beginning was fantastic. I rewound and watched it a bunch of times. Hilarious. Looked like they had great fun doing that, too.

Poor Kit! OMG! I hope they catch those guys.

Wow, Bette getting thrown in the lake...I don't even know what to say about that, but my jaw dropped when that guy picked her up. I still don't know whether that was terrible or funny.

God, Jenny is such a loser. Can't even check her own heart rate? I'd be really surprised if the machine didn't have a built-in thingy for that, but I guess they needed to show how pathetic Jenny is and the degree to which she is now dependent on that obsessed fan.

What is this theory Max mentioned? About genetics and same-sex attraction? Any transpeople want to weigh in about that? I know that some transpeople do find their feelings of attraction shifting as they undergo treatments, but I am not sure how common that is. I'd like to know.

When did Mama Peabody become such an elitist classist cunt? Was she always that way and my appreciation for Holland Taylor just blinded me to it? Anyway, I am not sure Helena's making the right decision here, but I have to admit I'm pretty much rooting for her and Dusty now. They sure didn't show us much development on their relationship, though, did they?

Decent ep, I thought. That Charlie's Angel bit was sooooo funny!

[Hemiola]

Certainly agree about the "Charlie's Angels" parody, especially Leisha Haley as "Farrah" ol . People forget how popular that show was: the daughter of a neighbor of mine used to collect "Charlie's Angels" cards!

[maudmac]

OMG, I did, too! The cool thing about those was that, on the back they were something like puzzle pieces. If you collected enough of them and got the right ones, the backs would have gone together to make a larger picture. I never got the right ones, though.

[Rocktoddy]

S5E3, Lady of the Lake.

Judging from the hilarious dream-opener, I should've known I would already like this episode very muchly. Bev's Lesbians? Seriously? That was great! Leisha should pout more. MORE I SAY! And did anyone catch Helena's funky slow-mo run when Shane zapped Jenny with the Gaydargun? *snicker*

Again, Helena being bad-ass out on the court (jail-wise or b-ball) never fails to crack me up! (And turn me on. Just a little bit. Oh, who am I kidding. Rachel Shelly gets my engine running! Full stop).

The Kit-robbery thing came a little bit flying out of left field for me. I wonder if there's more behind this story or if the writers just decided to throw Ms. Porter a bone here to keep her busy (poor woman can't get no decent storylines!)

And indeed, Bette getting thrown into the lake was... painful to watch. If she just lightened up, but jeez! Woman's got stick. Up. Ass. Heh. Bette and Jodi are DOOMED. Loved the fun little squabble in the car on their way to Big Bear though (anyone else started thinking of the fic "Paper Airplanes" by jdcioffi? ? Ah, whatever happened to that lacy bra, we'll never know...).

Grace! Grace popped back up? And apparently she isn't strictly attached to Max. Were they ever? I've kinda forgotten where they left off last season. Anyway, it's nice she's still there. Now all I need is some sort of lame excuse for why Papi isn't showing up anymore and I can throw myself a party!

Mama Peabody may be a bitch again, but she sure did get to deliver at least one fantabulous line! My, I never even knew what "Family-Style" meant, now she's got me spoiled forever!

Shane going celibate was funny! I'm really looking forward to some actual Shane-development these coming eps (if it truly does happen that is). We know Shane's been more than a player, but I just want to see something... more. Something that's not only based on the fact that she likes to give orgasms to a whole bunch of women (and their offspring. Yuck!). For instance, let's say we find out that Shane has a secret addiction of sniffing hairspray! O, no that's bad. Erm, Shane loves Orio-cookies! Hmm... who doesn't? Okay, see, that's why I'm not a writer, but you get my drift right? But, like, what we did know from this ep is that Shane loves to work out! Cool! And that she's gym buds with mean looking buff men! .... . Okay, so the friendship thing rates high on the Shane-appreciation-ladder. People love the Shane-Jenny friendship. I'm thinking... even though I know there's not much that binds Shane and Max together, I really dig them together on the screen. The image is aesthetically pleasing to me, mmkay? Think about it, Shane being Max's wingman while on the prowl on a night out! Would love to see that fleshed out somehow, but I doubt that'll ever happen.

Another thing I've also discovered about myself is the fact that I don't find Shane all that attractive as how they portray her to be. I might've gone ga-ga over her in the first couple of seasons, but now... not so much. At least not so willingly . Sure she looks great (one of the best hairdo's ever for her on the L, gruffy John Mayor style), but I don't know. Shane lost her cool for me with all the sleeping around while making commitments to the women she supposedly loves (Carmen, Paige) and I honest to God want her to find someone she REALLY clicks with and is at peace with. And even if they continue on with the collecting of women for Shane's harem, please, please, write something I can bear watching! Get Shane's groove back!

Tina. Heh. Yay, Tina got some and it was hot. Really glad she had first-date sex with some nameless blond art-collecting person, teehee! Go Tina! You deserve it girl! Now git back with Bette before I spank your ass!

Oh I almost forgot to mention, didn't anyone else catch a certain subtle (and by subtle, I obviously mean blatant) insertion of an Angela Robinson Girltrash character while Alice was browsing profiles for Tina on OurChart? I'm sure I saw Riki Lindhome's picture on one of them's OurChart profiles! (oooh, how I love how this show treads the fine line between the diegetic and non-diegetic world! It's so... JJ Abrams!). Wouldn't it be superfun if in one of Girltrash's future webisodes, the subject of LouAnn loving Capt. Corelli's Mandolin or Nancy Drew came up?

Okay, so I think I've rambled on enough. Let's finish with the lovely image of Shane making that faux-pas with her tongue in Helena's mouth. Bloody superb mate!

[Psy]

I talk enough about this show as it is. And I've avoided this particular thread cuz most of ya'll hate my favorite character. Lol.

So I'm gonna make this short and sweet.

Alice and Tasha: Cute. But boring.

Max: Tom is cute, ya'll would be cute. Go fer it. And back off, Alice!

Shane: Oh, yeah. This'll last.[/sarcasm] But bout damn time Shane got funny. Lol.

Kit: I don't know what Pam did to deserve these storylines. Think it's time for Foxy to bust some heads.

Bette & Jodi: Yeah, walk off into the sunset for all I care. Just stay off my screen, the both of you!

Helena: Damn you Ilene! You screw up the character and you make us pay for it?! *sobs*

Tina: GOT LAID!!! My girl is back!!!

Thank you.

ETA: Oh... how could I forget the big bowl of crazy that is Jenny?! She's a bitch and I love her. *teehee*

[LesbianJedi87]

Did anyone else just love the Dana reference? It was quite nice.

I loved the opener and this episode in general but not to keen on a Tom/Max thing. I just don't get it.

[Psy]

You mean Team Dana?

[maudmac]

This last episode was fun. I loved the party and the brownies.

sigh I have never been more in love with Bette. sigh Jennifer Beals is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The pain she conveys in her face, the longing, the doubt...I feel it.

I'm not hating Tina lately and Jodi is boring, so I am ready for Bette and Tina to get back together. I wonder if Bette is really in love with Jodi.

I understand where Alice is coming from in outing the basketball guy, and I don't even disagree with her, but, whoa, that was about the last thing she should've done with Tasha's hearing coming up. (Actually, I do fault Alice for taking his picture at the party in the first place. That was a serious violation of the rules of that gathering and she should never have done that.)

lol, Jenny. I'm enjoying the crazy now. She's so over-the-top. OMG, her idea to put Sounder in the movie! Hilarious.

I knew something was up with that assistant! I wonder what her goal is.

Spineless LoverCindy! Booooooo!

I miss Helena.

Shane and Alice and the gay brownies were adorable. I tried to laugh so hard, but I have the flu and I would have ended up gasping for air and then passing out, so I'm definitely going to watch that again when I'm better so I can laugh properly.

What'd I miss?

Overall, I think I enjoyed this ep best of all this season so far. Good stuff.