Where else are you gonna get your girl-on-girl fix?

  Jenny is dead and her friends are sitting around the house looking pretty blasé as her body is wheeled out -- no body bag, no blanket over her face, no nada. But before you can really work up any emotion about any of this, you're back to the Season Five finale and Jenny has that mike in her hand at the party for Les Girls. And not only are you annoyed because the fine writers behind this show decided to waste so much time repeating scenes and dialogue from last year, but you're instantly reminded just how excrutiating Jenny can be.

Her friends aren't crying any rivers over her death and neither are you. You're also not the slightest bit surprised or moved by this major plot twist because Showtime went to great trouble making sure we knew walking in that Jenny dies and that Alice takes the rap, thus setting up a possible spinoff starring Alice in the can. Showtime told us all of this even though the whole season is set up as a whodunit.

This might have stopped me cold, but I'm a veteran L Word fan. I don't stay baffled long. I shake it off and dig on whatever I can. A sexy visual here, an enlighted bit of acting there.

Which brings us to how good Mia Kirshner is. Watch her exchange with Shane before she hurls that  lamp at her and you're reminded that the woman should get a medal for managing to deliver such an amazingly quirky, batty, fragile Jenny, given what she's had to work with.

And let's thank Mia for that hot sex scene with Nikki.  You didn't think it was that hot? Here's some friendly advice: Go back and watch it again, suspend everything you need to suspend about the writing, about how ridiculous Nikki is, etc. and try to get off on Jenny shredding the dumb starlet's back with her nails and getting her on her knees.

Honestly, take the sex where you can in Season Six. For one, it looks like Bette and Tina are focused on playing mommy and other mommy, now that they've settled down again and don't have to try so hard the way people do when they're trying to seal the deal (you think this couple is going to bother with messy, uncomfortable elevator sex again?)

Which brings us to Jennifer Beals and perhaps some of her best acting when she's ripping into that homophobic hospital employee. And those arms. Damn. I guess all that training Jennifer did for her Olympic-distance triathalon really paid off. For us.

Will Bette really stay faithful to Tina this time? Again, it's probably better not to sweat the details of an L Word plot line. I'd rather think about the fact that Jennifer is looking hotter than ever, and that each year, she gets butchier and butchier.

And how cute are Shane and Bette -- the original bad girls -- vibing on the challenges of keeping a b*tch?

But here's a burning question: What the hell is in that ratty Whole Foods bag that Shane is dragging around?  I guess whatever Jenny threw at her. But if Shane had five minutes to gather some essentials before fleeing, what would she throw in that bag?  My money is on some hair product, her trusty strap-on and a change of clubwear.

Another burning question: What does Pam Greer actually think of the lame lines that are written for her? That scene toward the end of the episode where she actually gets to string together some real words when she's giving Shane advice doesn't begin to make up for all times she's been used as nothing more than sassy black girl comic relief. Honestly. The way Kit's character is written borders on the insulting. One more ethnic caricature. Remember Papi?

Hey! Here she is, all Latin and sh*t in her Latin crib filled with Latin crap.  And she's up to her old tricks. Speaking of old tricks, Gabby Deveaux is in Papi's bed, making crazy noise. Cuz, you know, she's getting it Latin style. Whatever. I was amused enough seeing those two again for a second. And since I no longer get hung up on the details, it's all good.

Alice and Tasha? The whole "We don't have nothing in common" thing got old before it got going. But Leisha Hailey and Rose Rollins are cute and engaging whether they're laughing or f*cking. So that's all good, too.

As for Helena. I still say it's too bad she and Bette never tangled. Because, again, at this point I'm just in it for the hot girl-on-girl visuals. If I have to watch Bette do it with Elizabeth Berkley's character, I'll try my best to get into that, too. Yes, I've been a hopeless TiBetter from day one. But I have risen above. It's the only line of defense. I'm focusing on getting the hotness where I can. And so should you. The show is gonna be off the air in seven more episodes and there's no other lesbian show to take its place.

OK, there might be a spinoff. But Showtime hasn't decided if it's actually going to pick it up yet. And even if it does, the powers have made it clear that the spinoff wouldn't be a lesbian show, but a show with some lesbians in it.

My only hope is that Helena, who's been on the inside, gets a chance to impart some knowledge on poor Alice, who's going down. And not in a good way.

Notice how I haven't mentioned Max. I'm gonna stay in denial about Max for as long as possible.

One more thing. The theme song. It still sucks.

Comments

[sue]

Hi Lydia,

This show has really become an embarrassment hasn't it? Last Spring, Ilene Chaiken asked OurChart members how they wanted this season to play out. There were a lot of dumb ideas like, bring back Papi (why? her character was a pointless addition to the show), bring back dana (from the dead? really?).

I asked for more humor, a meaningful Tibette storyline and a travel adventure to get them away from the Planet and She Bar. What did we all get? A murder mystery that makes no sense.

You're right, it's time to stop caring about the show and just laugh at it.

I feel bad for the actors because their talent is wasted on such dreck.

If it gets better in the next couple of episodes I'll eat my words, but I'm willing to wager we've seen the last of the L-word and there will be no spin-off.

[Shelly]

It's a soap opera! Since when do soap operas have cogent plot lines and sensible character development? We should feel lucky Dana is NOT being brought back from the dead... or that her evil twin isn't popping up to take over WeHo.

Why are we so insanely hard on this show? Oh, that's right. We're lesbians. We're hard on everything. But I, for one, am with you, Lydia. Let's just enjoy the hotness while we can.

[sue]

Shelly,

I'm hoping it gets better. I hate to be negative but sorry it was bad....really bad. I guess I need a little more than "hotness" in a tv show.

Oh...Did I mention the actors are great? :)

[pecola]

Yet another lesbian show whose writing has gotten so bad that I'm just waiting for something to come along to hasten its end. Must be how that kid felt at the end of "Old Yeller."

[Crystal]

Funny enough, i think there is a parallel between Lez Girls being changed at the end due to marketing and the fact the L word is ending and the spin off may not be as lesbian as we would like.

I enjoy the show and look forward to it every January. From what I saw on youtube, I think Carmen comes back in episode 5 or 6.

[btfan2]

Hi Lydia

I'm back!!!!!!

Well I'm going to comment even though I didn't see the show. I refuse to pay one more cent of my hard earned money to showtime. I'm over SHO, IC and their crazy.

I've read many recaps of s1 ep1 so I kinda get the gist. Most of it will be on youtube forthwith so no worries.

Seems more then enough screen time is going to get spent on Alice and Tasha, that is surely reason enough to save your money. Someone above commented that they were getting boring - are you kidding!! Getting boring they have a death grip on it, only thing that would send the audience running and screaming in frenzied horror faster is Tommy Cringe and Maxie Pad getting pregnant - did see that coming, and it's --- ugly.

I do agree, it's the final season and if your paying full fare heck, sit back and enjoy the hot women; ignore the plot and just have fun laughing at the - oh you know there coming boundless WTF's.

I do have to admit I was tempted to reconsider and abandon my pledge not to get s6 on SHO, but the whole maybe spin off that may have a few lesbians just pissed me off so much I reconsidered my reconsider. I mean come on Showtime, six years of loyalty and your response is MAYBE a spin off prison show(groan) with a few lesbians characters -- Maybe!!!

Showtime ---> Bite me....

btfan2

[ella]

Hey btfan2!
I am glad you are back. I enjoyed your posts for last season and felt both your frustration and disappointment. Lets all sit and enjoy the hotness, because we all know tons of WTF's are heading this way.

[Shelly]

Oh, all right, Sue. I mean, I do kind of agree. But you know what? The WTFs are almost as entertaining as anything else to me, at this point.

The acting is pretty great. Imagine this show without Jennifer Beals or Mia Kirschner! Imagine if the actors on this show were as bad as the writing! We wouldn't even be discussing it, hotness or no.

I'll just say it right now: I'm going to miss the train wreck.

[Lydia Martin]

Hi Sue!

It's been true forever that gay and lesbian projects tend to be a tad on the shoddy side.

They're usually independent projects, put together with no budget. People eat them up anyway, because there's still not enough representation out there. Gotta love the L Word for representin'. But, it shoulda been more of a contender.

[Lydia Martin]

Hey Shelly,

Well, we had very high expectations. And there is a lot of quality to the show, too. There was potential. I'm just gotta try to focus on the happy, sexy stuff. Plausible plot lines seem irrelevant, so why not just go along with that idea?

[Lydia Martin]

Hi Pecola,

I think you're right. I think several of the actors have had a WTF tone in recent interviews. Seems they can't deal with this season, either. Or, maybe there's a miracle at the end. Who knows.

[Lydia Martin]

Welcome back, Ella, BTfan!

[colorado fan]

Spot on Lydia! Why is it lesbian writers/producers/directors are THE worst - with a few exceptions? (Angela R rocks). To find good lesbian storylines, we have to look to our straight storytellers for inspiration and decent content. Unfortunately, many of them follow the same rule book IC reads from. IC and team can't get off the "tragic", negative sterotypes. This will be the one and only IC show I followed. She's hard on the fans. I can't take the frustration.

I will always be grateful to the actresses who made me tune in each season.