The L Word
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The L Word is a television drama series airing on Showtime in the United States, Living TV in the United Kingdom, and Showcase Television in Canada. It portrays the lives of a group of lesbians and their friends, family and lovers in Los Angeles. The show premiered January 18, 2004.
The show's writers include the show's creator, Ilene Chaiken, as well as Guinevere Turner (Go Fish, American Psycho) and Rose Troche (Go Fish, Six Feet Under). The show's main setting is the trendy L.A. neighborhood of West Hollywood.
Premise
Season 1
Set in West Hollywood, the series features Bette Porter (played by Jennifer Beals) and Tina Kennard (Laurel Holloman), who have been a couple for seven years and want to have a child.Their next-door neighbor, Tim Haspel (Eric Mabius), faces a major life change when his girlfriend, Jenny Schecter (Mia Kirshner), moves in with him after she graduates from the elite University of Chicago. Jenny's alter-ego Sarah Schuster's name is a play upon Zarathustra, a frequently-referenced character of Nietzsche's, who is frequently discussed in her developing affair with Marina Ferrer (Karina Lombard). Marina is the European owner of the trendy neighborhood café, The Planet, which, as the group's hang-out, serves as a focal point for the show.
Marina is part of Bette and Tina's circle of friends, which also includes Shane McCutcheon (Katherine Moennig), an androgynous, highly sexual hairstylist and serial heart-breaker; Dana Fairbanks (Erin Daniels), a professional tennis player who is still in the closet and torn between her career and finding love; and Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey), a girlish, bisexual journalist looking for love in any way she can.
Lives, however, begin to change as Bette's musician half-sister Kit (Pam Grier), who is recovering from alcoholism, returns to her life (jazz fans probably notice Kit Porter's name as a reference both to Eartha Kitt and Cole Porter); and as Jenny begins a discreet relationship with Marina, which challenges everything she knows about herself.
As the first season progresses, Tim finds out about Jenny's lustful fling with Marina which wrecks their relationship beyond repair. Dana begins a romantic affair with Lara Perkins (Lauren Lee Smith), a chef at the country club where Dana practices tennis. But Dana's fears about her lesbianism being made public makes her abruptly end their relationship, only to later discover it was all for nothing, as Dana's new sponsors apparently knew all along about her lesbianism. This finally encourages her to come out of the closet. Alice's storylines involve her dealing with her vain and irresponsible actress mother, and her trouble finding the right woman (or man). Bette faces hostile involvement with a religious conservative group that is trying to block the California Arts Center, her place of employment, from displaying a new type of near-pornographic artwork rightfully titled ’Provocations’. At the same time, her relationship with Tina slowly disintegrates; Tina gets pregnant, but has a miscarriage. Kit tries to get her life back on track, while Shane deals with various young women with whom she had countless one-night stands, as she also tries to find more wealthy hairstylist clients to get discovered.
Tina finds a new job working in a social services office in helping the homeless in Los Angeles, while Jenny deals with Marina's lover, Francesca, who jealously defends her open relationship with Marina. Tim refuses to take Jenny back, saying that because she cheated on him in the first place, the damage was done. Shane becomes involved with a former actress named Cherie Jaffe (Rosanna Arquette), whose husband wants to invest in a new salon for Shane, while Cherie's teenage daughter, Clea, also becomes interested in Shane. But it all falls apart when Clea discovers the real relationship between Shane and her mother, making Cherie break it off. Her husband terminates his business agreement with Shane, leaving her alone and more angry and cynical than ever. Bette, unable to keep up with her work and the stress of her job, becomes more involved with Candace, a female carpenter who she hired to fix up the gallery for the 'Provocations' exhibit. During a weekend trip to Palm Springs by the group, Dana meets a new love interest, a business manager named Tonya (Meredith McGeachie), whose interest in Dana is suspect. After the death of Dana's pet cat, Mr. Piddles, she decides to get engaged to Tonya.
The season finale is the 'Provocations' release, where Tina discovers Bette's infidelity. Jenny is left to decide between circus trapecist Robin, marine biologist Gene, and Marina. Alice reveals Dana is more than a friend to her, and Tina adds a new name under Bette in Alice's chart.
Season 2
Introduced in the second season are Carmen de la Pica Morales (Sarah Shahi), a confident DJ who starts a relationship with Shane; Helena Peabody (Rachel Shelley), the daughter of a wealthy supporter of the arts, who later becomes Tina's temporary love interest; and Mark Wayland (Eric Lively), a documentary filmmaker who moves in with Shane and Jenny. Mark makes them part of his latest documentary, by setting up hidden cameras in the house to videotape them. After Jenny discovers a few of his videotapes — including one in which Carmen confesses to love Shane — Mark takes the cameras down, and, after an attack of conscience, confesses about his voyeurism. Jenny allows Mark to stay at the house, but treats him negatively for the remainder of the season.In the second season, the characters are wracked with new discoveries. After Bette's illicit affair with a carpenter (Candace), Bette and Tina break up, but slowly renew their relationship, though making it an open one. Tina becomes pregnant after a second insemination attempt, which she keeps secret from Bette, fearing another miscarriage. Meanwhile, Tina begins seeing Helena Peabody, after receiving a large grant from her to help underprivileged kids, while the Peabody Foundation oversees the California Art Center. Ruthless, controlling, and conniving, Helena Peabody appears to be on a mission to ruin Bette's life, which comes to a head when Bette loses her job at the CAC in the second season finale. In the midst of all of this, Bette's father, Melvin (Ossie Davis), dies after revealing that he was suffering from prostate cancer.
Tim Haspel leaves Los Angeles in the second season opener, to accept a job back in Ohio, while Jenny stays in the house, renting out to Shane and Mark. Jenny and Shane become fast friends, and jealous lovers in regard to Carmen who has a brief fling with Shane, and later a romantic relationship with Jenny. Marina is gone after apparently attempting suicide, and is committed to a mental hospital in her home country of Italy.
Alice and Dana confess their love for one another, amidst Dana's upcoming wedding to Tonya. The wedding is cancelled (as Tonya runs off with Melissa Rivers), and Alice and Dana began a somewhat rocky relationship filled with jealousy and anxiety for Alice, especially after the reappearance of Lara Perkins late in the season.
Kit buys The Planet, and has a brief affair with a married motivational speaker, Benjamin Bradshaw.
At the end of season two, Jenny has a nervous breakdown after unearthing previously repressed memories of being raped. Shane and Carmen renew their relationship, when Shane finally says the words "I love you" to Carmen for the first time in her life. Also in the second season finale, Tina goes into labor and, after some complications, manages to deliver a baby girl. The group (for the time being) manages to put aside their differences and issues to congratulate Bette, while Tina remains in the hospital to recover from the difficult birth.
Guest appearances during the second season were made by the bands Betty and Heart, musicians Peaches and Kinnie Starr, feminist celebrities Gloria Steinem, Sandra Bernhard and many others.
Season 3
Set six months later after Tina gives birth, she and Bette raise their baby, whom they name Angelica (Olivia Windbiel), while suffering more marital strife (including Bette losing her job at the CAC, and showing little interest in finding a new one). The couple appears to be more distant than ever; Bette seeks partner support from an overwhelmed Tina, who starts looking for the protection Bette cannot give her outside the home. Bette's love seems to have less and less effect on Tina, who slowly drifts back to heterosexuality.
After having received six months of medical treatment and having stayed at her mother's (Margot Kidder) house in her home town of Skokie, Illinois, Jenny returns to Los Angeles with a new girlfriend, a working class butch named Moira Sweeney (portrayed by Daniela Sea). During that time, Jenny received a reply from an editor in New York and learned that her book might be published by autumn of that year. Mark is gone having moved out of the house. No explanation is ever given for Mark's departure, although the last episode in Season 2 hinted at an explanation showing him videotaping Melvin's funeral, and then talking with a woman who gave him her business card to call on her about a videotaping job she may have for him. Meanwhile, Shane and Carmen are living in the house and in a committed relationship, which suffers a shake after the reappearance on the scene of Cherie, Shane's former fling. The further advance of this relationship leads Carmen to finally face her family and reveal her homosexuality to them, despite knowing they will not approve.
Kit starts a blooming relationship with Angus (Dallas Roberts), Angelica's hired male nanny. Helena Peabody has just bought a movie studio, and offers Tina the chief development executive position. Helena meets Dylan (Alexandra Hedison), a straight documentary film producer who is about to film Helena's coming out story. Helena's overconfidence and Dylan's uncertainty leads Dylan's scheming boyfriend, Danny, to use her and plot a lawsuit against Helena for sexual harrasment.
Tina reveals her troubles to Bette. Already in emotional turmoil, Bette decides to go on a spiritual retreat, kicks Tina out of her bedroom, and removes her life-partner privileges. During this retreat, Tina (who has already had an online fling and also a frustrated attempt at fulfilling her interest with a male movie producer) meets Henry (Steven Eckholdt), a divorced man. Upon realizing the relationship with Bette has reached a dead end, she gives Henry a chance and explores her renewed interest with him.
Elsewhere, Dana is back with Lara, causing Alice to become obsessive. After finally being able to get over with the breakup, Alice has to deal with tragic news: Dana has been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, which could lead to her death. Dana becomes emotionally abusive to Lara, who then leaves town for a cooking school in Paris, France. Alice takes up the job as Dana's caregiver. At the same time, Max Sweeney (formerly Moira) begins the process of becoming a man with dubiously obtained testosterone injections obtained from Billie Blaikie (Alan Cumming), Kit's new manager for the Planet, a bisexual man who becomes sexually fixated on Max's androgyny. This drastic transformation alters Max emotionally, leading him to turn his relationship with Jenny into a story of potential abuse.
As the season advances, stories entwine. As Dana's condition worsens, Alice keeps a bedside vigil at the hospital where Dana is admitted. Bette, who is still in Olympia, Washington, finally leaves her silent retreat without any enlightenment and ends up receiving wanted wisdom in the place she would least expect. Back in Los Angeles, Jenny's ex-husband Tim makes a reappearance on the scene for a visit. He has re-married and is expecting a child with his new wife. Jenny and Tim spend some time together with their respective couples, but the dark story of their past ends up ruining their meeting, making Tim leave town once again on a sour note. Lara tries to reach for Dana, but apparently she has taken too long. Carmen reveals an infidelity to Shane; Dylan and Helena settle their lawsuit and break up out of court; Tina delegates even more fatherly duties to Henry; and nobody gets to say goodbye to Dana, who ultimately loses her cancer battle alone while Alice is out taking a walk.
A lot of emotions are confronted upon Dana's death. Her fiercely conservative parents, whom are still trying to ignore and deny Dana's sexual orientation, prepare a ceremony in which her friends are excluded. Alice, who is upset about this setup, steals some of Dana's ashes and decides to arrange a funeral of her own with her friends. They spread the ashes on a waterfall at a tennis camp Dana loved, and where she and Alice first met during an interview. At the same time, Tina and Henry continue settling in, and Bette decides to visit a gay civil rights lawyer (Jane Lynch) in order to obtain the full custody of Angelica. Shane, on the other hand, is severely affected by the loss of her friend Dana, and decides to propose marriage to Carmen. Carmen accepts, agreeing to marry Shane at the waterfall. Meanwhile, Max gets a job offer at a technology center where he had been rejected as Moira, which makes Jenny angry and leads them to more conflict. Dylan returns Helena's check and the footage of the sexual harassment setup; and Lara comes back from Paris, only to find out she is too late. In the midst of the loss she is suffering, Lara reaches out for Alice and they share an emotional moment that evolves into a secret relationship.
Six weeks later in the season finale, the group travels to Canada at Helena's expense to celebrate Shane's wedding. Carmen's family finally overcomes their prejudice and decides to attend. Kit discovers she is pregnant and gives Angus the news.
Just before the wedding ceremony takes place, Shane has second thoughts and decides to abandon it all. This is triggered by her meeting with her estranged father Gabriel (Eric Roberts), who has just decided to leave his wife and resume his lifestyle of one-night stands. At the same time, the disastrous prodigal behavior of Helena motivates Peggy to cut her off financially. Jenny's and Max's relationship, on the other hand, is terminated after Jenny meets Claude (Elodie Bouchez), a French writer who becomes her new love interest.
Also in Canada, Bette decides to withdraw her sole custody petition. This notification unfortunately reaches her lawyer too late. After receiving Bette's letter, Tina decides to withdraw her consent for allowing Bette to become Angelica's other legal parent. The season closes with Bette's desperate act to keep Angelica, as she kidnaps the baby and runs away.
Guest appearances during the third season were made by Nona Hendryx, the music groups Betty, God-des and She and many others.
Season 4
As it can be read in Showtime's press release, dating from February 2, 2006:
"On the heels of a year highlighted by industry recognition and critical acclaim for its award-winning original programming including Weeds, Huff and Sleeper Cell, Showtime has ordered a fourth season of its hit drama series The L Word, it was announced by Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. [...]"
This new season will have 12 episodes, and will air early on 2007. It started filming in Vancouver on May 29, 2006 [link].
New cast members have been announced for the new season. Showtime has revealed the addition of Academy-Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin [link], three time Golden Globe winner Cybill Shepherd[link]and Janina Gavankar [link] to the cast. As well, Karina Lombard will reprise her role as Marina Ferrer for a few episodes in the beginning of the season[link].
The Chart
A notorious aspect of the L word is its constant reference to The Chart, which is a recopilation of the affairs that go around Alice's surroundings. According to Alice, The Chart started on the back of a napkin and has evolved to cover a white board stretching all across a wall in her apartment. It would be impossible to reproduce the whole Chart into a simplistic network, since its lines cross and tangle just as everyone in the series is sleeping with everyone else.
The Chart's popularity among the lesbian community grew as the network became public. Alice first attempted to write an article about it on [L.A. Magazine]. Being unable to convince her supervisor editor, she opted to publish the Chart on the internet. The network was then enriched by the visitors, and even became an information resource for Alice and her friends.
A disturbing encounter with her former girlfriend Gabby Deveaux prompts Alice to put up the Chart as a topic during an interview at KCRW. Alice had prepared a cultural piece focusing on consumism, but the producer was amazed at the complexity of the affair network and granted her a section for its public discussion. The program, which apparently started with low rating, later is well known among the community and even heard at public places (Dana is forced to listen to an ad of the program while visiting the hospital).
From Alice's point of view, the chart is about her and how she is connected to everyone else on it. With the exception of Kit (whose connections cannot be put up on the Chart so far), any of the main characters can be connected to Alice in less than four moves. It is to note Alice claims she can connect almost anyone to her in less than six moves. However, the major contributor to the Chart is Shane, since her direct connections sum up to about twelve hundred. As the series advances, the Chart becomes bigger, being enriched by the relationships every character develops.
The following link offers a more extensive list of characters in the series and the relationships they have developed.
Episodes
Trivia
- The original code-name for the project was Earthlings, a slang word for lesbians, as in "Is she an earthling; has she been to the planet?" The Planet is the name of the group's main hangout.
- The show is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia at Coast Mountain Films Studios, which was formerly Dufferin Gate Studios Vancouver and originally owned by Dufferin Gate Productions, the sister company to Temple Street Productions, the Canadian producer of Queer as Folk (U.S.).
- Guest stars on the show have included (in alphabetical order):
- *Anne Archer as Lenore, Alice's vain actress mother
- *Rosanna Arquette as Cherie Jaffe, a "Hollywood wife" with whom Shane had a romantic fling
- *The rock band The B-52s as themselves
- *Sandra Bernhard as Charlotte Birch, a college professor of a creative writing class that Jenny attends;
- *The rock band Betty as themselves
- *Elodie Bouchez as Claude, a French writer that becomes romantically involved with Jenny
- *Kate Clinton as a lesbian sex therapist
- *Lolita Davidovich as Francesca Wolff, Marina's lover
- *Ossie Davis (his final acting role) as Bette and Kit's conservative father, Melvin Porter
- *Dana Delany as Barbara Grisham, the Senator (and lesbian in the closet) from Massachusetts
- *Snoop Dogg as rapper Slim Daddy for whom Kit appears in a music video
- *Charles S. Dutton as the motivational speaker Benjamin Bradshaw who becomes romantically involved with Kit
- *Steven Eckholdt as Henry, a divorced father that becomes Tina's first boyfriend after breaking up with Bette.
- *Lisa Gay Hamilton as a nameless art show attendee that attends Bette's show in New York
- *The rock band Heart as themselves
- *Alexandra Hedison as Dylan, a documentary director that becomes Helena Peabody's love interest, and later her sexual harassment plaintiff
- *Nona Hendryx as herself
- *Ariana Huffington as herself
- *Irene López as Carmen's mother
- *Dr. Susan Love as herself
- *Jane Lynch as Joyce Wischnia, a gay-rights attorney who puts the moves on Tina in Season 2 while representing her against Bette, and who Bette subsequently retains against Tina in the custodial fight of season 3.
- *Kelly Lynch as 'drag king' Ivan who helps Kit with her alcohol recovery
- *Camryn Manheim as the egotistical and hot-tempered movie producer Veronica Bloom, who hires Shane as her assistant
- *Meredith McGeachie as Tonya, Dana's celebrity-obsessed temporary fiancée and manager
- *Tammy Lynn Michaels as Lacey, Shane's stalker
- *The singer Peaches as herself
- *Melissa Rivers as herself
- *Eric Roberts as Gabriel McCutcheon, Shane's dysfunctional father;
- *Julian Sands as Nick Barashkov, Jenny's former college professor of Russian literature;
- *Helen Shaver as Fay Buckley, the leader of an extreme right-wing activist group bent on shutting down Bette's art gallery;
- *Lauren Lee Smith as Lara Perkins, a chef that both Dana and later Alice become romantically involved with;
- *Gloria Steinem as herself;
- *Holland Taylor as Peggy Peabody, the wealthy contributor to Bette's art gallery and Helena's mother
- *The indie-pop band Tegan and Sara as themselves
- *Guinevere Turner as Gabby Deveaux, Alice's hot and cold recurrent girlfriend
- Though not displayed onscreen, each episode's title (except the pilot) begins with the letter "L". Season 3 was supposed to have thirteen episodes and the last was announced to be named "Black Market", but this was later canceled.
- The show has introduced several neologisms:
- *Bette Porter introduced the term hasbian during season 1.
- *During episode 3.01:Labia Majora the phrase Panty Hamster was introduced as a euphemism for vagina.
- *Later in season 3, during episode 3.07:Lone Star the term Gold Star was coined to refer to a person who has never slept with a person of the opposite sex.
- The show was originally supposed to be based around Pam Grier's character Kit Porter, who was originally written as a lesbian, and The Chart was supposed to be tattooed on her back. However, when Kit Porter was changed into a straight character The Chart was given to Alice's character.
- Some series have mentioned the L word on their plots:
- *On the medical drama House Dr. Gregory House said he watches The L Word, but only on mute.
- *On the dark comedy series Weeds, after finding her daughter Isabel kissing another girl, Celia Hodes asks her to focus on the L word for lesbian role models.
External links
- [The show's Showtime website]
- [A story about Earthlings], from Curve magazine
- [Review of the pilot] from the San Francisco Chronicle
- [The L Word Online] A comprehensive fan website featuring the latest news on cast, crew, filming, DVD release dates, air times, and gossip.
- [The L Word Down Below] A fan site providing access to news, information and media about cast and crew, critical analysis of the series through Vixen's Voice, rants by Minx Mind, and more.
- [The L Word France] A french website about the show.
- [The L Word Germany] A german website about the L word.
| The L Word | |
|---|---|
| Production: | Episode List | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 |
| Main characters: | Alice | Bette | Carmen | Dana | Helena | Jenny | Kit | Moira/Max | Shane Tina |
| Secondary characters: | Cherie | Lara | Marina | Other characters |
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