The L Word: Season 1
Grade: 5.8/10
The L Word Season 1 overall proved to be better than the pilot suggested. However, many of the issues I had from the pilot remained a significant part of the series as the viewer is essentially shown a group of women who are cruel to their loved ones for a variety of reasons; the primary one being “I couldn’t help myself”.
Worst of all is the character of Jenny played by Mia Kirshner. If ever a role could destroy an actor or actress for me for the remainder of time it would be Jenny ruining Mia Kirshner. The more I think about why these people would ever write a character so major to the story this bipolar, frustrating, mind-numbingly wishy-washy and just plain bitchy is beyond my comprehension as a human being. In the Pilot she wasn’t so terrible. She was clearly confused and realizing that she felt something for another woman; Marina. However this storyline plummets quickly as we see that Jenny begins to do oddly hypocritical things like; avoid Marina, then deliberately go to The Planet where she works, then tell her she it was a mistake, then follow her into the bathroom to do stuff, then tell her it was a mistake, then wait for her to call, then continue to do it with her, then feel really guilty, then not feel guilty. The stupidity goes on like that for a while. Then when Tim finally catches Marina going down on her the logical thing to do would be…to lie, say it was the first and only time and then go to The Planet to tell Marina she will never see her again and then get married to Tim. Totally logical, right? Right? :cricket…cricket: Granted, Tim was the one with the grand plan to get married but really liked Tim and I understand that he was very confused at that point and considering that Jenny makes about 100 of the stupidest decisions a person can possibly make so Tim gets to make 1 bad decision. I allow it. Plus it led up to the moment when Tim leaves Jenny in the motel room in the middle of the night after getting married which was basically the funniest thing ever. What does that lead Jenny to do? Jenny, being Jenny, decides to write stupid things while sitting in a fucking field and then she hitchhikes and takes some shrooms with Cally from BSG and then climbs a mountain and then sits next to a mailbox. Then she comes back and lies to Tim again who, hilariously, throws all of Jenny’s stuff onto the yard. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I won’t even go into the rest because I’m getting mad just thinking about it. But I’ll tell you that it involves getting screwed over by Marina and her lover Francesca, throwing wine bottles, writing about manatees who can talk, going to an aquarium and looking at some manatees, having sex while manatees watch and then hooking up with a really nice woman named Robin (played by the great Anne Ramsay) who really deserves better. All in all she is truly a terrible concoction. This is coming from someone who loves flawed characters, deeply flawed ones, but Jenny and most of these characters are either too cruel or too uninteresting to hold my interest or sympathy.
The rest of the storylines did not fare nearly as badly as this. Bette and Tina end up being quite likable. My favorite stuff in the season involved Bette’s handling of the “Provocations” exhibit and her interaction with her father. She blew it all though by randomly fucking over a 7 year relationship by fucking a carpenter multiple times. Because that makes sense. It would have been a lot more interesting if she had been a character who we knew for a while. But no; Candace comes in for one episode and by the end of it they are making out. Poor Tina. Right now I enjoy Tina but I am going to take a wild guess and assume she will do something to make me hate her eventually. I am 5 episodes away from finishing Season 2. Bette gets so much worse in Season 2 but we will come to that in time. I found myself invested in the two of them and it was pretty heartbreaking when they had the miscarriage. Bette’s breakdown at the Fae Buckley debate was rather fantastic and moving.
Dana continued to be pretty annoying. I enjoyed her coming out to her parents and her relationship with the sous-chef but overall her moments of humor are what made her stand out. Her relationship with Tanya is just so stupid and makes no sense. Alice is much worse, in the first season at least (she becomes tolerable in the second season). All she talks about is her stupid chart and gossip. She had an interesting brief relationship with an ex and the stuff with her mother was interesting enough.
Kit was a waste of time. Her presence feels forced and awkward. One of my favorite scenes of the season though, was her encounter with her and Bette’s father.
Of course there is Shane, the saving grace of the show. Her storyline was actually very interesting and I loved where it took her character. Her refusal to get involved with Cherie Jaffe’s daughter was fantastic and the scene where she confronts Cherie both at the house and at the exhibit was really moving. Shane lights up any scene she is in and one the best things about her is the way she handles situations differently than anyone else. She comes off as very free and easy going, which she is, but she has so much integrity. What’s great about her is that she won’t get involved in anything if it’s not her business but she is so loyal to helping people out, to a fault. She’s so caring and it is adorable.
Overall the season was okay but nothing special. The episode where we see each of the characters first lesbian experience was great. Using Leonard Cohen is always very welcome (he is used twice more). Seeing Devon Gummersall aka Brian Krakow was a pleasant surprise as well as seeing Tigh from BSG as Dana’s father. A few storylines were genuinely intriguing but more often than not they were either actively bad or uninteresting. The women just come off as people who have nothing else to do but fuck up their lives in every way possible and then not take responsibility for anything. Essentially it’s like watching a bunch of children.
Sorry that this review is not an attempt at something deep or professional or meaningful or relevant. The show is simply not worth it to me. You will hear from me after I finish Season 2. I am fast forwarding through pointless nonsense with this show.
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