Article by Pam Cole

DEC. 10, 2005—I must admit that in mid-season 2, I predicted that the already-approved season 3 would be the last for The L Word. The story lines were dragging, real life was tugging at the leading characters, and ratings were down. After the exhilaration of season one, it was predictable that season 2 would experience a sophomore slump as it struggled to bear the standard of "the new sex in the city." The changes in season 2 were obvious even before the season began, from the flashy new promo photos of the cast in overly seductive poses. (Nine naked women in glossy makeup, stacked on top of each other? Yes, that sounds like a lesbian show.) Characters became more glamorous, more fashionable, perhaps striving to attract the audience so enamored of the original Sex in the City. Fashion itself became a character, and a distracting one.

The series turned more dramatic than comedic, and added negative characters like Mark and Helena to provide constant foils. Such melodrama is fine, but it was better tempered in season 1 with the excellent comedic relief of the master comedy team of Alice and Dana. If we're going to be slammed with infidelity, miscarried babies, and the death of a cherished family member, we need a lot of lightness to balance that act. Season 2 lost this balance, though it still had moments of levity, such as The Love Boat fantasy between Alice and Dana, and the random act of Alice dreaming about Tonya.

Now there are rumors that Jennifer Beals will not return for another season of The L Word. This would not surprise me. But that rumor, more than any other, signals the end of the show to me. I could be wrong (like when I predicted that there would be no hot make-up sex for Bette & Tina once I learned that Holloman was pregnant) and I really hope I am. But without Beals & Holloman as its heart, I don't think this beast would survive.

As much as I love and empathize with the Bette and Tina couple, I personally know of no lesbian couple that has gone through even half the turmoil they have, and remained together. Maybe it happens in California, but where I come from, once you've broken up like that, it's over. You might become best friends, or at least civil toward each other someday, but I have no experience of such a couple reuniting. I, like many fans, crave the chemistry between Bette and Tina (as tangible as that of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo or Paul and Jamie Buchman in Mad About You) and wish the show was only about them at times, but Chaiken seems intent on keeping them apart and deriving drama from their conflict. Do the producers think we wouldn't keep watching just to see their happiness? I would. This couple's separation has been as hard to bear as some of my own.

As much as I berate the storylines in season 2, obviously, I watched every minute, taped every show so I could scrutinize it again and again, and pre-ordered the DVD, counting the days until it arrived. I sat thrilled and mesmerized at times, enveloped in highs that made the offbeat moments even more distressing. I am a total fan of The L Word, and it is the depth and complexity of the show that permits me to plumb it so deeply, exposing the annoying grains of sand that could become pearls. If it was just another silly sitcom, there wouldn't be so many questions to ask, so many layers to peel. Writing by committee (especially a committee of women) must be difficult, and working under a rotation of directors, however famous and talented they may be, sounds like too many cooks in the kitchen to me.

We have The L Word for a third season now, and we'll keep watching closely to see how we look, who we are—we've never seen ourselves in this forum before. Perhaps we are disappointed at times that the reflection isn't what we want it to be; other times, the mirror is so accurate that we become one with the image, absorbed and involved. And when that identification is suddenly stripped away by an errant scene or a confusing edit, we stumble and reel, wondering WTF! It's only natural.

In another essay, Let's Not Panic, I predicted that there would be more lesbian stories to be told and more storytellers to tell them. Just since the end of season 2, two networks devoted to GLBT programming have begun broadcasting those stories (Logo and Here!). It is suddenly a very different wasteland than when The L Word last aired. I do have other channels I can turn to now, to hear stories like mine (although the amount of repeated programming there makes me realize that our storytellers need to speak up—I'm working on it). I believe that The L Word, and our response to it, provided a floodtide of exposure that helped breached the dam of television broadcasting.

Frankly, I find it unimaginable that in my lifetime, such options exist. I am grateful.

Go Back to Fan Editorials Archive Pages