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They’re Everywhere
by Alex Carnevale
Season 5
Showtime
For a long time, I have wanted to be a successful, gorgeous, impulsive, sexy, lesbian.
This past season of The L Word, which featured very hot military lesbian sex, now has to contend with this season of The L Word, which features hot lesbian prison sex. The things lesbians fear most is to not be taken seriously, and Ilene Chaiken’s show has reshaped itself by writing off all its latent implausibilities of last season, and focusing on the show’s central characters.
Gone are Holland Taylor and her daughter Helena Peabody. The show already had rich lesbians, so it really didn’t need super-rich lesbians anyway. Peabody’s prison storyline featured “don’t drop the soap” concept in full force, along with a pledge of undying love for a Dominican cellmate.
“Breakfast in NYC” – Oppenheimer (mp3)
“Bridge of Sighs” – Palomar (mp3)
“Junkyard” – Page France (mp3)
Political indignation reigns supreme in Season 5, with the season premiere closing with soldier Tasha Williams getting all over Alice, the show’s original nonthreatening lesbian.
Lesbian sex has taken quite a few forms on the show.
O’REILLY: Now, Ms. Chaiken, you are a lesbian and created this series.
CHAIKEN: I am.
Chaiken
O’REILLY: You obviously have, I would imagine, a message you want to put out there, and what would that message be?
CHAIKEN: I don’t have a message so much as stories I want to tell. My agenda, if I have an agenda, is to entertain and move people and to tell great stories and to engage the audience with these characters, and, as they get engaged with these characters, there might be a message underlying that which is that we all have so much in common, that emotionally and spiritually and philosophically, we’re going through a lot of the same things.
O’REILLY: All right. Who’s the target audience of this?
BEALS: And I think that’s really the most radical thing about the show really, is that — not the character’s sexual orientation as much as the love that these people share.
O’REILLY: OK, but, obviously, the sex is going to get all the play and — it does.
The main creature of habit when it comes to sex is Shane (Katherine Moennig).
Everyone is attracted to Shane. I know a few people like this. It becomes very difficult to distinguish actual feelings for people. You tend to project a lot, like thinking every candy on the shelf could be your favorite. Katherine Moennig looks more perfect than a fetus:
shane (left) and sarah shahi, in her last aborted relationship
The show wrote off Shane’s serious girlfriend, Kristanna Løken, by having her set fire to Shane’s surf shop. It sounds weird, but the writers have subsequently acted like it didn’t even happen, including an awesome episode where Shane got all over multiple bridesmaids and the brides while doing hair.
Of greater interest is Daniela Sea, the modest transman who is the most compelling character on the show. Her struggle to be recognized by the lesbian community has paralleled the lack of acceptance of her character on the show. This season finds her hooking up with Marlee Matlin’s male interpreter, which should be explosive.
Jennifer Grey’s Bette remains the best combination of actress and role on television. Marlee Matlin, her girlfriend of the moment, dragged her off to this cabin with her old friends for the weekend; it was like The Breakfast Club except Bette was the only one who didn’t fit in.
Bette’s a huge Eric Fischl fan, the Long Island-born painter of the images above.
In the show’s satire of Hollywood that surrounds the making of Jenny Schecter’s epic movie Les Girls, the idea that women still need to be in the closet to be successful is a constant truism. It’s amazing that gay actors like John Travolta and Kevin Spacey aren’t thought of as what they are and accepted by the media, and that it’s still a bullseye.
Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert are exactly the kind of gay couple that could lead to more mainstream acceptance.
Or not. This picture does scream gay pride though. Not surprisingly, Paris will be appearing on The L Word.
A couple needs to carry the gay banner: after all, things went on Noah’s Ark in twos. While Anne Heche and Ellen Degeneres were appealing, Anne Heche was most likely not gay. The mantle has to be taken up, and this is partially why gay marriage is such a big issue, and also why it is so sad that Barack Obama doesn’t support it.
Beals is not a lesbian, if you were wondering.
TV Guide: Do your fans want Bette back with Tina?
Beals: Oh, you have no idea. There’s a whole movement — including a website, TiBette.com.
TV Guide: Aren’t you and Marlee old friends? How does that affect, say, your love scenes?
Beals: We are. It’s really easy with her on set, but we laugh hysterically every time we have to do love scenes. It’s so surreal, but you have to dive into the work of pretend.
I guess every time you step forward you have to step a little bit back, too.
Alex Carnevale is the editor of This Recording. You can find his previous writing on The L Word here.
PREVIOUSLY ON THIS RECORDING
Being cheap is easy for Will.i.am Hubbard.
Charles Olson on Frank O’Hara.
Links in the time of cholera.
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[...] one known as Jennifer Beals knows no bounds. Read of our dalliances with The L Word here and here. Ms. Beals’ favorite photography books [...]
Pingback by In Which With A Friend I Can Smile But With a Lover I Could Hold My Head Back And Really Laugh « This Recording February 17, 2008 @ 11:36 pm[...] to be Ellen Page! We already want to be a lesbian, and Ellen takes it up to another level. We so wish iTunes was new to us. All music is new to [...]
Pingback by In Which Ellen Page Is The Lesbian We Identify With The Mostest « This Recording February 25, 2008 @ 12:51 pmIm straight but i think that L Word is a great television series and the story moves me..all the characters have different effects towards their audience and i think that the writers are so intelligent to have written such wonderful story and the castings we’re so great they all fit in their entitled character’s..i love the l word and i hope you could make a movie out of this as a finale after season 6 (cant wait for season 6)..be out and be proud, oh, i just love gay people! more power to your show…
Comment by kathleen September 4, 2008 @ 7:54 am