Hello and welcome to the fourth recap of the first season of The L Word: Generation Q, brought to you by the same network that brought you The L Word, an invigorating show about female small business owners and the rise of the Pear Polenta Tart!
Just a heads-up that I co-hosted the “To L and Back: Generation Q” podcast this week ’cause Analyssa is Home for the Holigays, so you can listen to all my thoughts there!
This week’s episode took some journeys into the valley of What Is Happening but also featured a sex scene that inspired me to text AV Club L Word reviewer Kayla “wowowowowowowowowow,” to which she replied, “YEAH.” It’s my favorite episode of the series thus far!
We open with a collection of Big Tall Fancy Buildings B-roll before zooming in on a tall glass of BETTE PORTER NAKED IN BED WITH FELICITY HAVING ROOM SERVICE BREAKFAST..
No no I love eating tiny blueberries out of a cup go ahead and have the last bite of the pancake don’t mind me over here just LOVING my tiny snack
It’s just a lazy eternal morning for two women having a clandestine affair. Felicity wishes she’d met Bette 20 years ago, back when she was a Musical Theater minor at Howard and dating a boy named Leonard. This reminds me of yet another Leonard who dated a queer woman…
Bette says she’d never wanna be 20 again. Probs ’cause that’d mean she’d have to go back in time to when she was having mediocre sex with Coleman at Yale and then relive the whole meditation storyline, eventually bang a chair into the ground at The Planet while yelling ARSON ARSON and ultimately do a weird dance in her kitchen while chanting “Shake it, don’t bake it” with Jessie Spano from Saved by the Bell. Lez be honest, aren’t we glad those days are behind us? Anyhow, Felicity would like to know what Bette would like now, here, today.
You know I used to watch TiBette fan vids on YouTube under the covers at 2am so my parents wouldn’t see and I never thought one day I’d be here, with you, doing TiBette roleplay
Felicity: What do you want?
Bette: Mmm… a better cup of coffee and a fruit bowl would be great.
Felicity: No, what do you want for us?
Bette: Right now? All I want is this.
It’s unlike Bette to deny emotional processing in favor of Distraction Action unless she’s cheating on someone and thus trying to avoid confrontation, but bless our emotional growth/regression — Felicity bends over. Bette reaches up, reaches into Felicity’s robe, lets it fall off as her breasts fall out, and with her hand firm on the back of Felicity’s neck, pulls her in for another kiss. Okay, GET IT GIRLS.
Sweet sweet lady kisses
Then we cut right over to Shane’s subconscious for consummated sexual intercourse!
Lesbian Sexy Moment #10: It Was All a Dream, I Used To Read LA Magazine
The Players: Shane and Quiara
The Pick Up: Probably conscious Shane taking an ambien or smoking three joints.
Hot or Not? Shane’s fucking Quiara and Quiara says “you’re so beautiful” and Shane says “I love you” and it is very hot, this is Sex Lighting but then BUT THEN it is over as soon as it began.
Is that the fucking carbon monoxide detector
Shane wakes up from her hot sex dream and roots around for her cell phone, which lucky for us! Is chock-full of birthday wishes revealing key pieces of information:
1. Angie calls Shane “Uncle Shane”
2. Helena is in England for some reason [Throwback #15: Helena exists]
3. Alice goes by Aloce in on all platforms now
4. Tina and Shane are still friends and Tina is still corny
5. Shane is friends with someone named “Floyd”
6. Quiara has NOT texted Shane back yet to re-invigorate the “I miss you” “this is hard” “I can’t” “I don’t know how to do this” “I’m so sad” “I can’t stop crying” post-breakup cycle.
If you wanna spend three hours emotionally processing or making out before breakfast you’ve gotta get those b-day texts out at 6:30 AM ladiesss!!!
It’s Shane’s 40th birthday!
Elsewhere in this fine home, Rebecca and Finley are also making the most of television’s Morning XL time to make out. Rebecca invites Finley to dinner that evening with her buddies and Finley says she’s got a party thing to go to. Finley joke-asks if Rebecca’s inviting two priests and a rabbi and Rebecca’s like “kinda.”
So a nun, a priest and a rabbi walk into a bar —
… and the bartender says “What is this, some kind of joke?”
…. I will see myself out
Rebecca’s developing Real Feelings for Finley and is curious if she’s ever gonna get over this religion-related hangup but luckily, Finley’s saved by the (door)bell!
Cut to Shane’s bedroom — Finley charges in carrying a wooden box of generic Gourmet Foodstuffs that a mother might send her daughter in college OR that two of Shane’s best friends might ship Shane on the morning of her 40th birthday. When someone asks “what do you get for a millionaire you’ve known for 10+ years who can buy whatever she wants for herself?” I always say, “a bottle of your finest Harry & David™ 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon!”
“This message will self-destruct in 30 seconds.”
Finley, despite having plans to attend Shane’s birthday party that very evening — plans she just shared with her holy lover Rebecca — didn’t know that it was Shane’s birthday. “Are you really forty?” she asks, and Shane acknowledges that yes, this is 40. It’s a fun, goofy scene — starting with Shane’s annoyance at how loud Finley is to her request that Finley bring the box anywhere but here to Shane’s consent to Finley’s request to “sample a little summer sausage.”
And then we come to DaSoMi’s Home!
Where Dani, a dear, a female dear!
Wants to sprint out in the sun!
Mmmshmmems mmmmshsleepshdounds
Finley’s heading in
for some orange juice
’cause that summer sausage was such fun!
They’re out, but almond milk will do!
They’re out, but now my song is through!
Yah I did like a thing to her clit sort of like this?
Sophie, wearing very cute very small shorts and enjoying a morning coffee, says Dani’s doing her “weird distant thing.” Finley’s got no input, so Sophie switches topics: how’s Finley’s “lovah-priest”? Finley reports that it’s good and the sex is great, despite some lingering post-sex guilt.
My jean jacket was like “I wanna be worn” and my hoodie was like “no it’s my turn to be worn!!!” so I was like, why don’t you two work this out and figure out a way to become ONE SHIRT! And they did. What do you think?
Finley describes a “swirly feeling” in her torso inspired by Rebecca that I’m pretty sure is acid reflux, but Sophie’s got another diagnosis: LOVE.
I know that it’s impossible but I think that I’m pregnant. Carlisle, I swear. Something just moved inside me.
Cut to a VERY cool coffee shop (Filmed at Kettle Black on Sunset Boulevard) where Alice and Shane are meeting up with Bette to order items and not consume them.
Shane: “Is there a reason why you’re dressed like an Easter Peep?”
Alice: “Shane, I chose this color so it would pop. This LA Times reporter is following me around all day for this profile and I would like it to say “Alice Pieszecki is KILLING IT,” like in all capitals.”
Both hands on both boobs, Shane. BOTH HANDS ON BOTH BOOBS.
This is THRILLING news ’cause that means it’s ROBIN’S EPISODE! My friend Robin who has done 45 different jobs for this website including A-Camp Co-Director, Photographer and Event Planner, has a cameo in this very episode! (Also, Robin is married to my “To L and Back” co-host, Carly Usdin!)
Bette shows up a little late because AHEM. She informs Shane that 40 is a fantastic and transformative time. Alice adds that your body starts falling off your body, like for example her ass is sliding from her hips to the earth like the Tower of Terror. Bette says “none of us has anything to worry about.” (Because they are all rich and have tighter skin and bodies than they did ten years ago because this is Los Angeles and everybody sticks needles and/or microneedles into their faces here, it’s just what people do here!) Shane refuses a birthday party, but consents to drinks with Alice and Bette.
Listen all I had for breakfast was three dried blueberries let me have some fucking quiche
Bette lies when Alice asks why she looks “all glowy,” then communicates with Shane via Vulcan mind-meld that she fucked Felicity. Alice asks how long it’s been since Bette had sex, suggesting “a year” as a potential answer as if Bette wasn’t recently busted for a very notable affair. Furthermore, according to Mandy-Munch, Bette fucked the whole school board. Shane’s taking the ladies on a field trip, but briefly shames Alice’s backpack, which’s unacceptable ’cause backpacks rule.
Shane leads her two pals, who stumble around like gerbils, to the bar to unveil the new sign reading “DANA’S.”
Listen, we’re doing the monster mash. And It’s gonna be a graveyard smash.
“Open your eyes,” says Shane, but everybody’s wearing sunglasses so lord knows if they followed directions or not. Subsequently, everybody cried including me! [Throwback #16: Dana died]
Everybody smile and say “Bette’s a top!”
Inside Dana’s Watering Hole for Thirsty-ass Lesbians, we’ve got a hottie delivering alcohol and Tess telling Lena she over-ordered.
The L Word: Generation Q can have a little butch representation as a treat
Shane strides in and Lena pounces like a tiger on the prowl, cajoling her way into the back room via demands for checks and nonsense.
Hi sorry we were just having our weird relationship that doesn’t make sense
Shane is dying inside. Tess watches them walk off together like someone who knows what’s going on and is DEFINITELY not aware that Lena would be describing their relationship as “already over.” This is sad!
Is there…. anything more humbling and humiliating than putting one of your employees in a position to smooth over an absurd situation you, a professional grown-up woman, have created despite definitely “knowing better”? There is not! And that is where Bette Porter finds herself this morning at a campaign photoshoot when she realizes she’s taken Felicity’s phone with her, and thus Felicity must have Bette’s phone.
Well, this is not the Judy Chicago Birth Project screensaver I was expecting
Dani strikes the appropriate tone here, which’s nice to remember when things take a sharp turn pretty shortly thereafter. She’s not scolding, but offering firm dedication. “You know — Sophie and I accidentally took each other’s laptops to work once. Do you think something like that may have happened to you?” She offers.
I can’t believe I was forced to look at a white man’s face before 9am
Bette eventually concedes and Dani says she’ll sort it out and Bette says “you don’t need to do that.” Dani goes, “would you prefer I send a volunteer?” and Bette is like [clenched teeth] “fine.” YIKES.
Cut to the offices of The Aloce Show, where OUR VERY OWN ROBIN ROEMER IS PHOTOGRAPHING ALICE FOR THE MAGAZINE!!!!
IT’S ROBIN ROEMER
I LOVE YOU ROBIN ROEMER
Nat and the kids are in the hallway, waiting for their big moment in the spotlight!
I love Robin Roemer so much it makes my teeth hurt!!!
Gigi pops in with a wardrobe change for the kiddos and to tell Alice she looks great. The L.A. Times writer, just like this writer (me), notes Alice and Gigi’s chemistry and starts asking her questions about their relationship. They’re like OH LOL no the rule of this show is you can only have chemistry with people you’re not dating, Nat’s over there! “I’m sorry, I assumed she was the nanny,” the writer says.
Ah, always a pleasure to meet another fan of Robin Roemer
Robin Roemer is ON THE JOB
“How do you and Alice maintain a healthy work-life balance?” the writer asks.
“Oh whoah I’m not sure that we do,” Nat responds. They eventually agree that it’s a “joyful hard” which the writer doesn’t believe.
It’s her! She’s the one who I talk to about Robin Roemer all the time!
GOOD JOB ROBIN!!!!
Elsewhere in a roomy Los Angeles parking lot, Dani is meeting up with her drug dealer in a parked car to talk about drugs and stuff. Just kidding it’s Felicity and they’re gonna switch phones!
I had a feeling you had a Subaru
I have been honest with you from DAY ONE about being a big fan of the original series!
And then. And then!!!!
Lesbian Squabble #9: Wha-wha-what Did You Say?
In the Ring: Dani v. Felicity
Content: Dani hops into the car, hands Felicity the phone, and then proceeds to, as they say, “go off.” This affair could end Bette! Felicity manages to squeeze in that by the way, she sill works at the Department for Cultural Affairs and everybody in that Department can’t stop talking about her Actual Affair. She’s still married to that terrible man in her phone background! Dani cannot hold back! Felicity is like, how many marriages have you failed at, my dear young friend? Well, none… YET. “I love her,” Felicity says. “I wish the world were different,” says stone cold Dani. “But it’s not.” Okay.
Who Wins? Felicity’s husband.
[ETA: Natalie, who knows 10000x more about politics than I do, has a very different take on Dani’s behavior which you can read in the comments!]
Back at the offices of The Aloce Show, Sophie’s got an idea for Mayoral Contestant Mister White Man, who apparently is guesting on the program because municipal mayoral candidates who haven’t engaged in any newsworthy sex scandals are EXACTLY who middle America is dying to see on their television screens. Sophie says Alice should ask him abut the lack of diversity on his campaign staff! Drew’s got a different idea — ask him about his high school superlatives!
Hahaha what? Murder? Me? To him? Hahahaha no
Drew: Milner wants to be seen as a real guy, he wants what you did with Bette Porter.
Alice: Okay Drew, I would love that. Because Bette and I talked about her scandal and about feminism and sexism and what it’s like to be queer. I wonder which one of those he really identifies with.
Sophie: You know what? I bet it’s feminism? A good guy like him?
Alice: Oh yeah I bet he’s like, balls deep in feminism.
Throughout this exchange, Alice and Sophie insist upon keeping their smiles real big ’cause the LA Times reporter is right outside, watching it all go down, so all this happens with teeth clenched up tight, which’s a successful humorous device. Finley stops in with coffee for everyone except Drew, but Drew doesn’t really count, so.
Glen Coco, four for you Glen Coco! You go Glen Coco!
Um —
And none for Gretchen Weiners.
BYE!
Drew gets that Alice wants to “do her feminism” and stuff, but also he’d like to do stuff to make the show not get cancelled.
Drew: “Look I’ve been down this road before, and I’ve learned the hard way. The only way to deviate is through incremental change.”
Alice: “Fine. I’ll ask him about his fucking horse.”
Drew: “It’s a pony, but deal.”
As Drew leaves the office to go compare his personality to a styrofoam plate and then hopefully dispose of it in an earth-friendly manner, Sophie’s like Alice, don’t forget — it’s your show. I love how they’re exploring specific workplace dynamics this season, and I appreciate how Sophie pushes Alice to be better. I also just… love Sophie?
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Um, it’s Sunday morning. Why is this recap up now? Did the episode air yesterday for some reason? Was I completely distracted by the greatest lesbian wedding of all time yesterday and missed it? What is going on?!
Hahaha the episodes go up at midnight EST on showtime on demand and showtime anytime, etc. So it’s been available since midnight EST last night
@ Riese okay, but you usually put them up Monday after it airs on tv. I checked FIVE TIMES this morning to make sure today was Sunday.
awww i’m sorry for making you question the passage of time!!! they actually go up on sunday nights usually, at 10pm ET / 7pm PT, but we don’t social them ’til monday AM.
sorry clueless here,,,,but greatest lesbian wedding of all time,,,,um what
Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris got married yesterday!!!
ten 4 ok :)
And here is the video highlights SO FUCKING HOT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzrgrv6Sz4&feature=emb_title
Thank you for sharing this wonderful link
I was also confused about the passage of time!! I stream these episodes on Sunday nights in Asia which means Sunday morning in the U.S. but they’re available 12:01 am Sundays on showtime on demand that makes sense!! Why are they putting it there before it officially airs tho? Won’t that hurt their numbers?
I thought Shane already had a friend named Floyd but googled it and figured out I was thinking of Clive, but Kate Moennig does have or had a dog named Floyd??
Also Bette would never not notice she didn’t have her phone until she got to work because she would have already checked to see if Angie got to school!
Alice’s show is confusing to me, is it supposed to be like a national show along the lines of Ellen or something? Is she that famous? Or is it more like a regional/local morning show type thing, do those still exist??
The phone that Bette left with Felicity was her campaign phone, not her personal phone.
As for Alice, I have a feeling her show is perhaps regional.
ooohhh “Floyd” must be a reference to Kate Moennig’s dog then
i guess i assumed it was a national show because it films at a studio that produces national programming (judging from the outside shots) and b/c it seems like they have a really big budget and a lot of employees? but also i’m not super UP on regional programming and its existence/popularity.
Could be syndicated, like it’s local-ish, but local networks can pick it up if they want to. Like Riki Lake’s show was, or Ellen’s is.
Not sure about national vs regional, but the sub-header on the profile article calls her ‘late night TV’s rising star’
Yeah, I think Kate’s dog was called Floyd and he may of passed away, its probably a tribute I think :)
I’m confused too! What time of day is Alice’s show on where she’s saying the fuck word left and right?
HI ROBIN ROEMER GREAT JOB
I will be absolutely shocked if Sophie & Dani actually make it to the end of the season in tact.
ROBIN THAT IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!!!!!!
Sophie and Dani are the new Bette and Tina. They gloss over all things serious without truly working through them, make apologies they don’t even understand (and maybe don’t mean) to placate one another and use sex and romantic gestures as distractions. Yeah, that always works out.
I wish the threesomes I’ve had were as hot as “This is the cap of Red Pepper Flakes falling off mid-shake, thus dumping the entire container onto your pasta hot.” (Riese 2019). Wait that sounds like I’ve had a lot of threesomes when in actuality it’s only happened twice when once was more than enough.
Lastly, Shane cannot divorce that pulchritudinous (last Monday’s word of the day) goddess. I mean just to be able to stare at her skin, which you know smells amazing, would be enough to make me use the divorce decree as rolling paper. I don’t smoke weed and don’t believe that’s even doable but I’d make it work.
i know i feel like shane is going to have a VERY HARD TIME filing those divorce papers now that Quiara is in her physical presence and she can smell her skin!
and yeah, dani and sophie are not good at communicating about their problems! it kinda reminds me of a lot of relationships where the story you hear from your friend about what’s happening with their girlfriend is so different than how things seem when you actually see her with her girlfriend.
This! This perfectly describes Sophie and Dani’s relationship. The two of them are so cute but their inability (or is it fear?) to communicate to one another is so toxic.
I cannot wait to see who Quiara is as I’m already smitten after 10secs which, given my track record, usually means she’s no good.
This too hot to handle trainwreck summary of our heroines relationships is making me quite nervous to watch it. Fortunately when it does hit New Zealand screens, it will be wednesday 1.01.20, so I will have had time to register the terrible choices that our heroines are about to make. Nonetheless, I am still glad that I have the next day off so that I can nervous drink in sympathy while the nails drag inevitably and slowly down the blackboard with the fallout that will emerge from the Bette and Dani fisticuffs and psychological karate, the omg The Ex has turned up wtf do I do now quagmire that Shane is walking into a corner with, and the awkward post threesome conversation starters that will segue into insecurity and likely hostility between Aloce, Nat and Gigi. Already I dislike Nat, too blah for Aloce.. I hope that Nat and Gigi get back together to free up Alice for someone better for Alice…
Also I agree Rooty Poot, that Dani and Sophie who are already great characters, are using sex and sorry as an all purposes balm and disinfectant that will, like lip balm used by a nervous person, be applied ready for all situations giving a max of 5 minutes security.. and no real solutions
That Aloce scene was so weird, the segue to “was Harriet Tubman a feminist” SO jarring. I agree would have made way more sense to ask about diversity at that point.
Yes!!! I feel like maybe they have different writers for different scenes? Because why bring up the lack of diversity in his campaign and then have her edge towards feminism??? If this was a smarter show it would then segueto Bette & Felicity in bed like “ugh white feminism, turn it off!”
Haha that would be perfect
ROBIN!!! Now I’m even more excited than I was before!
If Dani is a fixer she’s s pretty terrible one. Bette told her SOMEONE COMMITTED SUICIDE IN HER POOL and she just nodded like that was a perfectly reasonable and common method for a perrson to kill themselves. Like I’m not saying it ain’t possible or that it’s never happened but if someone told me their friend committed suicide via pool I’d have some questions and I am not even a so-fixer for a major political candidate
Surprised that The Aloce Show is not a daytime talk show like I assumed
wait it isn’t??? i thought it was!!
That Queen of Queer article calls Alice “Late Night TV’s rising star”
ohhh good point i didn’t even notice that.
well, this keeps making less and less sense?!
but they drink coffee! it’s such a daytime tv show vibe!
It makes no sense!
yeah!!! why would they drink coffee at a late night show???
Honestly, I think the writers and director decided partway through shooting the season that the Alice show is no longer daytime. I noticed it when Alice started dropping F-bombs. Like whoa!
I’m still watching the episode, but I needed to say how much it made me tear up when I saw the moment they revealed “Dana’s” bar. Even though I knew it was happening! I’m still loving that this show is back.
I loved this episode!
same!! i couldn’t help it i teared up so hard
Shane looks so beautiful and her wife is gorgeous.
Bette and Shane should never give advice, especially to each other.
I don’t know why, but I don’t care at all that they’ve killed off both Jenny and Kit. I guess there are only so many options to explain why only 3 of the OGs are still together? 🤷♀️
They’re still together because they’re friends.
Killing of a sexual assault survivor and a recovering drug addict who were (in their own ways and if we ignore season 6) doing better, sends the wrong message to people who are trying to heal from those very things. There are real people out here who are struggling to survive. Why would they want to see that?
Honestly the only characters I want to see again from the OG show are Tasha and Helena.
I’d also accept Marina
I also quite liked Molly. I know she was only on for a short period of time but she grew on me.
mmm for sure. i bet molly definitely is married to a nice lady with kids. i wonder what her mom is up to!
Hmm, how will they bring Jenny back, IF she is coming back, given that in episode 3 of The L Word Generation Q, Dani asks Bette if there are any *incidents* in Bette’s past that could be used against her during her political campaign, and Bette refers to Jenny as having taken her life in Bette and Tina’s swimming pool…tv shows have been known to take some serious science defying u turns..
I wish that there were more of the original cast present, Tash, Kit (is Pam Grier doing academic work now?), Ivan, Dylan, Peggy, and ideally Carmen, Dana and Jenny, but that would involve way too much backtracking on the party line so far… just putting this out there…
Surely Dani is so mad about Felicity because she wants to be the one having a clandestine affair with Bette? I thought it was obvi they were setting that up? She both wants to be Bette and to bone her.
Nooo. Like someone said below, Dani is the “Olivia Pope” of Generation Q. She reacts like that because Bette is making it hard for her to do her job by continuing her affair with Felicity. A lot of people are reading their alpha energy as sexual energy, and I don’t think that what’s happening.
It was hard, but I kinda got the idea everyone knew someone close to Bette died because of drugs & with her sister not being around, it was her.
This probably is the best episode so far with so many great personal interactions, both sexual or otherwise. Agree the threesome was very hot — can imagine how hard it is to block a scene like that since it is after all scripted. The bathtub scene was both hot and emotionally intimate.
“Uncle Shane” is a bit strange.
It really bothers me how they killed of Kit. Really feels just wrong how they did a talent like that. Fuck!
Script rewrite idea: if they had to kill Kit, they should have said she died in a car accident. Then driver was on heroin & opiates when it happened.
I agree, feels so wrong
This episode was such a rollercoaster. My eyes could not stop leaking after they revealed the name of the bar. Then Alice makes me laugh then I hear the news of Kit only to have my nose join my eyes and finally. the. threesome. As someone who has never had one, I am guessing I never should since this is now the benchmark I have in my head!
I am very confused about why every episode introduces a new conflict into Dani and Sophie’s relationship and jettisons the previous, unresolved conflict. What did they decide about the fancy hotel?? Also odd how this one centers on Sophie reassuring Dani that she’ll never ever leave her, when she seemed so comforted by her mother reassuring her that she could always leave if she needed to.
Also I would really love someone to mention Shay and whether Shane still has a relationship with him. Couldn’t he have texted her too? “Uncle Shane” made me super happy though. I love it.
How is Bette just casually spending the night at a hotel? Did Angie have a school-night sleepover or something?
Did they think the Kit thing would be a surprise?
Excellent questions! I was just wondering today what had happened to Shay.
Kit dying was a surprise to me after other commenters pointed out that Kit was fairly famous in their world and how would her death not be public knowledge/ something you could google?
I was one of those commenters and … I can’t even be annoyed because it was so obvious they were going there. It’s been suggested to me that Bette never released the cause of death and everyone just assumed it was alcoholism (which I believe was fairly public in universe). Still doesn’t explain how Bette can be discussing any form of addiction without reporters asking questions about her famous, dead sister but 🤷🏻♀️
That is a good question, you’d think the local papers or people on social media would be bringing this up.
i know, if kit had died of a heroin overdose it would’ve been a huge story. it would’ve come up immediately when anybody googled bette, too.
Excellent recap, thanks Riese! Your description of the levels of hotness of the hot scene were hilarious. I haven’t had a sex scene make me forget to breathe like that for… years?
On another note, are we not gonna talk about Bette tossing her shot during the bd party? Especially since Marja R-L mentioned in the interview with Riese that there will be “pregnancy storylines”???
interesting theory!!!
i thought she tossed it cuz she was so high that she didn’t wanna drink it and also as a throwback b/c apparently she did that in the original series at some point although i don’t remember when, but someone mentioned that to me! (does anyone remember that?)
since bette is post-menopausal and running for mayor and never wanted to be the pregnant one with tina…?
Yeah, I too thought she threw shot cause she was pretty high & didn’t want to get crossfadded cause she’s running for mayor.
Haven’t you seen the preview for next weeks episode? I don’t want to spoil you but it tells you who’s pregnant
Okay good point, well made. I concede that she’s probs not pregnant. (Although please note that according to all the highly scientific knowledge I have gained from watching Gray’s Anatomy, you can apparently be menopausal and pregnant (like Bailey this season))
you know a tip of the hat to grey’s anatomy for always giving visibility to uncommon medical phenomenons though, yannow???
also yes wow the sex scene was ALSO difficult-to-breathe levels of hot
She did it way back in season 1 when Shane had that party on the yacht, and Bette and Tina snuck out early.
Yes. I hate myself for knowing this without even having to check, but gotta live my truth…..
your truth is fantastic! and and i hope you embrace it like a tiny leather vest that has to be tied closed.
Haha. Thank you!
Wow I’m v excited to know the Showtime app has the episode available to watch before the air time!! Thx for sharing this important info.
I’m hoping Micah gets more of a storyline outside of this strange dating situation with his landlord? We see all of the other characters go to work, and I’d love to see him like, teach a class, grade papers, do research, interact with other academics in LA, idk. We’re also learning about the backgrounds of every other Gen Q character besides him–where’d he grow up? What’s his family situation? I love that we’re getting into class, race, and/or religion with the other newbies and yet his story is really lacking that depth so far. I was hoping there would be a well-rounded trans character in the series this time around. :-/
mmm yeah i hope we get more of that too! and yeah we haven’t gotten much look at his work and i would LOVE to
Michah said he dated Dani in college so does that mean both of them are bi/pan? Would just be nice if they said it explicitly after how poorly Alice’s bisexuality was treated and ultimately erased!
Micah dated Dani prior to transitioning. I think Dani is a lesbian but Micah could be pan though thus far he’s only shown a proclivity towards gay men.
Also the guy Micah was at the party with? When he said that Dani and the landlord were both hot. I mean I know that you can have that on an aesthetic level but there felt like ‘something’ more in the way he said it to me.
yeah for sure i think hassan is bisexual
Best episode so far! Messy, sexy fun.
All of these comments and no one has mentioned Dani’s ass in the bathtub?!
Micah is boring
Shane and Bette’s friendship ❤️
The actress playing Sophie is very talented and natural. Some of the other actors…not so much
Finley..god, I’ve dated Finley. I love Olivia Thirlby’s character and hope she stays but who didn’t see this coming?
DANI’S ASS LOOKS GREAT IN THE BATHTUB
Rosanny Zayas (who plays Sophie) is incredible, I love her!
Micah is soooo boring.
honestly the fights are so confusing i just wonder like…has anyone who writes for this show ever been in a LTR
With how casual everyone is about cheating and how much cheating is going on in the show I am speculating that the writers aside from MLR have not been in a LTR^^
it’s even weirder cause we don’t even know how long they’ve been together, do we?? Whereas with Alice & Nat we *know* it’s been 2 years but their problems make it seem like 6 months.
After reading the recap and listening to a bit of this week’s podcast episode, I want to chime in with a little defense of Dani. Not that bathtub scene — I still don’t know what the fuck was going on there — but just with respect to her response to Bette’s affair. The mistake is treating Dani’s job as just some regular thing — subject to all the conventional norms of traditional employment like being nice to the person that hired you — but that’s a profound misreading of what Dani’s job is.
When Bette says “I’m pretty sure you’ve course-corrected worse when you were working for your father,” she’s acknowledging that Dani is, essentially, a fixer — the Olivia Pope of Generation Q — and now that she’s working for Bette her job is to protect the campaign, above all other things. Everything that Dani did…from taking the phone back, to having a stern conversation with Felicity, to chastising Bette…was exactly what she was hired to do. It was one of the more realistic moments of this entire political storyline, TBH.
wow fascinating, thank you for this perspective! so even like the tone she took with felicity would’ve been appropriate?
Absolutely.
Her job isn’t just to be reactive, it’s to be proactive and squash things from becoming a story in the first place. With Bette and Felicity, Dani’s just working to hasten the end of that relationship before it blows back on the campaign. Because Bette’s not just having an affair anymore, right? She’s covering it up…actively lying to voters and to Alice* about having ended it.
Dani has to be harsh with Felicity because she knows if Bette can’t end it, Felicity has to…so she pushes. Dani has to, it’s her job.
* I mention Alice specifically because the show went out of its way to have her voice support for Bette and faith in Bette’s admission that the affair is over (“And if she says ‘That relationship is over.’ I fucking trust her.”) I don’t think that’s a coincidence and I think when/if this all blows up, it’s going to blowback on Alice too and have repercussions on their friendship.
Yes, I can see that by Bette actively lying to Alice claiming that her relationship with Felicity is over, Bette will be bringing about repercussions of being untrustworthy with Alice, given that Alice publicly endorsed Bette as trustworthy, in front of a captive audience, potentially constituency, on tv. Interesting times ahead.
oh for sure i agree and i don’t think that it was an accident that alice said that — especially because alice saying that didn’t really make sense with where the conversation with milner was going? they smashed it in there for a reason, which’s for the eventual blowback about it.
anyhow this is very interesting to me that her acting that way would be appropriate! i guess politics is just a very different world than any workplace i’m familiar with, which now that i write it out seems obvious. obviously being in or running for government is a specific level of responsibility ….
Most excellent recap. I think I enjoy coming here to read the recaps and everyone’s thoughts as much as watching the show itself.
The episode could just be known as How many times can they make me cry in 51 minutes?
Finley breaks my heart. When she drunk rode her bike to Rebecca’s I went into hide-my-face-with-the-covers-mode in preparation for the inevitable crashing of the dinner party scene. Watching public humiliation in any form unfold on screen gives me those anxiety feels. What transpired was much worse. I gasped when she told Rebecca her church wasn’t real. And Finley’s slurred declaration of love was just pitiful. And when Rebecca told her to go home and it slowly dawns on Finley that her declaration has gone terribly wrong and she’s being rejected… Jacqueline Toboni’s face in the moment… girl, you got my heart all in pieces.
When the previews for the show came out earlier this year, of course, like many others, I immediately started characterizing each new character with the OGs. So for like Sophie/Dani, I thought they were the new Bette/Tina and I thought for sure Finley was the new Shane, probably because i had just watched her on Easy.. but she is completely different. If anything, she’s closer to Dana. Goofy, clutzy, sweet but a bit oblivious, and not great at dealing with her big gay emotions. Finely works so hard to keep moving, to keep the boundless energy up with the goofball attitude and happy-go-lucky persona,but really she has this sad, shameful undertone that makes me want to hug her. I hope Rebecca and/or her friends can help her deal with whatever is going on inside her head. I’m beginning to wonder if she has a drinking problem with the way she’s been pounding them back.
I’m a little worried Alice is going to find herself on the wrong side of the triangle with GiGi and Nat. Like a repeat of Dana and Laura. I hope not, I really like the characters. GiGi and Alice’s chemistry is unmistakable. Even the reporter had that one pegged.
Whoops just realized I accidentally replied to a comment instead of a new post. Now I feel old and need some young hip person to come show this thirty-six year old fogy how to use the interwebs.
i’m 38 so i’m right here with you ace!!
thank you for clarifying that this threesome happened in an isolated area *at* the bar because i thought they went home (which is.. tbh the move for this kind of thing) and was getting very upset that nobody appeared to be at alice & nat’s house to watch eli and unnamed girl and i was approaching bette & tina’s stir fry level anxiety about it. then why was she suddenly back with the cake?!??!?!?! i feel better now.
Holy smokes Quiara is stunning.
I liked the incidental boobness in the bath scene when they were just talking, like yep boobs, no big deal. I’d like to see more of that kind of thing.
While on the one hand I’m nervous about how this show might handle a poly relationship, and I think diving spontaneously into a threesome with your ex and your ex’s new partner while all of you are shitfaced is a terrible idea… that scene hhhnnnnggggggggg
I truly hope Tess’s storyline is going to vastly improve and not continue to come across as tokenism, because like – ok she gets to have a girlfriend, but we never see any affection between them, never mind a sex scene like literally everyone else gets. Instead we come in at the moment the girlfriend cheats on her with a cis woman and then they break up? Not great.
Wait ex? I thought Alice was still dating her?
Alice is still dating her
i think when chandra said “your ex and your ex’s new partner” she was writing from the point of view of Gigi
Yeah. I wasn’t consciously intending any particular point of view, more just commenting on the general messiness of the situation. But yes, I meant it’s two exes (Gigi and Nat) and one of the exes’ new gf (Alice) all drunkenly hooking up.
But get this: in Riese’s interview with her, the director (Marja Lewis-Ryan) says that the TESS CHARACTER IS NOT TRANS??? So I guess we can relax because Tess isn’t another trans character on the show who’s being treated badly in their relationship…
Oh wow what???
Ok yes it’s great that they’ll hire a trans actor to play a cis person, but that.. does not fix the in-world representation problem in any way. UGH
Big time agree PLUS they did Jamie Clayton so dirty in that bar outfit, hair, and makeup straight from 2002. Justice for Tess!
Wowww I am so disappointed. Like, I thought I’d see some rep for folx like myself but NOPE. :(
Tess the character (played by trans woman Jamie Clayton) is a cis lesbian. The interview with the show creator indicated that.
One of the things I’m loving is the amount of NIPPLES ( and not just in a omg yum way) but the VARIETY in shape and colour and everything. I really want to show it to the kind of teenage girls in particular who are worried about theirs being ”normal” so they can see the vast range of ”normal”
Yes, I grew up with this as a huge insecurity, in high school even I remember being highly insecure about it and when I first started being with women also.
It’s really great to see variety and more representation :)
yes yes yes!!! love the real boobs real nipples allll of it
First of all, I. Am. Aroused.
Secondly, why the f they gotta do Kit like that?!!
Also, I’ve been seeing a lot of Finley hate, but I kinda love her? But I’m also a bit of a hot mess, so maybe I just empathize with her.
Lastly, it makes no sense that Alice has a late night tv show. Is it National? Having mayoral candidates would appeal to like, .00001% of her audience?
🤷🏻♀️
I want to know how Big Pharma Rep turned High-Profile campaign manager Dani didn’t know that her Candidate’s famous sister died of a heroin overdose. That seems like a pretty big oversight on her part.
To be fair it seems like many people even the press don’t know about it so it’s either an oversight on the writers’ part or its purposeful and we’ll find out that Bette and company have done all they can to keep that detail from the public.
It seems really bizarre that no one in the general public seemed to know. The show runners obviously set it up for suspense (which is kind of gross, but that’s a whole other discussion), but realistically it just doesn’t make sense. Kit was at least somewhat famous. Her sister is now running for office. Even if Bette didn’t publicly address the cause of Kit’s death, it wouldn’t be that hard for some reporter to find out.
It’s sort of similar to the Jenny reveal. Highly unlikely that anyone who did any research on Bette wouldn’t know that a semi-famous writer/director was found dead in her pool.
“The L Word: Generation Q can have a little butch representation as a treat”
I am deceased
This show definitely needs butch representation
YEP
I’m at the beach right now with no computer, so I had to find a link to watch online. After a long search which led to some very sketchy websites, I finally found a link. The image was mirrored and there was something wrong with the sound so all the voices were super high, like they’d all inhaled helium, but I tried my best to ignore it and I pushed through because I could not wait a week to watch the episode (and read your recap).
“Open your eyes,” says Shane, but everybody’s wearing sunglasses so lord knows if they followed directions or not. – I thought the exact same thing!!
Also, “Dana’s” and the old photos made me cry. I wish they’d ignored Dana’s death in gen q and brought her back. Let’s hope Helena gets back from England soon!
i admire your perseverance to watch this episode!!
Another idea, have a scene were Lara Perkins, the Chef, walk by Dana’s with her wife & possibly kids & goes I dated a Dana once.
YES
This threesome was … truly incredible. My lorde!!!
Someone help me out, did we ever see a threesome on the OG L word? I don’t remember any, which feels insane??
Yes, It doesn’t feel comparable to Gigi, Alice and Nat but, Lorrrrrrd.
Dawn Denbo and her lover Cindy in season 5 had a three way with Shane in season 5. Later caused some drama, cos like Lina lover Cindy lied to Shane about the nature of her and Dawn’s open relationship, Cindy and shane hooked up without Denbo. Then Dawn Denbo was out for blood
if you’d like to revisit every sex scene from the original, we’ve got you covered: Every “L Word” Sex Scene, Ranked
but yeah, what sophie said.
there was also a proposed threesome with marina / claude / jenny that jenny opted out of
OMG yeeeah! How could I forget Denbo and Lover Cindy?! Thanks for this.
That 3some made me anxious to watch because I kept thinking it would go in the direction of Nat & Gigi leaving Alice out
King Princess posted the bath tub scene in her IG stories, & I think the song playing might have been one of her songs
This threesome has to be one of the best sex scene’s ever on the show or a show, it was on fire, I’m still recovering. LORRRRRRRD
I think Gigi is becoming my favourite character, her swag also, I really hope she stays on the show.
This was by far my favourite episode so far, drama, sex and all the things the original theme song promised. Other than throwing Kit under, the overdose, for fucks sake.
I still don’t know why Kit couldn’t be off touring, but I guess that would change bette’s motive and possibly clash with Kiara, Shane’s wife ( apologies if I got her name wrong, I’m dyslexic).
Thank you Riese for this incredible recap, xmas is always a shitty time for me, so I’m enjoying laughing and reading all the comments from ya all also.
Emmy’s for everyone involved in that 3way !!!
Does anyone know which King Princess song was playing in the bath tub scene?
thanks in advance :)
It’s ”if you think it’s love”
thank you :)
@nicelynicely
Y’all we not gonna mention the throwback that was Bette Porter tossing that shot over her shoulder? I can’t remember which episode or even season it was, but I know it’s happened before and that little moment was my favorite of the episode.
Ha, I loved that too. It’s a throwback to 1×08, the episode where Dana, Alice and Shane confront TiBette about being boring! Bette throws her drink over her shoulder on Shane’s party yacht. You know, the ep where we get to see marina’s cool dance moves.
Dana’s dance moves were by far the coolest that night ;)
Can we take a moment to appreciate that Rosanny and Ari both have tattoos in the exact same place?
generation q PLEASE give me some more butch representation,, as a treat
florrie, I sincerely assume, hope and pray that you are all over “Work in Progress”. It is wonderful. And wonderfully butch.
yes!!!!!! i am a huge fan
I am very happy to see the comment section here so active for Gen Q recaps. There are no watch parties where I live so this is a great space to share and have Feelings.
So far I find Gen Q to be mostly entertaining with uneven writing. Every time there is something that does not make sense/feels rushed or cringey, they have a great scene with the OGs or an easter egg to distract us.
4 episodes in, it feels like a show made for binging.
Lena is too much of a Shane stan caricature to be around until the end of the season. If IMDb is correct, I think Lena will be out of the picture soon. The focus will be more on Tess so she can help Finley through her struggle with alcohol.
Y’all that threesome, how often do we see women above 40 portrayed like that?
Good lord Quiara…
If I have one major critic of the show is that it’s trying to cover too many topics at the expense of character development. I still don’t have a sense of who Micha is. So far it’s more like a shallow attempt to make up for Max’s storyline.
I hope it gets renewed for a second season. I think the stories will be more consistent without the pressure of “The return of the L word” on the writers.
Looking forward to next week’s recap!
Season 1, episode 8.
It’s called “L’Ennul”. I love that episode but also don’t like it because Dana and Lara break up.
Floyd is the name of Kate Moennig‘s recently deceased DOG CHILD and it’s DEVASTATING
I think that threesome broke my brain. In the best way.
THIS EPISODE WAS A TRIP!!!!!
– bette & dani’s messy hoe asses are definetely gonna hook up (i agree with riese on the arguments between sophie & dani being so ridiculous like ?????????? get it together)
– i knew it was coming but the kit overdose (WTF) is still hard to swallow (ALSO WHY DIDNT THEY NAME THE BAR AFTER KIT TOO??? SHE LITERALLY OWNED THE PLANET & LITERALLY DEDICATED HER LIFE TO MAKING SURE LESBIANS HAD A SAFE SPACE TO HANG OUT & BE MESSY EVEN THO SHE WASNT A LESBIAN HERSELF AHHHHHHHHHHHH + dana deserves it too that’s why i think KIT & DANA’S would’ve been a perfect name (sounds gay as fuck too.)
– i was not expecting that threesome to be THAT hot…that was really good im still in shock
-i know finley is gonna grow on me eventually but untill then………………
-SHANE’S WIFE IS SO HOT PLEAASE WHAT IS GOING ON
– i hope they do something with jamie clayton’s character because she’s too talented to be wasted on being a backgroud character (if shane’s wife wasnt so hot id ship her with shane ngl)
-idk who approved that alice show segment but electric chair
“-idk who approved that alice show segment but electric chair”
lol YES
I knew it was coming but I am still very pissed at Kit’s death. As the reference to Dana reminded me in this episode, there has already been so much fucking death on this show, despite the lack of guns or monsters or remotely dangerous situations. There’ve been too many despair deaths among LBGTQ+ people in the places I’ve lived, and rather than feeling represented, I find the L Word depictions utterly thoughtless. Kit could have easily been written out through other means. Just put her in a different city with a new partner like Tina.
The worst part about Kit is that this was an error on the part of the NEW writers, who saw the terribly written deaths of Jenny and Dana and said, ‘we can’t turn back time to save those characters but yes, let’s kill another fan favourite’.
It also feels almost like a fridging; Kit’s offscreen death is just a factor in Bette’s latest affair, and the impetus for her political career. Kit Porter deserved so much better than this and for once it’s not Ilene Chaiken’s fault.
Its even worse than you said. MLR was given permission by Chaiken to ignore Season 6, but instead chose to have Jenny be dead for the shock effect as she said in an interview here on autostraddle.
That Shane would not discuss Jenny more seems ridiculous. It seems ridiculous that they are essentially ignoring/forgetting Jenny altogether but still felt the need to have her be dead by suicide and no one discussing that.
And Kits death was just as bad. It could be seen from a mile away (Episode 1 Gen Q) and the writing surrounding it is full of plotholes and just plain bad.
Did anyone notice that Nat ate the ring off the finger she was sucking?
It appears back in the third shot of the sequence, but IMAGINE.
I am so angry at how they treated Kit’s death. Her journey toward sobriety, becoming a successful business owner, and finding strength in community and in her support network was one of my favorite character arcs of the original series (who doesn’t love a good redemption arc?), and to have her die from a drug overdose plays into harmful stereotypes, but above all, it is lazy writing.
(I don’t know why she couldn’t have moved to, say, any other city in the world or have been on tour, but whatever.)
But fine, you have your heart set on her death being Bette’s catalyst, because extreme personal traumas are the only things that push us toward wanting to better the world, I guess. You know what else is indicative of a broken system that fails people? The cost of health care. Kit could have been diagnosed with any number of treatable illnesses and not been able to afford medication, or the right medication, or to continue treatment, or she had to ration medication that became unaffordable.
Literally nothing else needed to have changed. Bette’s vitriol toward Dani’s PR job with pharma ties would, honestly, make more sense.
I could write an entire 5 page essay about it with links to studies about how the cost of insulin is killing people and annual asthma fatalities, but I’m going to stop before I get too worked up. Kit deserved better, and I’m going to die mad about it.
Totally agree. Also, there were so few black characters and Kit was criminally underused towards the end. Way to twist the knife :-(
IT’S HAPPENING!!! MY THREEWAY POLY PARENTING NIGHTMARE HAS BEGUN AND I AM A L I V E
Does Finley drive anyone else insane? I am really disliking the character and the actress who plays her. I get angry every time she is on screen.
I haven’t watched any of Gen Q yet buuuuuuut I have listened to the To L and Back podcast while I’m at work. Anyway I here for more threesome content after it received rave reviews on the podcast. I was not disappointed!
This was such a great episode even with what they did to Kit.
I love Stephanie Allynne, but Nat/Alice do not work as a couple at all. I don’t understand how they even met, but beyond that neither seems really happy in their relationship. They clearly care for each other though I am hoping we get more flashback scenes explaining them together.
I’m not even a threesome person, but that scene really worked for me. Any bets on if their poly situation will end first or Dani/Sophie’s relationship?
Side note: How did Quiara know where Shane’s party was?