Feature image photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for National Geographic Documentary Films
If I’m being honest, my favorite character on The L Word: Generation Q is 100% Angelica Porter-Kennard. It’s probably the mom in me, but I will kill to protect Angie because she’s the most precious baby bean on this show and I love her so much. Angie is on quite a journey this season; her moms fell back in love and left town, she started college, and her high school girlfriend dumped her the day she moved into her college dorm. She’s stepping into her own, but it’s not without a lot of other emotional stuff on top of it.
Jordan Hull, who plays Angie, is also someone I would kill to protect. She is also a precious baby bean and when I was told I was going to get to talk to her about episode five, I did a little happy dance. I am happy to report that Jordan is most certainly a precious bean. She got real about where she thinks Angie is and is going given this newfound young adulthood.
Sa’iyda: As of episode five, we’ve seen Angie now having some pretty big college adventures. And so just the first question is just what has that been like for you? What has been the most fun part about this new version of Angie?
Jordan: I’d say the most fun part is that you just get to see her experience joy and mischief. Because I feel like over the last couple of seasons, she is going through it with the death of her donor and the death of Kit. So she’s had a pretty sad mess of things. So it’s really nice and refreshing to see Angie in this space, where she gets to liberate herself and discover who she is without her moms, now that they’re in Toronto. And so I just hope it’s fun to watch this little baby that everyone knows be a baby adult.
Sa’iyda: I think that’s a certain level of freedom just in general with going away to college, but then when you put it together with everything that’s happened to her in the past, this is the first season where we really get to see her having a good time and genuinely being happy.
Jordan: Yeah, yeah.
Sa’iyda: So how do you think that the events of episode one, wherein she goes off to college, her high school girlfriend breaks up with her, how do you think that those set the tone for the version of Angie that we’ve gotten subsequently?
Jordan: I think it’s very common if you have a high school relationship, that person not only represents the relationship, but it represents you and who you were in that relationship and that time period. So I think although it hurt, it goes perfectly with Angie’s transition into college. She’s moving on and moving up, so I think the breakup is good for her to just go into college with a clean slate. And with her parents having a different location helps as well, just her just being completely isolated in a good way, in a healthy way. Maybe not healthy, but a good way.
Sa’iyda: Especially with her moms, but also the one who was closest to her in California being hover-y. You can tell that there is a newfound sense of freedom there. Because she’s also 18. I feel like that’s just so indicative of how we are at that age. But still having some sort of boundaries, because she knows that there are grownups there for her is also super safe.
Jordan: Yeah.
Sa’iyda: What about the exploration of her queerness so far? Because we’ve only really seen Angie and Jordan. We’ve never seen her with a boy, and now we’re seeing this completely new relationship for her. So what has that been like and how do you think that that’s changed the character?
Jordan: I don’t think it’s anything that’s changed the character, probably something that just the audience gets to see a different side, which is great. It was interesting in season one where she establishes that she also is really into women. Where I feel like, I don’t know, there are some people that just because she has gay moms doesn’t mean [she’ll be gay]. She’s Gen Z. I think everyone is very non-conforming and fluid with their sexuality. And I think for Angie just to explore this new attraction and love interest with Hendrix, it just shows that her queerness is… it’s with everyone. It’s just based on her attraction, not the gender, which is pretty cool and I feel like a common experience if you’re around her age.
Sa’iyda: I mean, that plot twist was a shock.
Jordan: Yeah. Okay, good.
Sa’iyda: I definitely did a: “No!”
Jordan: Ah, the old professor-student.
Sa’iyda: Oh, I’m very excited then for subsequent episodes. So bringing it back more specifically to episode five, let’s talk about that condom scene.
Jordan: Oh my god, yeah.
Sa’iyda: What was that like?
Jordan: To be completely honest, when I first read it, I was like, “Absolutely not. There’s no way I’m doing this.” Because I just didn’t get it at first because I’ve never had a friend do that or need that help.
Sa’iyda: That is a deep level of friendship that I don’t know anyone has had with their freshman college roommate.
Jordan: It just goes to show, I guess, Angie’s compassion for this roommate she’s known for a couple of months. But after, just talking me off the ledge and just getting me to understand, on the day it was quite funny and silly and just incredibly ridiculous, but hopefully in a good way. But yeah, I mean, have you ever had that happen to you?
Sa’iyda: I have not had that happen to me. There are only a very small amount of people that I would do that for, my freshman college roommate not being one of them.
Jordan: Yeah, exactly.
Sa’iyda: I mean, she was very nice, but that is a boundary that I could only cross with a very few amount of people.
Jordan: Right? Yeah.
Sa’iyda: That’s like best, best, best friend level.
Jordan: Yeah, it is. It very much is. So yeah, it was an interesting one to do. I think this season in particular, for me it was just very important just trying to find the right way to express Angie’s sexuality and just not trying — she’s still a teenager. I just didn’t like the idea of this teenager being like, “Now I’m sexy,” you know?
Sa’iyda: Right.
Jordan: So I think this condom thing is silly enough and sex involved enough in a weird adjacent way, that I was like, “Okay, if this is the happy medium, I love it.”
Sa’iyda: Yeah. But also, even though it’s an incredibly silly and awkward moment, it does lead to a really surprisingly important question and conversation that she has, even again with this person who’s still a relative stranger considering they’ve only been at school for a couple of months. It pushed her to have to confront something that she only kind of talked about in the past. How did you feel it benefited Angie to have that difficult conversation when we know that that’s been a touchy subject in her past?
Jordan: I think Bella, Angie’s roommate, is someone that seems to be a lot more open about sex and a lot more open about her sexuality and all that stuff. So it was just very probably inspiring and compelling to watch Bella have a condom stuck inside her and just be so open about it and be like, “Can you get it out of me?” So Angie’s like, “I would never…” You know.
Sa’iyda: Right.
Jordan: So I think just having Bella around to lead by example. Maybe not lead, but just be another version of what it means to be 18, 19 in college in terms of your sexual activity, I guess. It was very inquisitive for Angie to be like, “Okay, why are you like this and how can I be a little bit more like that?”
Sa’iyda: Right. And I think it’s very natural. I actually really appreciated the fact that that was the way the conversation was presented. Because I feel like so much on TV now, you see teenagers who are so sexually aware.
Jordan: Yeah, and I don’t get that. I don’t know. I feel like most of my friends and I were like, “I don’t know.” It’s very awkward at first, you know?
Sa’iyda: Yeah. I mean, especially at 18. I just really appreciated the fact that it showed that there are 18-year-olds who not only don’t have a clue but haven’t even tried to figure out the clue.
Jordan: Right, right.
Sa’iyda: As a quote unquote “late bloomer,” I hate that term. I really appreciated the fact that it wasn’t like, “I’m going to be in my slut era,” and then she just automatically knows what to do.
Jordan: Yes, exactly. She starts off so strong. She’s like, “Hey, I’m going to be in my ho era. This is going to be amazing.” And then meets one person, has a breakdown about what to do about it. It’s very cart before the horse.
Sa’iyda: Yes. Also, it’s really easy in college to say, “I’m going to this,” and then fall into the exact opposite. So that made sense. I just have one more question. So what kind of a journey do you think Angie is on currently, and where do you see it going throughout the rest of the season?
Jordan: I think that the journey Angie is going on is just, I don’t know, the emancipation of Angie and her parents leaving. Because I think before, her world was her parents in the past two seasons. And a little bit of her girlfriend, but it really was the relationship with her mothers. And so I think this season you just get to see her deal with people of her own age and deal with what that means and this relationship with this professor, or teacher’s assistant or whatever, that that’ll grow.
Because I think back to the sex thing, we don’t get to see almost any conversations with Bette and Tina and Angie talking about sex and what is right and what is wrong, at least on the show. I’m sure they’ve had them. I just think there are a lot of conversations in her family that just don’t happen, and so I think Angie’s going to answer them on her own now.
Sa’iyda: Yeah. Also, knowing all of the characters, I can’t see Angie being cool with having the sex talk with Bette and/or Tina.
Jordan: No, no. I think what I’m most delighted for in this season is Shane and Angie’s relationship that you’ll get to see grow. Yeah, there’s just really fun stuff that gets to go on there. But even with Uncle Shane, it’s like, “Ugh, I don’t want you to… Ugh,” you know?
Sa’iyda: But if you have to ask any other character on the show about sex, that’s the one to go to.
Jordan: Absolutely. Absolutely. Angie will be like the belle of the ball when she talks to Shane about sex.
Sa’iyda: She’ll come taking the university by storm.
Jordan: Absolutely. She’ll get kicked out. She’ll have too much fun.
Sa’iyda: I love it. Well, thank you, Jordan, so much for your time. You are absolutely delightful and I really appreciate it.
Jordan: Oh, thank you. You as well, Sai.
Sa’iyda: Thanks.
Wow, I adore Angie and Jordan both! She is very compassionate towards her character, particularly with the Hendrix plot.
Her comments about seeing Angie and Shane’s relationship deepen makes me super excited for episodes 6-10, as it’s one thing I really loved last season (like when she went to Shane to talk through whether she should meet Marcus) but I feel has been super absent these last few episodes, with Angie off in her college bubble, disconnected from the rest of the storylines/characters.
Thanks for this interview, Sa’iyda! (Small note: there’s a typo in your question that begins “What about the exploration of her queerness so far?” where you say “Jordan” when I think you meant to write “Jordi,” but it makes the question a bit confusing given, well, Jordan herself. :)
This is so cute!! Jordan Hull seems like a real gem.
Thanks for this great interview, Sai.
I appreciate Jordan’s generous take on Angie’s current storyline (which I loathe) and I’m going to try my damnedest to approach it with that same level of openness in future episodes. The discussion with Shane should help that immensely because I know it’s going to be hilarious.
I also loathe it! all for Angie dating & exploring sex, but w/her professor?! nah !! at v least, switch into a different section if that man is not adult enough to set that boundary/not date his own student.