The L Word is back with Generation Q, and Pride is here to bring you a character-by-character recap so you can keep tabs on your old faves and your new friends without turning on the TV or watching storylines you’re just not that into. The decade may have changed and the gang may have moved across town, but this is still the way, it’s the way that we live, it’s the way that we live and love.
Previously on 'The L Word: Generation Q'… Bette’s mayoral campaign got derailed by accusations that she had an affair with a married woman, Dani finally proposed to Sophie and decided to leave her father’s company to go work for Bette, and Shane moved back to LA after a long absence during which she gained a mysterious wife named Quiara.
And now we dive into episode 1x02, "Less is More"…
DANI
Dani tells both Sophie and her dad about her new job running PR for Bette’s campaign at the start of the episode, and neither take it well. Sophie’s upset Dani didn’t talk it through with her first, and Daddy Nunez is pissed his daughter is going off to work for somebody else. Seeming to have already forgotten that in the last episode, her dad called Sophie her “friend” and said it was good to have fun while you’re young, Dani thinks telling him about the engagement will soften the blow of his daughter ditching the company, but it obviously doesn’t.
After an interlude in front of a beautiful piece of art with Bette (ruh roh), Dani starts her new job off strong, suggesting they bring Felicity Adams in to give a statement rather than let the scandal over Bette’s having had an affair with a married woman a decade earlier fade away in the 24 hour news cycle. Later, she calls off the press for a meeting Bette is having with homeless LGBTQ youth, despite Bette and Pierce expressing their misgivings. Dani is certain that teens uploading videos of the event from their phones will go viral and give them even better press than reporters would. At the meeting, a comment Bette makes about her dad having referred to Tina as her “friend” until the day he died strikes a chord with Dani.
But Daddy Nunez doesn’t show up to Dani and Sophie’s engagement party. Sophie’s family embrace Dani as one of their own, and she and Sophie finally share another moment together at the end of the episode, kissing as they dance in front of all their party guests.
Lingering thoughts: Will Dani end up getting dumped by Sophie, fired by Bette, and come crawling back to her dad and cushy job only to return in season two as dark!Dani? Seems quite possible.
BETTE
Bette drags Angie along to the office with her after her foray into “vaping pot” during the last episode. But her kiddo doesn’t see her slide in behind Dani to speak softly to her about a piece of art that’s caught her eye. Wooing women with discussions about the meaning of art is Bette Porter’s forte, and we can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu alongside a sense of impending doom for Sophie and Dani’s relationship during this scene.
But for now, Bette has more pressing issues. Dani convinces her that Felicity Adams should come in to give a statement about their affair, and Bette comes clean about some other things that could come back to haunt her. She spent a night in jail, she cheated on her ex-wife, oh, and a friend once died by suicide in her pool — Jenny Schecter.
Speaking to the homeless LGBTQ youth is Bette’s real moment to shine in the episode. One of them tells Bette that politicians are full of shit, and it would be really great if Bette wasn’t, because they need someone on their side. Bette gives a moving speech about how her dad never accepted her, and hugs the youth, unintentionally creating the viral moment Dani knew they needed. But that’s as personal as Bette is willing to get just yet because of some mysterious painful thing campaign manager Pierce keeps alluding to.
Finally, after sharing A Brief Look in the office earlier, Felicity (Latarsha Rose) and Bette meet clandestinely on a bench overlooking Los Angeles. Felicity says she misses her, and Bette returns the sentiment. They hold hands, and this definitely isn’t going to end well for anyone.
Lingering thoughts: Bette’s mysterious painful incident that stops her from being personal HAS to be Kit dying from a drug overdose, right? RIP Kit, you definitely deserved better.
SOPHIE
Sophie spends most of the episode stressing over Dani’s failure to talk to her about changing jobs. She confides in Finley that she doesn’t know what a successful relationship looks like because her parents certainly didn’t have one, and expresses a similar sentiment when she’s with her family. Her mom ultimately comforts her by telling her she’s not her father, and says Sophie is strong enough to know if she needs to leave the relationship, but it takes strength to stay. Mama gives her a family heirloom ring to give to Dani, but tells Sophie: “If you give it to her, make sure you mean it.”
Lingering thoughts: Sophie! You were the one who wanted Dani to propose so badly! Don’t get cold feet now, come on!
ALICE
Alice has drawn The Network’s ire after ditching Dr. Oz to bring Bette on as a guest, despite the episode going over really well with viewers. To keep her in line with the “poppy” and “lesbian” brand they wanted when they bought her podcast, they’ve brought in straight white dude bro Drew (Christopher Wallinger) to keep her voice consistent. Because lol sure. Alice’s storyline pivots from work life to home life when Eli the Stepkid’s school calls to say he’s sick and his moms can’t pick him up. As The Network and Drew sketch out plans for her to do drinking games with Lena Waithe, Alice runs off to handle a vomiting kid.
She recruits Shane to help her deal with Eli because Alice just doesn’t have a clue what to do. Later, she and Nat get into a bit of a spat after Nat says Gigi will come look after Eli tomorrow. “I feel like a babysitter,” Alice tells her, explaining that Nat can’t ask her to be more present in the kids’ lives and then call Gigi in when things go wrong. But she still doesn’t actually want to look after sick Eli, so Gigi comes over the next day anyway. She and Alice have a heart-to-heart, in which Gigi reveals that the last time Eli was sick as a baby, he kept asking for “Mona,” accidentally revealing Gigi’s affair with their gal pal Mona, effectually ending his moms’ marriage. Gigi, who clearly hasn’t gotten along well with her ex’s new gf in the past, lets Alice know that she makes Nat really happy.
Lingering thoughts: Alice and Sophie pushing back against The Network by wanting to give their viewers something “substantial” as opposed to just “poppy” and “lesbian” feels like yet another weird dig at the fans of the original show, as Gen Q continues to try to establish itself as a show dealing with The Real Issues.
FINLEY
Finley has continued to hang around Shane’s house, becoming her de facto roommate whether Shane likes it or not. An offhand remark about having never had sober sex leads to an episode-long quest of trying to get her friends to go drink with her. Eventually, she and Shane wind up at a bar, where Finley strikes out with scores of women before finally convincing Rebecca (Olivia Thirlby) to buy her a drink. They go off to what looks like Shane’s place to hook up, but Finley appears to have had too much to drink and the looming nausea prevents them from getting it on. Later, Finley does shots with Micah and Dani and Sophie’s engagement party before running off to meet up with Rebecca again, shocked she actually texted her after she nearly vomited all over her face.
Lingering thoughts: Finley’s desperation for companionship is definitely out on full force this episode. And her inevitably alcoholic spiral is gonna be a doozy.
SHANE
Shane’s mysterious wife Quiara is about to become her mysterious ex-wife, as Shane spends the first half of this episode dodging divorce papers. After Alice tells Shane that she and Quiara should have had kids, and Finley cluelessly signs for the unwanted divorce papers, Shane winds up at a bar with her accidental new roommate. It’s obvious every queer woman in LA is glad to see Shane has returned, but she doesn’t want anything to do with any of them. She eventually strikes up a conversation with the bartender, Lena (Mercedes Mason), and literally throws a drunk man to the ground when he grabs her and demands she serve him more alcohol. Lena’s girlfriend, Tess (Jamie Clayton), is a server at the establishment, which Shane recognizes as “used to be a gay bar, right?” and Lena shares that they really wish they could buy it back from the current owners and restore it to its former gay glory. Super rich Shane thinks that sounds like a great idea.
Lingering thoughts: Shane’s definitely gonna buy the bar, and definitely gonna hook up with this bartender, but more importantly…where’s Carmen?
MICAH
Micah finally brings José out on that fancy dinner he promised, and, phew, it looks like José is actually gay after all. After an awkward mishap confirms José already knows Micah is trans, the two have a promising date that leads to a sincere confession from Micah that he doesn’t like discussing his life prior to transitioning. They have sexy times in the apartment complex’s swimming pool, but Micah later feels bad because he totally forgot to invite José to Sophie and Dani’s engagement party…at the apartment complex.
Lingering thoughts: Gay guy pool sex seems to have replaced the iconic gay girl pool sex of the original show, which is like, fine, but we better get some ladies hooking up in the pool at some point. This is 'The L Word', after all.
ANGIE
Angie is on mailer stuffing duty at Bette’s office, and mom lets her know she doesn’t want her hanging around her BFF (and maybe crush?) Jordi. But Jordi shows up at the office anyway, apologizing to Bette for taking Angie out of school and promising it won’t happen again. Both girls watch Bette’s meeting with the LGBTQ youth and agree that Bette is actually pretty cool.
Lingering thoughts: Still weird that's she's not a baby.
So, we have finally found our answer to the big season six mystery of “who killed Jenny Schecter” and it was that she killed herself. It’s an odd choice for a narrative that was clearly set up as a murder mystery ten years ago, intended to set up a spin-off in which Alice serves jail time after being wrongly accused of Jenny’s murder. And it doesn’t make the most sense with everything that happened externally in season six. But a suicidal Jenny tracks with the version of the character we first got to know, and feels almost…nostalgic? In an absolutely awful way?
Is this closure? Does anyone care? Am I the only L Word fan on the planet who is still deeply invested in Jenny? Maybe, not really, and probably.
Next time, on 'The L Word: Generation Q'...
