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. Bette may not wax poetically about art quite so often and The Planet may be a remnant of the past, 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’…Shane received divorce papers from her mysterious wife Quiara and bought herself a bar and fucked the bartender to cope, Finley fucked a priest, Bette kept hooking up with Felicity, Dani discovered Bette kept hooking up with Felicity, Sophie and Dani got engaged but spent very little screen time together, Alice and Nat started hanging out with Nat’s ex-wife Gigi, The Network brought in a Straight Writer Bro to “help” with Alice’s show, and Micah hooked up with a Grindr guy after José bailed on a date.
You can read our full recap of episode 1x03 here.
And now we dive into episode 1x04, “LA Times”…
SHANE
It’s Shane’s 40th birthday! At last, we meet the mysterious Quiara — in a dream sequence. But she still hasn’t texted Shane back, womp womp. Shane and Bette have a heart-to-heart in which Shane admits she fucked Lena the bartender and Bette admits she’s still fucking Felicity. But Shane takes it one step further when she tells Bette that she doesn’t want kids, and that’s the reason she and Quiara can’t make things work. And she finally signs the divorce papers. Happy birthday, Shane!
But it’s okay, because Alice and Bette threw her a surprise party at her new lesbian bar, which she named Dana’s to make us all cry. Everything’s going pretty great (except that Tess has finally figured out that Lena and Shane hooked up…but Shane doesn’t know that yet), until Shane gets her cake at the very end and…Quiara shows up. Cue self-destructive Shane in 3…2…1…
FINLEY
Finley and Rebecca are sexing it up yet again, and after Finley declines an invitation to a dinner party with Rebecca’s clergy friends, Rebecca wants to know if she’ll ever get over this hangup about religion. Because Rebecca is starting to develop real feelings for her. Fortunately, Finley is able to dodge the question to answer the door (she IS still living at Shane’s), and we don’t see much else of her til Shane’s party.
Finley’s either stone cold sober or drunk as a skunk every episode, and this time, she’s definitely the latter. Sophie convinces her she has to have a real conversation with Rebecca and tell her how she feels, so Finley ditches the part to drunk-bike over to Rebecca’s house to crash her dinner. Unfortunately, while declaring her love, she also tells Rebecca that she can get over the religion thing because “you’re not a real priest,” prompting a hurt Rebecca to tell her to go home.
BETTE
After hooking up with Felicity, Bette realizes the two of them have accidentally switched phones. This leads to Dani figuring out that Bette is still sneaking around with a (presumably still? It’s unclear) married woman, and tells her she has to make a choice. It’s either a life with Felicity or her campaign, but she can’t have both, and she’s jeopardizing her run with this secret. Bette finally breaks down and admits that the reason she’s running for mayor is that Kit overdosed on heroin (ugh RIP Kit, we saw this coming but it still blows), and she wants to fix the corrupt system that failed her. Felicity was there for her after Kit died, and Bette hasn’t been able to let go. But she realizes it’s time. She has to choose the campaign.
DANI & SOPHIE
Dani and Sophie finally seem to get to a good place in this episode, though it certainly won’t last. When Sophie presses Dani on why she seems so distant, she admits that she’s nervous about committing to Sophie because Sophie had a girlfriend when they met — a girlfriend she left to be with Dani. The confession feels a little out of nowhere, but it prompts Sophie to give Dani that heirloom ring her mother gave her, which means their relationship is almost certainly doomed. But they make out in a bathtub and dance together at Shane’s new club later, so all is well for the moment.
ALICE
Alice goes head-to-head with Straight Writer Bro Drew when he insists they keep it light while interviewing Bette’s opponent. While she appears to relent, Sophie reminds her that this is her show, and Alice turns up the heat for just a moment on stage. Unfortunately, she also ends up defending Bette, insisting the affair with Felicity is done if Bette says it’s done, foreshadowing that the fallout from Bette’s sexual adventures are going to have a far reach beyond just her campaign.
But Alice’s no holds barred approach impresses the reporter from The LA Times who’s been tagging along all day to write a profile on her. And after that reporter mistakes Gigi for Alice’s girlfriend, rather than Nat, it sets a chain of events into motion that we really should have seen coming. A super drunk Alice suggests to a super drunk Nat at Shane’s party that they hook up with a seemingly less drunk Gigi, so they go in the back room for a very intense threesome. Hope the kids are ready to have three moms!
MICAH
Micah pops in for the end of the episode, just long enough to have a series of awkward moments at Shane’s party between the guy he hooked up with on Grindr and José, who doesn’t seem to realize Micah’s mad at him. Micah eventually demands José stop sending him mixed signals (because apparently needing to bail on one date is the end of the world) and they violently make out outside the bar.
Ah, so we finally know what happened to Kit. The clues were all there, we were just waiting for Bette to confirm what we so desperately hoped wasn't true. But with Pam Grier not returning, Kit's storyline needed some sort of resolution...though it's too bad she wasn't just back on the road, living her best life.
The reappearance of Quiara doesn't bode well for Shane, but the conflict is definitely about to get ramped up. Throw in Alice's threesome and Bette's lies and we're ready for the drama!
Next time, on 'The L Word: Generation Q'...
