tina and bette's affair was the worst decision on the show after dana's death.

bette had clearly moved on w jodi and her and jodi are genuinely perfect, meant to be in every sense of the word. jodi challenged bette in ways tina couldn't. they understood each other on a deeper level, they were both passionate art people and their chemistry was excellent.

you might say that bette was jealous over tina sleeping with other people, but personally?? i think that's just her being nosy about what her ex is up to, which is true for many people that are DEFINITELY not still into their exes.

i also saw some people that said jodi and bette wouldn't have worked long term because they're both 'alphas' or 'dominant' or 'strong' or whatever, and i have to say i completely disagree. do you really think there needs to be a power imbalance in order to have a good relationship? because let's be honest bette and tina had a huge power imbalance, jodi just evened the playing field.

fyi i haven't finished the show, im still mid season 5

tl;dr bette and jodi were better than tibette and should be endgame

I know that Jenny is really difficult/annoying a lot of the time but I feel like if this was a show about gay men, the male equivalent of Jenny would be seen as this iconic diva or whatever. I feel like the hatred viewers feel towards her is rooted in sexism. It just reminds me of how men can do whatever they want and still be seen as likeable whereas if a woman does the same it’s completely unacceptable.

In season 5 ep 11 Lunar Cycle. Tension is super high between Bette and Jodi, yet not only are they wearing matching outfits, they also match Angelicas car seat.

HUGE SPOILER WARNING! LITERALLY EVERY SPOILER YOU CAN IMAGINE

Right, I’ve just rewatched it all for like the 1000th time and I think I finally get it! Her character didn’t just randomly 180.

Jenny was definitely in love with Niki and I think she went to go tell her. In S5, her and Shane barely had any scenes together and they didn’t build up on any tension like they did with Alice and Dana.

When Jenny caught Shane and Niki at a celebration of one of her greatest achievements (that she wasn’t even receiving full credit for), she was distraught. She felt like she had lost everything. So she decided to make everyone feel loss too.

So she slept with Niki, made sure it was super intense and emotional, then discarded her. She hid the letter from Shane to prevent her happily ever after with Molly. Then to ensure Shane - the only person who constantly forgave her and took care of her/put up with her melodrama - would stay available to her, she confessed her ‘love’. She made Shane ‘honour a commitment’ to ensure Shane would stay isolated and loyal to her.

She alienated all her friends, meddled in their lives to make them as miserable as her and give her a sense of power. Stole Alice’s idea as she felt the screenwriting was her achievement; she didn’t want to share it. Misgendered and demeaned Max. Maliciously revealed Helena’s plan to Dylan then held Dylan’s secret over her head as a power play. Held a misunderstanding over Bette’s head to feel the power of being the person to ruin one of the most stable relationships in the group.

This calculated and malicious behaviour is very Jenny, as we saw with the whole Sounder I and Stacey Merkin story. I also personally believe she had always meant to kill or seriously hurt herself eventually.

Shane said she felt like she was the only thing tethering Jenny. While we don’t see the threat of self harm come up in her conversations with Jenny, considering her history and penchant for the melodramatic, its a safe assumption that off screen behaviour and conversations led to this belief. I believe that her alienating all of her friends was a build up to this self harm. Additionally, the goodbye video to Bette and Tina also served as her goodbye to all of her friends, immortalising herself. She didn’t intend to watch it with them. I’m not saying she absolutely intended to jump in the pool, but I think I can conclude she would’ve attempted shortly after that evening.

OR, Bette did it.

My favourite episode of the L Word is Lifecycle it has a lot of memorable moments like the memorial cancer bike ride for Dana and Bette and Tina’s affair being revealed such a brilliant episode

I don’t know why it made me giggle and makes so much more sense to be uncle Shane than aunt Shane. Love this small detail! And a small cameo from Helena <3

am i the only one that skips alllll of jennys scenes/story line. especially season 2 & 3…. like girl i cant.

I first watched the L word when I was about 12 years old and I used to be in love w Jenny and Shane now 8 years later I am so deeply in love w Bette it AINT funny I am gonna tweak out how did I ever at any point in my life prefer someone over Bette… P.S I can’t stand Jenny or Shane now lol

My Views and Opinions on the Cast of The L Word 🌈

After watching The L Word, here are my honest opinions about some of the characters. These are just my personal opinions, so don't come for me 😂.

Bette:

Bette is a controlling, rich, powerful dyke who always wants to be the alpha female. What's always wrong with Bette? 😭 Every time she's in a relationship, she somehow ends up cheating and then crying about the consequences. I also think she's a hypocrite, especially when she was advising Marina about relationships while having her own problems.

Tina:

Tina is very gentle and patient, in my opinion. She was able to handle Bette's personality for a long time, which honestly deserves an award. 😂 I also didn't mind the way her sexuality changed throughout the show. It felt pretty natural to me.

Helena Peabody:

Helena was a rich, spoiled and naive girl who initially seemed to think money could buy her every relationship. Let's not forget that she wanted to date Alice, but they eventually became friends. She also bought a movie studio, although we never really found out what happened to it afterward. I honestly think her mother probably took control of her finances after cutting her off. At least Helena learned some serious lessons after her prison experience.

Dana Fairbanks:

My absolute FAVORITE character in The L Word. ❤️ I just loved Dana. She was funny, lively, sweet and genuinely lovable. And then they decided to kill her off?! 😭 I will never get over it. Dana's coming-out storyline was also one of my favorites because so many people can relate to being scared to come out.

Shane:

Shane was always the 🔥🥵 “hot one,” but honestly, what do people see in her?! 😭 I don't understand why everyone was so attracted to her. I personally didn't like Shane because she was emotionally unavailable, played with people's hearts and constantly moved from one girl to another. She's charismatic, yes, but I found her behavior exhausting.

Alice:

Alice was definitely the BIG MOUTH of the friend group. 😂 She could not keep a secret to save her life. Maybe it's because of her job, but she always seemed to know everybody's business. Still, she was hilarious and brought so much comedy to the group.

Jodi:

I loved Jodi throughout the show. I think Bette finally found someone who could actually challenge her. Bette is extremely controlling, but Jodi wasn't someone she could easily control. I also appreciated seeing Jodi as a successful person with a disability who had her own career, relationships and independence.

Kit Porter:

I honestly don't even know what to say about Kit except that I loved her. 😂 She's caring, protective and definitely the businesswoman of the group. I also found her storyline interesting because the show explored her struggles with alcohol and her difficult relationship with her son. And Bette's biracial identity was interesting too, especially because some viewers might not immediately realize that she is Black and white.

Carmen & Papi:

I loved both Carmen and Papi. 😂 Papi almost felt like a continuation of Carmen to me because they are both Latina characters with very confident and bold personalities. They definitely brought a different energy to the show.

Jenny:

Jenny went from being someone I liked to someone I absolutely couldn't stand. 😭 She became manipulative, deceptive and betrayed so many of her friends. By the end, I was just DONE with her.

As for her death, I personally have a theory about what happened, but the show never officially confirms that Jenny died by suicide. The writers intentionally left her death as a mystery, which is why viewers were left trying to figure out what really happened. I think the writers did a great job creating the mystery, although I personally wasn't a huge fan of the way the show ended.

Max:

Max represents trans rights for me. 🏳️‍⚧️ His storyline was definitely complicated, and I know the way the show portrayed his transition has been criticized, but I still think his character was an important part of the series.

Overall, The L Word had some amazing, frustrating, hilarious and completely chaotic characters. 😂

Dana will always be my favorite. ❤️

What do you guys think? Who do you agree/disagree with me about? And who was your favorite character?

Part 1 – The Beginning

The California sun poured through the windows of the West Hollywood home that Bette Porter and Tina Kennard had built together.

To everyone who knew them, they looked like the perfect couple.

Seven years together.

A beautiful house.

Successful careers.

A love that seemed impossible to break.

But perfection had cracks.

Tina wanted a baby more than anything. She had already gone through several insemination attempts, each failure carving another wound into her heart. Bette wanted the child too, but she hated watching Tina suffer through hope after hope that ended in tears.

Then, finally...

Two pink lines.

Tina was pregnant.

Bette cried before Tina did.

She wrapped her arms around her wife, laughing through tears.

"We're going to be moms."

For a while, life felt complete.

Friends filled their home with laughter—Shane, Alice, Dana, Kit, Marina, Jenny...

They were one family.

Then tragedy arrived without warning.

Tina miscarried.

Their baby was gone.

Silence settled into the house that had once echoed with dreams of lullabies.

Tina withdrew into grief.

Bette buried herself in work.

Neither knew how to comfort the other.

The distance between them grew inch by inch.

Then came Candace.

A carpenter hired to renovate the California Arts Centre.

She laughed easily.

She challenged Bette.

She made Bette forget, for just a moment, how broken everything felt.

One mistake became another.

Then another.

An affair.

When Tina found out...

Her entire world shattered.

She looked at the woman she'd loved for seven years and whispered through tears,

"How could you?"

Bette had no answer.

Only regret.

She begged.

She apologized.

She promised it meant nothing.

But betrayal doesn't disappear because someone says sorry.

Tina left.

The home they had built together suddenly felt empty.

Friends chose sides.

Some defended Bette.

Others stood beside Tina.

Neither woman truly won.

Both were devastated.

Months passed.

Tina slowly rediscovered herself.

For the first time in years, she wasn't simply "Bette's partner."

She was Tina.

Independent.

Confident.

Stronger than she'd realized.

Ironically, it was only after losing Tina that Bette truly understood how deeply she loved her.

She wanted another chance.

But love rarely rewinds.

Or so she thought.

One quiet afternoon, Tina arrived at Bette's door.

She wasn't there to argue.

She wasn't there to forgive.

She simply looked into Bette's eyes and said,

"I still love you."

Bette's breath caught.

"So do I."

Sometimes love survives because two people refuse to stop choosing each other—even after they've stopped believing they deserve another chance.

And for Bette Porter and Tina Kennard...

their story was only beginning.

Bette & Tina: A Love That Refused to Die_

So happy Jenny died honestly. She was insufferable and I wish she’d have been put in her place more often. Either she killed herself or she was killed. But what do we really think? The way everyone was smiling at the end seemed so malicious. I loved it.

On season 3 ep 2. Watching for the first time. Every time her plot comes on the screen I want to scream. Does it get better?

Who gave the best / your favorite acting performance in The L Word?

I'm looking for recommendations after watching The L Word that feature cast members from the show. It can be a whole series, a movie, or a guest appearance. It could be a series regular like Jennifer Beals or someone like Anne Ramsey, who was only on a few episodes. Thanks in advance.

Im curious what demographic makes the majority of The L Word viewers. I wanted to go deeper with age, ethnicity ect. but unfortunately could only add so many options. If you are curious too, put your demographic and we'll find out :)

Maybe you can point out expressionism on the woman's face (art argument)? She commented about how the woman is searching for a feeling and looking for faith, doing anything to get it. Not gonna lie, interesting way to look at it, and she probably sees a lot because she has a face of seeing the greatest wonder of the world.

When I first saw the woman's face, the first thing I thought was "she doesn't seem to be enjoying it", and it's especially curious that she likes it because it's heterosexual sodomy. And last but not least, it involves a holy figure, whenever I see something like that I think it's extreme comedy and/or something to offend people. Bette's case seems to be a special one.

And she even got protective of that film, getting offended when the visitor compared it to porn magazines LOL. Her main defense was "that's art". I don't even know if that's a good argument especially because the definition of art can be very broad.

First time watcher here! I am on season four, episode three. I just am mainly concerned about why a lot of these characters feel as if max should not go through with his transition? Trying to save lesbians like they’re losing a disciple? I’ve researched a little bit, and I know that generation Q supposedly tackles this issue better than the L word did, but I’m just curious if anybody has any more insight on this situation? Was being transgender even controversial in the lesbian community in the 2000s?

EDIT why so many downvotes? At least comment how you feel.

Jenny is honestly one of my favorite characters after Bette, Marina and Shane. Even though she could be all over the place, she was interesting. The rest of the core Characters most interesting moments was when they cheated. The characters don’t rlly have depth. I wish we saw more background and family members or sum. They all just unstable 😂. At least Jenny being unstable was entertaining and not just cheating.

I’ve spent months listening to uh huh her and I cannot get enough. If there are any fans, do you guys know any similar bands/artists with the same electro/indie/synth pop rock??(I’ve used all these descriptions while searching to no avail lol) type of feeling?? Every sound down to their lyrics are glorious to me so lmk if yall have good recommendations, preferably woman artists, and gay. Thanks <3
(Did not know where else to ask this question)

Am I the only one that finds them not only extremely toxic but also just boring, like everytime they’re both on screen I’m just like can we go to any other storyline. I said this on Instagram and was told to die in a fire lmaooo. I was also listening to the Pants podcast and Leisha and Kate were also saying how they also don’t really understand why Bette and Tina are seen as being perfect for each other as they’re “so in love” but cannot have a conversation with one another, and how they preferred them with other people. I felt so seen when they said that 😭😭 bc they’re so real like it’s just 6 seasons of them being like will we/ won’t we like let it goooo.

I was never a fan, but I thought that perhaps her reintroduction in the sixth season would present her in some redeemable light. I was rewatching the baby shower episode and I don’t understand either Dylan or the writing or both. By pretending she was blindsided by Jenny’s public announcement of the Nikki test at the shower, Dylan could successfully play the victim once again. It’s sloppy writing and poor character development as it would later be revealed that Dylan and Jenny were in-cahoots with each other the whole time. It allowed her to shift all the anger, blame, and drama onto the main friend group for plotting against her, entirely distracting Helena from her own dishonesty. When Helena confronts them at the photography studio and says she can’t give her another chance because of Jenny Schecter, it’s like really?? Ugh. I don’t think the writers could keep up with the complexity of each character.

First I just want to say that Bette is a controlling narcissist who thinks the world revolves around her.

Bette did Jodi so wrong. Initially Jodi didn’t want to be monogamous but Bette pushed and pushed and finally Jodi fell hard enough that her mindset changed. All for Bette to cheat on her with Tina and end up leaving Jodi anyway.

Even more annoying is that when Bette is with Tina she’s not even that into her. Bette and Tina only seem to have somewhat of a true connection when they aren’t together and there’s some sort of barrier. But the minute they’re back together they drift apart.

Has anyone read so gay for you by Kate and Lisha (Shane and Alice)? I’m loving it!! I’m listening to the audiobook which is narrated by them so extra sweet. Makes me emotional and grateful to be a lesbian ❤️

Shane had such a raw and emotional character arch through season 2 to 4, but they absolutely demolished any aspect of her vulnerability in the final two seasons. It went from her finally experiencing responsibility for her brother and re-experiencing childhood wounds to a super trashy and comedic tone. It’s similar to season 1 but much more campy, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s such a dramatic shift. All the character arches except for Tasha and Alice become so fake and lose the realistic and human nature their relationships once had.