This is what I like to call a “groundwork” episode. Not a lot happens in it, at least from a soap-opera point of view, but the groundwork is being laid for further developments. As a writer of serial drama (I have two WIP fanfics and suddenly I’m a “writer of serial drama” *snerk*), I can appreciate the need for this. Shane gets a new job opportunity. She and Jenny look for a roommate, which introduces a new character, but not until practically the end of the episode. Bette tries to save her gallery’s funding, but we don’t know if she actually succeeds or not. Dana and Alice go on a double-date (*yawn*), but they do end up kissing (each other) in public. Kit goes to a business seminar, but we don’t see what effect this will have on her own business. That’s for a future episode. It’s all groundwork. Well, except for…
…Tina fends off the advances of her creepy lawyer, which is actually a real development. Because if she dumps that unprofessional creepazoid, she’s back to square one in divorce-ville.
The best scene in the episode, though (besides Bette’s one night stand and the nekkid!pool!frollickying!), was Shane cutting Jenny’s hair. I don’t know if any straight women or straight men can appreciate the rite of passage this is. Not that short hair signifies that you’re a lesbian, it doesn’t, especially on The L Word, which is kinda butch-lite. It’s just, Jenny’s all ribbons and curls and lace and mincing and big blue eyes and all the things boys like. If dykes have a different aura to them, something they give off that just says “dyke” whatever they look like externally, Jenny just hasn’t had it. And asking Shane to cut her hair is her attempt to cross that line. To assume the identity. Even if she fails miserably from an appearance point of view, she’s sort of shedding her skin. Like the caterpillar or the snake, she’s slithering out of an old persona and trying on a new one.
Butterfly.
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 
Yes, the hair-cutting can sometimes be quite a rite of passage (‘rite’, not ‘right’, grammatically speaking, although the double meaning inherent in the incorrect spelling is rather interesting, too). That was neat, although as you say, I think Jenny in particular will fail miserably at it from an appearance point of view, and perhaps from a behavioral one as well (can you tell that I don’t like her character much?). Still, very interesting.
I felt this was the weakest of the episodes so far, especially because the “Tina trumping Bette at the grant-getting thing” is so transparent and coming up main street (as many L Word plots are), to the point where the preview for next week was completely un-surprising.
My favorite scene in the episode was actually the one between Camryn Manheim’s character and Shane. I thought they really clicked in an interesting actor-y way.
And I can’t wait for Dana and Alice to get down and dirty already! I find them sexy together, for some reason.
Last season I was all about the Tina love (partly because of love for Holloman’s other characters like Randy and Justine, and her general acting prowess), but this year I’m finding Dana/Alice really fascinating, too. I just want her to grow a backbone!
Did I spell it “right”? F***. I have a homonym-challenged thing. As a PhD who taught university for several years, I like to think of it as a cute, eccentric quirk. ; )
“Tina trumping Bette at the grant-getting thing” is so transparent
Apparently transparent to everyone but me. I didn’t notice that. And I missed the previews, because my bit torrent copy ran out before the final credits even.
Camryn Manheim’s character
Is that the full-of-herself producer lady? I was, “yeah baby”. There needs to be more non-skinny, older, confident women in the world.
And I can’t wait for Dana and Alice to get down and dirty already! I find them sexy together, for some reason.
While I’m not especially seeing the chemistry, I’m still rooting for them. I’d like to see a pairing from within the group of friends.
Last season I was all about the Tina love (partly because of love for Holloman’s other characters like Randy and Justine, and her general acting prowess)
LOVED Randy Dean. That’s when I fell in love with Laurel. And Justine just clinched it. Tina struck me as a little odd at first, because she’s a more feminine character. Plus I hated the doormat thing. I *really* want to see Tina grow a proverbial pair this season.
AHH tell me that i wasn’t the only one who saw that coming… Tina’s creepy laywer. Tina just seems to not be able to win so far in the season…
I wanted to kick Bette in the teeth for sleeping with club lesbo #1… I thought she was sorry & wanted Tina back…
HAHA It’s amusing how Jenny is getting her hair cut & you all are saying it’s a rite of passage… Because i used to have like ungodly girly hair like Jenny, & then I was like oh – yea… I’m gay & shortly there after, it went. I haven’t be able to bring myself to grow it back.
Everyone’s down on Bette for sleeping with that woman. It’s not like she and Tina are together, after that horrible meeting they had with their lawyers. Tina moved out, she’s working on splitting up their things. Bette’s a free agent, even if she’s still in love with Tina and wants her back. Right now, she’s miserable.
I guess people are judging her because of how she acted with Candace when she and Tina *were* together. OK, yeah, that was *wrong*, but the bar girl? I don’t think so.
I just wonder where they’re going with the creepy lawyer story line, or if this is all we’re going to get out of it. Someone taking advantage of Tina when she’s vulnerable, while claiming to be empowering her.
I cut my hair at 17 and kept it short for a long time. But eventually, I got bored of that and let it grow out. I think it looks better with a little bit of length, and my leather jacket helps me to continue to exude my dykely aura.
; )
Haha. Maybe I should get a leather coat.
Still though, Bette should’ve waited for me! I would’ve crashed the show sooner or later. HAHA Sorry… I just really want to see her & Tina together again. SOOOOOO much. they’re like cookies and milk. They just go.
Like Alice and Dana
Yeah, I want to see Bette and Tina together, too, but I want them to work out the issues they had between them that caused all the trouble before (because it was MORE than Bette cheating), before they get back together, or there will just be more trouble between them.
Oh, I aree – The best scene is by far the last. And the rite of passage metaphor worked for me completely – partly because I’ve done that – changing my body image to redefine who I am. The write also did a very good job of moving into the scene with the prelude of Mark telling Jenny why she seemed straight to him or more likely to be picked up by a guy. It’s not the butch aspect, so much as the attitude. Jenny’s hair had a lot to do with her sexuality with men.It’s even referred to in some of the episodes with Tim and their sex scenes. Asking Shane to cut it – Shane who of all the friends appears to be the most comfortable with being gay, shows that.
Very much a ground-work episode and the interviewing of roommates was so spot on.
I felt the need to defend this episode in my review by pointing out the “groundwork” aspects of it because it got trashed a lot on the L-Word boards I belonged to at the time as “boring”. From a strictly-viewer POV, it is a bit boring; not a lot “happens” in the dramatic sense. But from a *writer’s* POV it’s a building-up episode, creating the circumstances that will lead to drama down the line.
I don’t have any L-Word communities active on my friend’s list anymore because they didn’t cut for spoilers and the level of discussion is so far below what I’ve come to expect after years on Whedonverse boards. I am slowly friending folks who watch the show who want to discuss it intelligently, so glad you are watching it!