Tina: Is Laurel Holloman really pregnant, or does she have a body double?
I don’t care much for Helena, but the scenes with Tina were really hot. While I do want Bette and Tina to get back together eventually, I like how Tina is getting a chance to learn how to stand up for herself, and explore her sexuality, and all that.
Mark:
Part of me is just naturally inclined to dislike this guy for his arrogance, but I’m still willing to be patient and see where they take this. He’s obviously developing some kind of thing for Shane (well, who *doesn’t*), which is interesting for the time being (obviously, I’m preparing myself to be disappointed when the writers take this to some non-subversive, cliche place). Anyway, I think the thing that intrigues me about Mark is that he is a variation on my “Character of Invitiation” notion–the character in a story who is the “normal” outsider entering a (fairly) hidden and unconventional subculture and providing a window into it for readers and/or viewers who come to that story from the same conventional standpoint/place. The cameras serve both as the annoying, arrogant violations that will upset viewers who are part of this subculture, but at the same time, they’re symbolic windows into the world of this group of lesbian friends. After all, we are all peering into the world of the L-Gang through a camera; the only difference between us and Mark is they are all fictional characters and we have been invited by the writers, producers, and actors to watch their lives. In Mark’s world, these are real people he is not only watching in their intimate moments against their will, but also actively manipulating now by sending in that (cute!) “delivery girl” to seduce Shane.
Anyway, Mark plays amateur sociologist, and he really is from some other planet, ’cause:
“I’ve never seen a girl have that effect on other girls”
dude, Shane is a dyke archetype. I’ve known more than my share of women like Shane.
Jenny:
Who dresses these people? I don’t think I’ve liked anything Alice has ever worn. And let’s not get started on Jenny’s death by lace. If she weren’t such a tourist in the lesbian world to begin with, I’d do a whole mini-essay on her gender insecurity and feminine over-compensation. Like, “I want to play in this dyke world, but look at me! I’m still a girl!” Um, Jenny? No one really doubts that, babe.
I’m so glad to see Sandra Bernhardt back. When they dumped the Ivan story in mid-stream, and then Sandra disappeared, too, I was like, jeez, behind the scenes problems much? I think Bernhardt’s character should pull out the bull whip, though–I am really bored of Jenny’s acid-trip-without-the-acid fantasy vignettes. I get that the writers are trying to salvage Jenny as a character by actually doing a story line where she learns how to write, thus giving a meta-response to the viewers who complained about her season one purple prose, but, hurry up! It’s annoying.
Kit:
The Kit story is really dull. It’s so…normal. I don’t watch the L Word for normal. I miss Ivan.
Dana/Alice:
Glad the Dana/Tonya thing is over, but the way they ended it seemed so contrived. How convenient that just when I want to break up with you, you want to break up with me! Granted, their whole relationship seemed phony to me, which sort of makes Tonya’s affair unsurprising, but a little foreshadowing would have been nice. Something to make Tonya’s affair seem more probable? Unless I missed something.
Anyway, the one thing that salvages it (besides Tonya going away, hopefully forever!) is that the Dana/Alice thing might get temporarily emotionally derailed as Dana realizes she cared for Tonya more than she thought she did. I like Dana/Alice, I do, but I’m still worried a hot, sexy relationship might get a bit dull without teh_AgNgSt.
PS: deadsoul820, have you been making a tape? ‘Cause, *points* episode 6! (I have at least two friends that want to see it!)
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 
She actually was really pregnant at the time of filming (I believe she has given birth by now), far more pregnant than the 14 weeks they claimed for the character.
Anyway, the one thing that salvages it (besides Tonya going away, hopefully forever!) is that the Dana/Alice thing might get temporarily emotionally derailed as Dana realizes she cared for Tonya more than she thought she did.
Right, and you could see that one their faces (Alice’s and Dana’s) in the car at the end, and Shane thought it was funny! It should certainly make their relationship non-dull!
far more pregnant than the 14 weeks they claimed for the character.
I know, I was surprised by that bit of dialogue!
I get why Dana was upset. What was Alice upset about? We didn’t see a Dana/Alice conversation on how the break up went. Are we supposed to assume they had one and Alice was thrown by it or something?
That’s a good question that I hope they’ll address in the next ep.
Sometimes I think it’s just me and I need to watch the episode a couple dozen times until I find the answer. But I think I’ll wait and week and see if they answer it for me.
; )
As I recall from last season, the L Word REALLY needed a few pregnancy betas. They just got everything so very wrong. I’m not shocked that the trend continues.
Do tell.
PS – how are things with your pregancy? Pretty close now?
As of next Sunday, I offically hit term (which is 37 weeks, though it’s a range, and most babies are born at 40 weeks), and then, depending on my blood pressure, we start talking about when exactly I’ll go in for induction. Eep! That’s not very much time.
Thankfully, I will not be required to either stake myself or sacrifice a virgin.
Re: L Word S1 pregnancy details.
Pregnancy is usually confirmed by a blood draw or series of blood draws, not an ultrasound. If you’re undergoing fertility treatments/insemination, my understanding is that you get the blood draw done when your period is due, rather than when you’d be late. At that point (which is about 4 weeks using pregnancy math, a system that counts from your *last* period instead of from conception), there’s not really much of anything to see on an ultrasound. Five or six weeks, I think, is usually as early as it gets. And an ultrasound at that point doesn’t use the belly wand, it uses the dildocam.
I can’t remember how far along Tina was supposed to have been when she lost the baby, but I remember after the miscarriage them mentioning that they’d known it would be a boy before the loss. As I recall, she wasn’t far enough along for that to have been determined by ultrasound–I think she was late first trimester, and gender can’t be seen on U/S until a few weeks into the second trimester. (Off the top of my head, I think it can probably be determined if the mother has one of the invasive prenatal tests like CVS, which is done at 10-12 weeks, but CVS is somewhat risky, and not standard.)
So, basically, whenever they gave a medical detail relating to pregnancy, my head spun. It’s not unique to the L Word–X Files and Sports Night are guilty of the same thing.
It’s alarming how much of this stuff I’ve picked up over the years, but I blame the number of RNs in my family–they’re also to blame for my inability to watch medical shows–and all the friends who’ve had reproductive issues.
Most of that jives with my recent experience following the progress of my sister-in-law’s pregnancy. Glad I didn’t notice the errors–it pulls me out of the story when I do notice them.
First tape’s on its way to you as I type – I mailed it yesterday.
Something to make Tonya’s affair seem more probable?
I had no problem accepting Tonya as a starfucker who’d found a “bigger” (Melissa Rivers?) star.
Word re Jenny’s annoying daydreams (with a major BUT for Shane with a whip – phwoar!)
I loved Shane laughing at the Dana/Alice drama, but then I also tend to laugh at other people’s drama, if I think they’re overdoing it. Funnily, about the only thing I do like about Alice is the way she dresses. And I think Dana needs to do some thinking about what she wants, rather than stampeding into love with anyone who expresses a romantic interest in her. And, anyway, did she win or lose her match? Seems like something she might also care about even with the impending break-up.
Do you get the previews when you download. ‘Cause I have some thoughts about why Shane acted the way she did.
death by lace Hee!
on topic but off base
Did you see this in last week’s Onion? (Well, this week’s on the newsstand, but apparently last week’s online.) Of course, I don’t watch the show (don’t get that channel), so I didn’t get all the references, but at least I’m not as clueless as the columnist!
It was the Shane with a whip in Jenny’s daydream that bugged the most. I hate it when my too-cool-for-you characters pop up in some silly context like that.
No, we don’t get previews. Don’t even get the end credits, a lot of the time.
Thanks for the tapes!!1!
Re: on topic but off base
I don’t have the channel, either–don’t even have cable. I download it.
Did see that article. Kind of silly.
Re: on topic but off base
Well, I don’t have cable for my computer either, or DSL, so downloading ain’t real feasible-like.
“Did see that article. Kind of silly.”
Well, it is The Onion. Silly is pretty much the point.
Re: on topic but off base
I prefer The Onion’s political satire.
; )
It’s odd that Mark doesn’t get why girl’s are turned on by Shane, because to be honest a lot of women are turned on by the male version of that archetype (Spike in BTVS or Connor on Angel or Jimmy Dean). Actually I think it’s his insecurity – I saw the same response from men on discussion boards in 2002 -2003, they so did not understand the attraction women had to the slight, vulnerable, bad-boy or bravado type personality. Why did women love actors like Montgomery Cliff or James Dean – they aren’t manly. It’s the sensuality that comes through. How they move. A complete comfort with the body.
Mark is thinking – what turns girls on to that. But he’s also thinking, why am I turned on by that? Note – in S1, gay men came onto Shane thinking Shane was a boy. They liked that adrongynous feel, that sensuality and vulnerability. Shane turns me on a little – which is weird, since I’m not into girls. But there’s an aura that I completely get and identify with, as well as a comfort level with body movement that I halfway envy.
Also, to be honest, Shane, Bette and Dana’s clothes are the only one’s I’d wear. I like simple, non-flowerly clothes and cool leather jackets. Did see a DVD extra on the clothing – costuming – apparently two women have the job of shopping along Rodeo Drive and buying buckets of clothing then trying them on the characters – the pick fashions in the stores and fit the fashions to what they and the actresses see the characters as wearing.
I agree with you on Jenny and Alice…but then I think the last time I wore a skirt was in 2004 for a job interview.
We discussed this the other day, about how unfamiliar the concept of the vulnerable FEMALE rogue/cad was to you. The idea of the vulnerable rogue/cad was familiar, but just in men. So I think Mark was having the same reaction you were–he had just never seen a woman act that way, come across that way which we typically think of as a male archetype.
But it is a sexy combination–that tough-yet-emotionally-vulnerable, sensual, bad-boy/girl thing. It made Mark uncomfortable because it does have a strong male vibe to it in our culture, and to be turned on by it plays a bit with one’s traditional gender expectations.
Ah, now who is making assumptions based on sexual orientation?
I think I’ve seen it, just haven’t noticed it. Faith certainly fell into that. But the actress playing Faith did not exude nearly the amount of vulnerability that Moening does. Sometimes it’s just how an actor plays a role. It would be wrong of me to state for instance that gay women weren’t turned on by Spike, since I know a few who did get into the character and were definitely turned on by him, not necessarily sexually but rather in the same way I’m fascinated by Shane Often in our society we think everything is based on sexual attraction and it’s not, my interest in Shane and in Spike and in Anya to a degree has a lot to do with aspects in the characters that I may identify with, issues that they are dealing with that interest me that may or may not be readily apparent to someone else. Yes, I’ve seen the sexual archetype you are discussing – rather a lot actually (Faith, one of the characters in the movie Bound – just a few examples), what I haven’t seen much of is the way Moening is playing that character and how it’s written- she’s doing something very similar to what I’m writing.
Also, while Shane does represent a clear archetype, just as Spike represented a clear archetype, and Angel represented a clear archetype – there’s more to them than that. It’s not the archetype that attracts, but what has been added. The archetype by itself is actually rather dull. What interests us is the layers, the development of the character. Sorry, it always annoyed me when people stated – “oh you like the vulnerable bad-boy” – no, not true at all. If it was I would have been turned on by a couple of other characters I’ve seen on TV that have done little for me, no it’s something else – it’s the desire to hide, the play-acting, that interests me in both characters. How they allow others to tell them who they are or what they should be, become the archetype that they know turns people on, and lose a little of themselves in the process – because they really aren’t that at all inside.