Here we go again folks. Shane (Kate Moenning) is packing up things in the house for Tess's mom to take with her to the nursing home she requested to go live in last episode. The tension between Shane and Tess (Jamie Clayton) is thick, but Tess doesn’t want to talk about catching Shane with Ivy (Kehlani). When a bee flies in the room and Shane captures it to take it outside, both she and Tess become trapped on the deck when the door locks behind them. Which is pretty much a metaphor of their relationship, on the nose much?
The bitter silence between Tess and Shane gives way to some intense conversations. Over the course of the day and the evening locked out together on the deck, they dig deep into what comes next for them. Shane is clearly unhappy with herself, but she tells Tess she's not happy in the relationship. Tess wants Shane to change, but she knows Shane has to want to change before she will actually take any responsibility for her pattern of cheating in relationships. Tess has a lot of questions for Shane about her behavior and what she wants out of life but Shane doesn’t have any answers. I´m not really sure about where this is going to be honest, I don´t think the writers even know anymore at this point, like Waht is Shane´s endgame here? I understand getting older doesn´t equal to getting wiser or really evolving as a person, but what they´re doing with Shane is something else. Her whole arc as been about her being a cheater and we saw this from the original series years ago, I´m not interested in seeing it again.
Their forced togetherness ends when Finley (Jacqueline Toboni) comes over and frees them. Finley, who had a rough night of her own, and Tess decide to go to an AA meeting. Shane takes some of her things and their dog and goes to Alice's (Leisha Hailey) house. Is this a temporary breather so they both calm down? Or the start of a permanent split? Either way, Shane really needs to get herself together and decide exactly what kind of person she is going to be.
Dani (Arienne Mandi) is having the most LA evening ever. She is saved from getting knocked over by a person on a scooter by a mysterious but attractive woman (Carmen LoBue), whom she kisses on a whim immediately after they meet. Dani and her mystery woman end up at Dana's (and while Dani is talking to Sophie (Rosanny Zayes) her mystery woman goes on stage to sing. What is this? Dani already being set up to be in a relationship, I´m not having it. I didn´t think I could get angrier after the Gini break up but I just got there. Can you even allow her to be single for more than one episode and focus on her character instead of jumping this fast to someone else. And of course, because there is drama to be had behind all this, Dani's new interest is Dre, the person Sophie was hooking up with while Finley was in sober living. Because of course Dani and Sophie, who almost got married, would end up dating the same woman just months apart. Dre mentions she's only been in LA for six months but she's already dating women who are each other's exes? Dre may be a next generation Papi. Also I´m pretty sure Dani´s line to Sophie about being as loyal as a dog will for sure come back into play because foreshadowing is a thing.
Back to one of the most boring couples on this show, Finley has a lot of questions for Sophie about Dre. She asked Sophie how many times Sophie slept with Dre. Sophie lied and said they only slept together once. In truth, Sophie and Dre spent a weekend together and there was a spark that had the potential for more than a casual hookup. That lie may come back to bite Sophie in the future. Finley was already uncomfortable with the idea of Dre, so seeing Dre at Dana's pushed her over the edge.
When Sophie told her Dre was there and pointed her out, Finley pulled the fire alarm and kicked everyone out of Dana's, including Sophie. Whis is why she went to Shane's afterward and found Shane and Tess locked out. That´s all I´m going to say about that.
Anyway, now onto another short lived storyline. Taylor (Joey Lauren Adams) told Alice she had to work and couldn't go to the movies. But while she was sitting in the theater, Alice sees Taylor with someone else. At first it's not clear whether they are on a date or not, but then Taylor kisses the other woman. Alice, being Alice, confronts Taylor. Taylor tells Alice she didn't think they were exclusive and says that's how regular people date. This whole exchange is a cringe fest for me but I don´t even have to elaborate further than to say that´s over.
Micah (Leo Sheng) and Maribel (Jillian Mercado) are starting their search for donor sperm to have a baby, but they can't find any donors that have the exact characteristics they're looking for. It’s starting to dawn on both of them that the process of having a child is going to be a lot more complicated than they thought. They still seem committed to the idea, but it's really not clear if they're up to the challenges of parenthood. When I tell you I hate baby storylines so much doesn´t even cover it. However, I have decided to look at this in another perspective, which is that they are showing what a family looks like outside of society´s idea of what it should look like and that is something I am interested in.
I don´t even know where to start on this week´s episode friends. Let me just say that I love musical episodes as much as the next girl, especially when they are done right. However The L Word´s already walking on a very thin line this season and this weirdness did not help their case at all. Even though this wasn't a holiday-themed episode (though it was a Christmas Day treat for fans), The L Word: Generation Q season 3 episode 6 saw a ghost from the past make a very special and emotional return.
Alice (Leisha Hailey) takes her staff to a desert retreat to drink ayahuasca, a plant-based hallucinogenic substance that can induce hallucinations that are supposed to open up the mind to insights from the universe. Alice convinces Shane (Kate Moennig) to go too, after calling Shane out for being a total mess in the aftermath of her breakup with Tess (Jamie Clayton). Alice is also a mess, though, after her recent unlucky streak in love. Sophie (Rosanny Zayas) is also on the retreat, making Finley (Jacqueline Toboni) upset because Sophie won’t be able to help buy a car. Just by this introduction I already know where this episode is going for every single character to be honest. At the retreat they all experience vivid hallucinations, which incorporate songs, dances and the kitsch you'd expect from a musical episode. But their visions aren't all songs and dances.
Shane's vision is a fun '40s era adventure, where she's a sailor in town who visits Dana's to see a glamorous singer, Tess. There's a rousing dance number and Shane must confront her identity as a commitment-phobia. At the end of her vision she is being chased by several women and she either has to jump off a roof to join Tess in a waiting car or choose to return to the identity she's always had. Just as she is coming out of the influence of the ayahuasca, she jumps. Back in LA, she immediately goes to Tess to tell her she's ready to let go of her identity and build a life with Tess. Tess starts crying and drops the bombshell that her mom, former showgirl Betty, has died. Trying to help Tess through her grief will be a real test of Shane's new commitment.
In Sophie's vision, she's a '50s housewife in a black and white sitcom called Finley’s Home. Through the course of the vision Finley, playing the stereotypical domineering male of that era, continually finds ways to shut Sophie up.
When Finley's boss and his wife, who in the vision are Micah (Leo Sheng) and Maribel (Jillian Mercado), come over for dinner, Finley tells them Sophie has laryngitis and can't speak. There's a series of running gags that all result in Sophie being unable to speak. I understand what they were trying to do here but I don´t think it was very well executed.Through her vision Sophia realizes she is feeling suffocated by her relationship with Finley. Sitcom Sophie finally breaks free and finds her voice with a song. When she finishes the song the vision shifts from black and white to color, as a visual representation for her transformation after she finds her authentic voice.
When she returns to LA, she breaks up with Finley, who is blindsided by Sophie's declaration that she needs to be fully herself and she can't be that with Finley. I could have told you that without the drugs.
Alice's vision starts off with her as a contestant on a Price Is Right style game show. But in the game she needs to find the flaw of each person pictured. As photos of her ex-partners pop up, she reels off their flaws. But the last photo is of her, forcing her to confront her own flaw keeping her from finding "the one." When she correctly answers that she pushes people away she wins the game and wins her dream life with her dream partner. In a surprisingly emotional moment, Erin Daniels, who played original The L Word character Dana Fairbanks, appears (reminder, Dana died of breast cancer in the original series). Dana tells Alice that part of her prize is that they get to grow old together. First of all, I did not know we were going to be seeing Erin Daniels return for this sad hour, I came here to have a good time and instead I got my heart strings being pulled in every direction. There is a sweet duet from the two about a life that never could have been, the two soulmates living their best life together. But in a bittersweet conversation that induced real tears, Dana tells Alice that Alice's "the one" is still out there for her but Alice has to let Dana go to find them. Alice has never really confronted her grief at losing Dana or her grief for the life she and Dana had planned.
Dana also implies Alice has already met the person who is "the one," but she has pushed that person away. I really adore you Dana but I don´t think this is the case and Alice is yet to meet someone worthy of her, that´s just my opinion anyway. Back in LA, Alice goes through her box of Dana's things and finds the sunflower she bought in the gift shop at the hospital the day Dana died. In The L Word, Alice sank to the floor sobbing after Dana was gone, holding the little dancing mechanical flower that played "You Are My Sunshine." Alice finally is able to let go of the ideal future with Dana she had been clinging to. At the end of the episode, she sends a mysterious text to someone that isn't named, the person she thinks Dana was referring to as being her "the one." This is supposed to be a big reveal but they already spoiled it with the preview, like????
Looks like everyone got some sort of big awakening this episode, except for Dani, where the heck was she for the whole thing? We only saw her like five seconds where she shared a kiss with Finley because this season has not been awful enough for us Gini shippers. This is as much as I can do for this recap without being a hater folks. Let me know in the comments:
- Do you think Shane will actually change and fix things with Tess?
- How do you think Tess will handle her grief?
- Will Sophie and Finley become likeable characters now that they are no longer together?
- Will we see Dani for more than five seconds next episode?
- Who do you think is Alice texting? (If you have seen the preview you already know).
