Real L Word Episode 107 Recap: It’s My Party and I’ll Cry, Scream or Wrestle If I Want To

Hey did you hear the one about the girl who did the other girl with the strap-on? Well, you’re about to! Don’t worry it’s not like porn or anything. It’s more like a series of one-act plays composed by precocious junior high students who’d overdosed on Skins and didn’t dislike the “Who Killed Jenny” storyline, and sometimes wish they were as good looking as any of the Humphreys from Gossip Girl.

Haggadahs! Broken glass! Fucking! Screaming! Wrestling! Yelling! Drinking! Hospitals! Exes! Lighting! Long walks on the beach! Psychics! WHAT THE FUCKING FRACK?

After viewing The Real L Word on Sunday night, I submitted myself to intellectual recovery-from-shock therapy: a handful of old Six Feet Under clips, half of Eileen Myles’ poetry book Not Me. I read over my review of Emily Gould’s And the Heart Says Whatever, and thought about how I’d rather finish writing that than write this. But alas. I did this. For you.

For that sacrifice, you all owe Autostraddle money:


This week I watched with Laneia and Jess. Carly emailed me some of her commentary which  I’ve added here and there. Eagle eyes. Did you read our interview with Carlytron about how reality tv works and is edited? It’s seriously fascinating w/r/t #thisfuckingshow.

Anyhow aren’t you so excited! YOU GUYS IT’S GIRLS WHO LIKE GIRLS ON THE TEEVEE! GRAB YOUR GIRLFRIEND, LICK HER FACE, LESBIANS ON THE TV DON’T YOU LIKE IT


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Time for another round of everybody’s favorite party game, “questions that confuse Jill, make Tracy laugh uncomfortably and cover topics on which Whitney and Rose are invariably experts.”

Today’s Question: “Do you Use Sex Toys / Have You Been to a Sex Shop? HEY PRETTY LADY HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT STRAP-ONS?”

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Whitney basically lists every sex toy she’s ever heard of: “strap-ons, dildos, vibrators, anal beads if you wanna get freaky with it.” Oh also, she “likes strap-on sex. Giving it.”

Riese: Hey, they’re talking about strap-on sex! I wonder if anyone’s gonna use a strap-on in this episode!
Laneia: HMMM I WONDARRR

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Mikey says, “there’s some great contraptions, some swings, slings and things.” This is how we feel about being in a “contraption” with Mikey:

Mikey offers some practical advice for the first time in the history of Mikey:

Mikey: “I would not suggest putting a strap-on in a dishwasher. You throw everything away and you start over again. You really wanna get committed and stay in one relationship, because it’s super-expensive to change girlfriends. At least on my end.”

Laneia: Mikey just made a good point.
Riese: It’s true, it is expensive to buy a new strap-on for each new relationship, especially if someone took too much ambien and somehow got permanent marker on yours.
Laneia: :(

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Nikki has a drawer. You know. A Drawer. A drawer of “things.” We’ve compensated for her lack of elaboration with this doodle:


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Let’s begin! We get off to a running start with Mikey and her interns in the office! Fascinating!

2 busy 4 haircut (me 2)

Mikey is SUPER busy at work. I wonder why. Kelka Pride? Apocalypse 2012?  Rodeo Disco? Oil Spill? Anthrax? Degrassi Boiling Points Marathon?

Oh something’s around the corner.

What is it? Just guess. COME ON I give you like five guesses okay four. Okay ONE GUESS WHAT IT IS.

Mikey talks so loud in this episode that I’m almost distracted from my usual focus, which is her alternative lifestyle bouffant.

Do You Know What This Shamrock Means? Do YOU?!!! LUCK. IT MEANS I’M GETTING LUCKY TODAY, DON’T PRESS IT

Mikey repeats her weekly recitation, adding some frustration regarding hangers, a phone call, and an “RSVP” list bada bing bada boom next scene please.

Mikey: “THE SEATING CHART AND THE RSVP LIST ARE THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT THINGS FOR THE DESIGNERS as well as the other people who are …” [etc]

Mikey Loves All Caps

Laneia: THIS RSVP LIST IS JUST SO BIG! BIGGER THAN MY DICK EVEN!
Riese: IT’S BIG LIKE MY PENIS! OR MY STRAP-ON!

Mikey is in a panic, as these fascinating tasks won’t do themselves. Who’s Your Daddy indeed.

Laneia: Mikey, honey, it’s just not that hard to put together a list. I did it.
Riese: We all have jobs. We do work. At least you’re getting paid to do yours.
Laneia: We did it for Rodeo Disco 2. No prob.


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SHALOM SESAME!

It’s Passover time! This is a big deal as it honors Moses leading the enslaved Jews out of Egypt and into the land of milk and honey  I MEAN BECAUSE IT’S NIKKI & JILL’S FIRST SEDER AS AN ENGAGED COUPLE AND G-D WILL NEVER LET MY PEOPLE GO IF THE HOUSE DOESN’T LOOK LIKE POTTERY BARN.

Designer Dan, seemingly teleported from a campy/canceled Bravo reality show, has been summoned to prepare the home for holiness, a.k.a. turn his father’s house into a marketplace.

[Sidenote: Passover was March 29th -> April 6th this year, overlapping with Dinah Shore, which we’ll visit in The Real L Word‘s finale. Fashion Week was March 20 and Mikey’s story this ep happens two weeks pre-Fashion Week. Just FYI!]

Designer Dan: I came here already deciding what pieces we should keep and what pieces we should be ready to update —
Nikki: Let’s just talk — we discussed the dining room table.
Designer Dan: It’s a great card table. It’s not a dining room table.
Nikki: Okay, that’s why we called you.

As it was written in the Torah, if your dining room table looks like a card table, then ELIJAH WILL NOT COME. Dan registers a few more complaints about the decor: their curtain rod looks like “a fucking hospital suite,” the paint is “mud on the walls,” the curtains are “old schmatta rags,” and “we DO need a new rug… we DO,” and there are children starving all over the world who need your help! Oh I made up that last part, but it’s true and Nikki can hardly believe it either:


Nikki wants Passover to be OFF THE CHAIN because G-d said “Thou shalt host Passover Seder and it shall be off the chain.” Preach it, Jill —

Jill: “These are the nicest walls and the nicest rug I’ve ever owned, so GO FIGURE.”

But the worst part of this shabby shack of sin? The lighting.

Nikki: “I need a chandelier in here. That’s what I absolutely need.”
Designer Dan: “You absolutely have to have a chandelier here, it’s gonna make the room a little more intimate, it’s gonna bring the volume down a little bit.”

Jill never learned this commandment, obviously:

Riese: I’m always so confused during the Jill/Nikki scenes ’cause I honestly — like I’m not being fresh — cannot locate the source of the conflict and have trouble following what’s happening. Like what’s the problem here exactly?
Laneia: Riese, lighting. Their problem is lighting.
Riese: Because like, I have never thought about this stuff EVER. Do we have a lightbulb in the house? y/n? N? Who has cash, do I have pants on —
Laneia: My problem is health insurance. FYI.
Riese: Mine is that I think T-Mobile shut off my phone. And I deserve it.


It’s Okay You Can Do Whatever You Want With YOUR Eyebrows, I Just Keep My Own How I Like It

Rose’s grandmother is maybe sick and was given medication but won’t take it because it makes her sleepy. Anyway let’s talk — but not REALLY TALK — about the Rose/Mom flamewar, b/c it’s making Rose’s grandmother sick.

Laneia: I need Grandma to hug me. Now. RIGHT NOW
Riese: Me too. But also ROSE TELL US ABOUT YOUR FUCKING MOM RIGHT NOW OR I STAB YOU IN THE EYE
Laneia: I can’t talk, I love Grandma too much, I need a hug.

Wants to Hug Laneia

Rose is pissed that Mom is calling Angel, which may/may not be why Mom and Rose aren’t talking. Why does Mom need to call Angel, Angel has twitter, this Akita Evita will not shut up and I believe if she tweets nonstop..

Rose will consider making up with her Mom for Grandma’s sake.

Laneia: I can’t believe she missed the chance to say “drama w/ my mama.”


Now Say After Me: Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board

It’s time for Tracy’s first reading ever! With Stamie’s psychic named ROBIN ALEXIS. Robin ALEXIS is two lesbian names smashed together with an “IS” tagged on.

Tracy is “skeptical” about Robolex, but admits Robolex has predicted Stamie’s future WAY early. Like Robolex predicted an upcoming change, and then change happened.

To perform the reading, RobinAlexis does a mashup combining the following: Natalie Portman’s manic pixie dance in Garden State, The Exorcist (later recalled by Tracy), Shark Week, Dolphin Sounds, the noise of children playing/crying in the back area of a Mormon Church service, Jenny’s mime/circus hallucinations, and Bette Midler’s “Oh Industry” from Beaches.

This is when I discovered closed captioning on my DVD player. The world hasn’t been the same since:

I’m jealous of Jodi, watching TV with closed captions is way better. I thought Miss Cleo was just making bullshit noises, but there’s phonics involved somewhere:

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Tracy: I was expecting for her head to start spinning and for green shit to spew out of her mouth. Like this is too much, get outta here, no way.

Stamie knows the drill:

Whoosh I’m Gonna Grab Your Boobs

Tracy’s Mom is distracting Robinalexa’s energy. Tracy needs to “feel safe being her authentic self.” Which I think is more or less what we’re all struggling with, every day, ain’t it?

Carly: The lady doing Tracy’s reading belongs in a Christopher Guest movie. Is this for real?

Tracy’s Mom needs “consistent spiritual nurturing,” also should acquire this nurturing within the next five months or else the terrorists win/Showtime can’t film it.

It freaks Tracy out because it’s what she needs to hear: someone possibly insane telling you that you MUST do what your heart already wants to do. It’s that little extra nudge. Can you feel it? It feels like a strap-on nudging at your butthole, but lovingly. Also who can’t relate to feeling that their Mom needs “spiritual help” ? Even if your Mom is dead, still.


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I See Those Bananas, What You Did There

This is a HUGE weekend for Whitney’s hair! Paintball is TOMORROW and their first annual WHITE TRASH POOL PARTY is like the next day! Omg how will they do it all I hope somebody’s making a list!

Laneia: This is so dull. Are they making it dull so the strap-on sex will be DYNAMIC.
Riese: Yes, it’ll wake us up like a good dildo poke.

HEY SPEAKING OF.

Whitney:Tomorrow, I’m packing. When you lose, you’re getting it. I’m gonna strap it on. And the loser gets it.”
Tor: “I don’t care, I’m kicking your ass tomorrow. And then you’re gonna take it like a bitch. I’m gonna be doing the fucking around here. Let me tell ya.”
Whitney: “You are? You wanna top me?
Tor:Mmhmm.”
Whitney: “No you don’t.”

Riese: Tops and bottoms. so fascinating and untrodden.
Laneia: I just fell asleep and while I was asleep I went back to men.
Riese: I’ve just gone asexual chic.

But what will Whitney wear to paintball? She has no layers, only “stuff that looks good” which is debatable.

Laneia: SHE HAS NO LAYERS. She is unlike an onion. Or Shrek.
Riese: Tor is storing the puppy in her shirt.

Whitney: “Tor and I have been trying to work out our relationship, we’ve obviously hooked up before, not lately, but obviously we have a lot of tension that needs to be worked out.”

Standing Just Outside of What Your Pride Will Allow

Carly: Robin from the other room: “Whoever wins gets to WHAT?!” Robin is ashamed of the Real L Word and refuses to watch, making her much smarter than the rest of us.

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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3159 articles for us.

66 Comments

    • Yes! I appreciated that too.

      Still sad that they never finished the last few episodes of The L Word. Is there a petition I can sign somewhere?

      • i think they rode away on a unicorn and lived happily ever after :)

        these recaps are like the old kelka podcasts. i only watch the show to understand the recaps, which was obvs ways better than the show.

  1. After reading that RealityTv expert tips and tricks of showbiz ,I actually tuned in and watched this entire episode just to look for anything suspicious. /AS influences me.

    • Also did anybody do a word count of how many times they said the word “feelings” and how people don’t understand them, I feel like they said it atleast 20 times.

  2. I can’t get past the fact that in Mikey’s email the word entrance is spelled ENTTRANCE!! Wondering if she actually sent that out to guests is probably going to keep me up all night.

  3. every original graphic in this recap made me LOL SO FUCKING HARD that i had to cover my face, get up, drink some water, spit in a sink and REGROUP.

    i love you a lot.

    JESUS CHRIST, WORLD. TAYLOR MADE A DOODLE OF EDWARD CULLEN IN A STRAP-ON. THERE ARE NO WORDS.

  4. These recaps make me laugh so hard that I cry and maybe drool a little on my couch.

    GOOD THING I DID NOT SIGN A WAIVER. That would be awkward.

    • I laughed so hard I lost my computer on the floor and the battery fell out and I had to re-start it.

  5. also, THIS:

    “So now everytime I almost say “it’s not me,” that’s what I think about. It’s also what I think about when someone else says “it’s not me.” Clearly it is you, it was you. You just can’t fathom looking at that part of you. You never even learned how to look at it, you know?”

  6. did anyone else notice the lady in the painting in rose’s grandma’s house?

    the lady WITH HER BOOBS NAHGING OUT??

    is rose’s grandma a lesbian too?

    • I have it too!! Or at least I did. I had the misfortune of walking into it drunk. It never worked after that.
      R.I.P Lamp!

  7. umm. hahaha. this is how i survive the episode. i read and watch at the same time. if only there were real people on this show, with real lives, it would play out a lot like this recap. if. only.

  8. Thank you, again. I only had a really crappy amount of money left on my credit card but I still gave it you anyway. It might buy you like…a cookie? Or maybe 3 light bulbs for Nikki and Jill’s chandelier?

  9. riese when i make it big i’m gonna buy you a chandelier. just you wait girl.

    also i don’t even want to know that strapons exist anymore

  10. There is seriously no need for me to watch this awful show about lesbian fame whoring in LA because your recaps I’m guessing are like 100 million times more entertaining.

    Laneia: How do you win this game?
    Riese: You kill yourself.
    <3

  11. “Alyssa lays the smackdown about how it’s gross to share a bed with Tor, fuck her on it, roll around in creamed corn, get creamed corn all up in your fucking dreds, fuck another girl on the bed with the same strap-on, and then expect to take your nasty-ass creamed corn hair and your white trash tangy davy crockett pellet piece of shit hat back into your dingy matress with Tor, who should be CUDDLING, CUDDLING, with somebody… anybody. Else.”

    That was definitely one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

    This recap was aces! Full of despair and dread, just like my own personal viewing of this episode. I just kept thinking to myself, “I hope my mom doesn’t have Showtime anymore, or else I can never see her again.” This show is ruining all of our happy lesbian lives.

    • Agreed!
      Seriously that paragraph made me laugh so hard at my desk I had to feign coughing at the risk of making a scene. This has happened before.

  12. Does Whitney really think sleeping with Tor is some kind of thing to collect? I wonder if she just does this to posture for the cameras. When I slept with guys I avoided guys who treated women like this like the plague, sad state of affairs if she really thinks the way she treated Tor. Also if that dildo wasn’t washed in between Romi must have been hurting the next day. Condoms people, even for strap-ons.

  13. Harnesses are way harder to clean than dildos. (That is all I have to say about this show. But fabulous recap, as always!)

  14. last night i was at the bar chatting with a friend about this show and she was like, “omg that show it TERRIBLE. WHY IS IT SO TERRIBLE.”

    and i said, “bc of IFC.”

    and she goes, “who’s that?”

    and i said, –well, first i hung my head low bc i was like, oh man, if only i didn’t know who she was too. what i would give for that, or for her to stop ruining our lives/progress/etc.– so anyway, i said, “she is the creator of the L word. the real one. now think of every episode of TLW that you hated.”

    [she listed them quickly in her brain and then]

    “those episodes? the really bad ones. the facepalm episodes. there’s a good chance she wrote every single one of those.”

    and then this moment of clarity came over and she was all, “omg fuck her. fuck IFC. seriously.”

  15. I keep reading ‘IFC’ to mean the Independent Film Channel and it befuddles me because I like that channel. Then I get it’s Chaiken.

    So everyone has her as ‘effin’ Chaiken, correct? Unless her middle name starts with an F. F as in fail. Frigged it up.

  16. While I appreciated pretty much every single thing about this recap, I would like to dedicate my $10 donation to the “Tor-a The Explorer” graphic. That shit was HILARIOUS.

    Autostraddle works hard.

  17. I feel chunks rise in my throat at every screen shot of the creamed corn, so I had to scroll past it reallyreally fast, which was unfortunate because if they were Turkish Oil Wrestling, it could have been kind of hot. Even canola oil, since it was a white trash party, and maybe Turkish Oil is expensive? idk

    Also, I laughed out loud several times while reading this recap, which I never do. Thank you all for watching this so I don’t have to/and later admitsay that I did. Robin, I would stand in the kitchen with you girl.

  18. Riese I just wanted to say, great job with that exorcist picture. You must have learned a lot this week about photoshop, and opacity. It almost looks like her real head!

  19. One time I went to Vegas with some friends and we decided to see a Cirque du Soleil show and chose Zumanity, which is the adults only porn-ish one.

    There were naked midgets, topless clowns, oily contortionists, and some lady singing “sex is beautiful” while wearing some sort of vulva-zela on her head.

    It was horrifying and I was so turned off I didn’t want to have sex for like, a month.

    That strap-on scene was worse. Oh man. My vagina just packed her bags and ran away.

  20. EPIC recap for possibly the most painful hour of television ever. Also- thanks for all the kittens!

  21. I wish someone could force IFC to read your recaps. Just to teach Miss Teacher what it’s like to be creative…

    Thank you all for cracking me up EVERY time, because I really need a good laugh after watching this horrible show.

  22. thanks for recapping this horrendous episode and making me laugh so hard that the priest at the next table was looking at me like i was insane.

  23. so I clicked on the link and re-read the season 4 recap of the real, original, awesome L Word. it reminded how much I loved that show & how much it sucks that this is supposed to be a good replacement…

  24. “Tracy: I know I’m guess I’m very patient but I guess I just wanna include you in all of my life, not just 90% of it.”

    All I have to say is, if my girlfriend ever says I only account for 10% of her life, she’ll find me accounting for 0%, approximately 10 seconds after that.

  25. creamed corn wrestling!?! WTF? how? what? why?

    i can’t even form a sentence. watching them pour that crap in the pool made my stomach turn. who decided this made good tv? the infamous IFC, i presume? how is it possible with all the hours upon hours of footage they had that this made into the series? & how many lesbians roll around in creamed corn? that number has to be minuscule.

    • & the strap-on scene and and everything else. omg.

      ultimately, i just feel very sad. i wonder if that’s supposed to be the outcome of this ridiculous show.

  26. Did anyone else notice that there weren’t even paintballs coming out of the paintball guns? This bothered me more than anything else, it was completely fake. I mean, I know they had to set up the last two players, but they could have at least really shot at eachother right? Is my TV broken?

  27. I noticed too, it was completely underwhelming! And I thought Tor had already been eliminated?

  28. The *screenshots* of this episode burned my eyes out. The only good part was the glimpse of Romi’s boobs, but even that was tainted by the horrible strap-on sex and airing of said atrocities w/o Romi’s consent.

    IFC has tainted boobs for me. That has never, ever happened before.

  29. Haha, that Gold Eternity Dildo. I wondered who would ever buy such a ludicrous luxury sex toy. And you know what? It would totally be Nikki.

  30. Ummm…isn’t IFC reliving some of her L-word characters here Jill/Nikki a bit like Tina/Bette.Wouldn’t Whitney’s exploits be similar to a slightly more graphic and less likable Shane ? Where the hell is my fave character the nutty yet beautiful Jenny Schecter? I like Riese had to try to erase my memory of this episode.I used some silly T & S banter vids which seemed to help quite a lot.Until I read this recap.The next big question is who will IFC kill off.I think the whole cast would work for me.Except for Tor I kinda like her.

  31. You guys are hilarious. I have been fan of your recaps for years…!!

    Since the Real L Word premiered i have been wondering how low can Ilene Chaiken go this time. Now i know, VERY LOW!

    The last episode was embarassing even for a reality show.

    I know that these characters don’t represent anyone else but themselves, but still they make me feel uncomfortable as a gay person.

    I’m still wondering why some intelligent people agreed in the first place to take part in IC’s masterpiece.

    For instance, Tracy. I believe she had the honest intention to put herself out there so as to inspire young gay people and help the community etc. But really, what was she thinking? Didn’t she watch the L Word? She’s a TV producer for Christ sake. I hope her association with IC’s trashy reality won’t hurt her career. I suspect that her girlfriend had something to do with this. She wanted to promote her own acting career through Tracy.

    As for Nikki and Jill, i’m wondering if they have realized by now that they are presented as unbearably shallow.

  32. To perform the reading, RobinAlexis does a mashup combining the following: Natalie Portman’s manic pixie dance in Garden State, The Exorcist (later recalled by Tracy), Shark Week, Dolphin Sounds, the noise of children playing/crying in the back area of a Mormon Church service, Jenny’s mime/circus hallucinations, and Bette Midler’s “Oh Industry” from Beaches.
    – this would be my favorite part of the summary but it’s like making Sophie’s Choice because it’s always hilarious especially the “bump it” mikey and whoreface whitney comments and the unrelatability of chandelier shopping

  33. Donated 10 bucks. I probs should’ve given more, but hopefully if everyone gives 10, you can buy a sufficient amount of weed to get you through watching the rest of the season. That’s what I hope my money would be going toward, at least.

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