Hello and welcome to the fifth recap of the third season of The L Word Generation Q, brought to you by the same network that brought you the original L Word, a thrilling caper about a masc lesbian hairstylist who, over the course of a single afternoon’s gig at a lavish SoCal wedding venue, managed to have sexual relations with two bridesmaids and the mother of the bride while her best friend flitted about the festivities in an iconic and enduring garbage bag wedding dress.
Thank you for joining me here today for this L Word Generation Q Episode 305 Recap. This episode had some fun parts and some less fun parts and some confusing parts, just like the noted Jenny Schecter memoir “Some of My Parts.” It also took me a billion years to write for some reason, an effort that is likely not reflected in its quality. But most importantly NEXT WEEK IS GONNA BE THE MUSICAL EPISODE AND I AM SO EXCITED FOR IT!!!!!
Also for A+ members: me and Drew and Analyssa are doing a watch-a-long of this episode at 6pm PST today (Friday, December 16th) on Discord!
We open at Chez Alice, where our favorite fashionista is about to wear a $300 sweater and $600 pants to a cinema date with Shane, an event that will involve consuming buttery popcorn and soda pop in the dark. Unfortunately her beloved gal pal Taylor will not be attending because she has to work at her Liberated Coffee cart. Coffee doesn’t liberate itself, you know?
At the Shess Shack, Shane — who’s packing up Patty’s things for what I presume is a move to the nursing home — hangs up on Alice as Tess emerges from downstairs, deeply engaged with her portable mobile device. She’s uninterested in speaking to Shane or asking her any follow-up questions about what it was like to hook up with Kehlani.
But then, nature’s restless eye intervenes upon the stony silence simmering between these two lesbians! A rogue bumblebee begins darting about their kitchen and Shane is called upon by Tess to capture it. Amid this hubbub, we learn that the relationship has entered “Oh We’re Doing Bad Faith Assumptions Now” territory — Tess yells at Shane not to kill the bee (they’re endangered) and Shane’s offended Tess would assume she intended to kill the bee. (She doesn’t kill the bee)
Anyhow, bada bing bada boom they release the hectic insect into the great outdoors. Shane’s unclear why Tess was being so extra about the bee —
Shane: Are you alright? We survived.
Tess: [Sigh of relief]
Shane: Are you allergic? I’ve just — I’ve never seen you act like this.
Tess: I don’t know, maybe. [Pause, walks to the door, gestures at plants] Those plants need watering.
But unfortunately, Tess cannot open the sliding glass door that leads back into their home because it is locked. They are locked out with nary a cell phone between them! Tess yells for the neighbors — only Shane knows their names — to no avail, and Shane foolishly attempts to inspire their dog to learn basic motor skills and open the door.
Alright then, Tess sits down. You wanna talk? It’s time to talk.
Does anybody know what happened to the swimming pool that used to exist on Shane’s balcony estate patio (I don’t know the words for the parts of a rich person’s home)? Asking for a friend.
Cut to the hallowed halls of California University, and into a dormitory room, where Angie’s pondering an offer, via text message, from her grown adult professor, for them to “go away in a few weeks.” Hopefully he’s planning to book them a room at the St.Regis Hotel Toronto, so Bette and Tina can come over and smack him in the face.
Before Angie can confirm or deny her approval of this terrible idea, Bella arrives home: she slept with a boy who has a cute butt in his baseball pants and now Bella has a condom stuck inside her. Honestly I’m sad it wasn’t a 7-day old tampon.
We then venture back to FiSoMiMar’s, where Finley and Sophie are having The Talk about Sophie having sex with someone else! Sophie says she met Dre on Hinge, which she joined after Finley told her she was leaving rehab for Sober Living “up in the bay” and Sophie got lonely. When Finley asks if Dre is hot, Sophie says “no,” which is not only a lie but a risky one! Lesbianism is a niche activity and Finley works at a lesbian bar, there’s absolutely a 0% chance she’ll never meet Dre in real life!
Furthermore, Sophie says they only had sex once but hung out twice, which feels like a contradiction to Maribel referring to Dre as the person Sophie was “fucking,” actively. I’m curious why Sophie’s lying — to protect herself OR because you can lie about a fact to get at an emotional truth OR because she doesn’t know what else to do besides lie OR is this a misguided attempt to protect Finley’s sobriety? Regardless, I do like Sophie’s shirt and appreciate that she prepared a charcuterie board for the occasion.
We then cut out to some Los Angeles B-roll before returning to the very same location upon which our story last took place, FiSoMiMar’s, but with a new storyline to address on the first floor of their gorgeous villa: Micah told his Mom about Maribel and she’s totally cool with it!
Maribel suggests they celebrate, and Micah agrees: perhaps they could look for a sperm donor? Mari was gonna suggest “organizing the tupperware drawer” so, yes, this plan sounds even more exciting!
Micah: Maybe we could be wild and do both?
Maribel: Can we be in bed by 9?
Micah: Maybe uh…. maybe 8:30?
Maribel: What a dream!
Adorable!
We return to the Shess Shack Patio, where things are not going well. I’m going to just declare this a Lesbian Squabble for the record and then move forward with my recap.
Lesbian Squabble #9: I’m Like a Bird, I Always Fly Away
In the Ring: Shane vs. Tess
Content: [Ongoing]
Tess knew about Shane’s bad reputation but dated her anyways, and now wants to know if this is really who Shane is. Shane says she didn’t mean to hurt Tess, and Tess wants to know why she did it. Shane doesn’t know why, it’s just an old pattern, like calico or plaid. Tess suggests Shane take this Locked Out opportunity to think about her life and her choices.
Back at California University, Bella reveals that she puts in a tampon like she’s about to mount a wild horse and also she cannot get this condom out because everything is so slimy! Angie uses google to discover the possibility of a fix enabled by a hooking motion and Bella requests Angie’s hands-on assistance.
Meanwhile at the Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern, Dani is for some reason listening to a voicemail on speakerphone on a public street — and said voicemail reveals that sadly, our hot bad friend Roxy has caught the first airplane to Costa Rica. But as one love flies off into the sky, another appears: it’s Dre, here to save Dani from being plowed over by an errant scooter.
They stand there in the damp evening air, gazing into each other’s eyes, overwhelmed by the serendipity of it all and by how hot they are separately and potentially also together. Probably also Dani recognizes this actor, Carmen LoBue, from their appearance in the 2011 Autostraddle Calendar!
Dre is forward (yet another hot thing about Dre) — they say they feel like they should kiss Dani right now but they won’t ’cause it’s real life and not a rom-com. Luckily for all of us, Dani is actually feeling very romantic and comic today and she leans in for the kiss!
Meanwhile, just inside the Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern, Finley’s looking incredibly hot, feeling frisky, and is ready for some funny business in the backroom if Sophie wants to meet her there in, say, 15 minutes?
Then Dani arrives, flushed from her rom-com moment, exuding the unmistakable energy of a person who could’ve had her foot run over and instead got her heart plowed into, but in a hot way. Sophie loves this for Dani and so do I. Then they discuss their mutual affection for the classic 2001 romantic comedy,The Wedding Planner, starring Matthew McConaughey as a handsome pediatrician who saves Jennifer Lopez from a near-fatal collision with a runaway dumpster after her Gucci heel gets stuck in a pothole!
We return to Tupperware City. “Wow, we have a ton of options here,” Maribel says while looking at a website of sperm donors, which is the most unrealistic thing anybody has ever said on this show!
Unfortunately for all of us here, “finding a sperm donor and attempting to conceive without a partner who produces sperm” is now a process I am intimately familiar with and therefore I have about ten thousand questions about the representation of this situation vis a vis Micah and Maribel, but I will withhold them at this time so that I can get this recap published before sunset.
Meanwhile at the cinema, Alice has her two buckets of popcorn and is finding her seat in this mostly-empty movie theater set. Shane, of course, is nowhere to be found and isn’t answering Alice’s texts, which doesn’t alarm Alice quite as much as it ought to, because there are bigger fish to fry here: amongst the smattering of extras hired for this scene, Alice spots a familiar face she was not expecting to encounter: IT’S TAYLOR, CLEARLY ON A DATE!!!!
Shane and Tess’s dark night of the soul is continuing apace, and I really appreciate that they’re giving this conflict an entire episode to breathe, compared to the lightning-quick breakup we witnessed recently between Dani and our Sovereign Queen Gigi.
So, Shane is explaining that for her sex doesn’t really mean anything — it’s just sex. Tess asks if Shane’s proposing they do ethical non-monogamy and Shane’s like OH ABSOLUTELY NOT WHAT A WILD IDEA HAHAHA WHY WOULD YOU THINK SUCH A THING WOULD MAKE SENSE FOR ME
Tess asks if Shane’s a sex addict, because that’s a paradigm she can understand, navigate, perhaps naively thinks she could even fix. Shane says maybe, but also that it’s more than that. Everything has been a lot, she argues: it was great when Tess moved in, and got harder when her Mom came — which was Shane’s idea, it turns out — and yes Shane’s so glad she came and they were able to help her and she doesn’t regret that. But they also have Dana’s. And then. And then what happened? AND THEN SHE WANTED A SECOND BAR.
Somewhere along the line, Shane feels like Tess stopped seeing her. “I’m not trying to blame you,” says Shane. “I’m just trying to explain this. There was a disconnect.”
“Yes, okay, yes,” Tess concedes. “It’s been hard. But do you know what I did when I started feeling like it was too much? I wrote in my fucking journal, Shane.”
Back at The Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern, Dani’s still aglow thinking of her potential future, which includes a hot girl autumn and organizing Fletcher’s album release party. But then she and Sophie’s attention is re-directed to the stage, ’cause it’s open mic night and Dre is opening up on the mic with a cover of Sam Smith and Normani’s “Dancing with a Stranger.”
Dani’s like … OMG it’s them!
And Sophie is like… OMG it’s them.
Isn’t being gay fun?
Sophie rushes into the back to inform Finley of the awkward situation that is currently taking place, namely that Finley is finding out 2-3 weeks earlier than I expected she would that Dre is, in fact, hot. But Finley thinks Sophie’s back there for that pre-planned hookup. Oops!
Finley and Sophie start making out but it’s intercut with so much else — Sophie’s memories of hooking up with Dre…
Dre singing in the present moment on the stage of the illustrious Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern….
…Dani about to come in her pants at the bar…
Sophie can’t ground herself in this moment with Finley, not with her ex-something providing the soundtrack to their hookup, not so hot on the heels of them finally closing the book on this topic. She calls it off and Finley backs up. She says it’s okay, they don’t have to do anything Sophie doesn’t want to do. (I do love these subtle nods to proper consent that the show does sometimes!) But it’s not that, of course: Dre is here.
Finley freezes, panics, dies inside and then decides to PULL THE FIRE ALARM.
Back at the Shess Shack, Tess is asking Shane for apparently the first time in their 17-month relationship if she has ever been to therapy and somehow, after all of these years — after foster care AND addiction AND chronic housing instability AND having a photograph of her in that transcendent lace-up leather vest from the pilot episode publicly available on a number of major image-hosting platforms AND having an illicit relationship with a hot society wife who wore garter belts to haircut appointments AND then losing Dana and then leaving Carmen at the altar and crashing someone else’s BMW into a highway overpass after a bananas bender and then being forced by Molly’s Mom to rudely dump Molly and then betraying Jenny with Nikki on the balustrade of Yamashiro and then dating Jenny and then having Jenny’s entire personality change and then having Jenny literally drop dead while they were in a fight and then going through a divorce with Quiara… Shane has still, after all of that, not been to therapy!
Shane says she’d be open to therapy if she thinks it’d help and you know what, I don’t think it’d hurt! Tess knows Shane’s been through so much, but everybody’s been through so much and it doesn’t make them hurt each other like Shane does.
Shane says she’s taking responsibility for her flaws by not denying that she cheated — but Tess says you have to take responsibility all the time, not just after having fucked up. Taking responsibility for the things you do that hurt the people you love isn’t just apologizing for those things, it’s trying not to do those things at all.
Tess wants Shane to change but doesn’t think Shane can change unless Shane also wants to change, so basically this is like that song that goes change will do you good that’s always playing in GapKids.
I also want Shane to change, or evolve, or grow, or something, and I can’t find my footing in these breakup convos — so much of it well-done and all of it is so well-acted and does feel different from past Shane, she feels more present and more mature. But it keeps stopping short of something richer to dig into.
Back at the Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern, Finley’s feelings are on fire and therefore the entire room must be evacuated. Sophie wants to talk — she didn’t know Dre was gonna be here! But Finley is all business: ma’am I am going to need you to evacuate the building for your own safety I am sorry for the inconvenience but please depart the premises.
Outside on the mean streets surrounding this lone lesbian Memorial Tavern, patrons mill about in confusion — except Dre, who knows precisely what they want for their evening: taking a trip to pound town with their pre-destined love, Dani. Their adrenaline is COURSING with ENERGY from their first-ever live performance in a venue outside of Ohio. But Dani refuses the invite, saying she can’t sleep with someone who slept with her ex ’cause she’s “not into being anyone’s second choice.” This is confusing ’cause Dre did not say Dani was their second choice and also Dani and Dre are both hot and they need to get it together.
But Dani gives Dre her number in case Dre ever needs a publicist for the career they just launched at open mic night, a debut so incredible the entire building caught on fire!
“Okay, I see you, DANI,” Dre says in the funniest way possible as Dani and Sophie drive off into the deep night and I pray that Dre will return and have a romance with Dani because that’s what the people need.
Back in the scandalized dormitory of California University, Bella’s got her legs spread and Angie’s going in. It is at this point that we learn that Angie never explored Jodi’s interior ’cause even though they dated for two years they never “felt ready” for sex. This is… surprising!
I love these friendship moments with Angie and Bella until they take a turn into Hendrix Fitz (h/t to Mina) territory. Angie reveals that he asked her to “go away with him” which I guess makes Angie think it’s time to bang-bang-bang and she’s not sure how sex starts. Bella describes sex with young cis men as a fumbling, excruciating and not particularly exciting experience, which doesn’t deter Angie one bit. Bella explains that Angie will have to tell the boy what she wants, but Angie doesn’t know what she wants. I want her to call Alice and Shane!!!
Great news, Angie gets the condom out!!!
We then take a group field trip back to the cinema, where Alice has decided the best way to handle Taylor’s unfortunate presence in this scene is to have a loud argument with her in the theater.
Lesbian Squabble #10: The Last Picture Show
In the Ring: Alice vs. Taylor
Content: Taylor acknowledges she’s at fault for lying about being at work, but not for being on a date — aren’t her and Alice just dating? Dating each other, and dating other people? Alice didn’t know that they weren’t exclusive? Taylor thought Alice was dating other people too!
Taylor: Alice, it’s not an excuse, it’s jut a fact. I like you, but I also like my regular life, and those two things don’t naturally go together because we just live in different worlds.
Alice says she’s normal and she has normal friends, but Taylor insists Alice is very not normal and simply doesn’t realize how not normal she is. Alice thinks Taylor’s looking for things to be wrong ’cause this is really right but Taylor wants to go slow and didn’t know how to tell her that.
Alice: “Well, this way sucked.”
Man in movie theater: “For all of us.”
Taylor’s sorry for lying to Alice and Alice is sorry too and before making her ultimate exit, she turns to the entire theater and yells “by the way, he dies at the end!!!!” I guess this means they’re watching A Dog’s Purpose.
Who Wins? The girl who is on a date with Taylor and also us because this was fun
We return to FiSoMiMar’s, where Maribel and Micah have reached a logical conclusion: they should find a donor who’s like Micah. Some of Micah’s attributes, like being Chinese-American, can be searched for, but others, like his anxiety, are harder to search for.
Micah: “I just wish we could make a baby that’s part of you and part of me.”
Maribel: “Cis hets can just get drunk and do this on accident, but we have to self-reflect.”
Micah: “Oh, cis hets definitely need to be doing some self-reflection too.”
This is the gay and/or spermless and/or eggless couple conception experience in a nutshell: cis-hets just CREATE BABIES without even MEANING TO and they can do it FOR FREE and we have to be super intentional about EVERYTHING. That’s why I liked to choose sperm donors whimsically because I felt like it was the best way to recreate traditional procreation. ANYHOW that hasn’t worked for me thus far, but I wish these two all the best and remain very confused about their process!
We’ve now reached the part of the breakup conversation where they couple is mourning what was and what could be and what one person thought they might become together and how different this was supposed to be than everything who came before. Tess never thought long-term really, ’cause her Mom always made big plans that didn’t pan out, and Shane never thought long-term because she’s Shane.
But with Shane, Tess let herself imagine them getting old together — and I’m really craving some detail here, some specific vision of the future that’d enable us to understand their relationship a little better too. But I guess none of that matters, now, anyhow:
Tess: “But it can’t happen unless you really try to figure out why it is you do what you do. Because if you don’t, we’re just gonna end up right back here and I just can’t do this again, it’s just too painful, do you understand that?”
Shane: “I’m not happy, Tess.”
Tess collapses in tears. Shane holds her and Tess wants to get off this ride! Girl get out of there it’s okay Space Mountain isn’t for everyone there is a tilt-o-whirl out there with your name on it!!!! Just ask Jenny!
Meanwhile in the land of sweet summer children who have yet to experience adult heartbreak, Angie and Bella are vibrator shopping because Gen Z is EMPOWERED.
Well, I’m excited for these two to receive their matching vibrators. Hopefully Angie will fall in love with her vibrator and not want to go to La Jolla with Hendrix Fitz after all.
Back at the Shess Shack of Sadness, Tess and Shane are staring into the middle distance, waiting for Godot, but instead it’s Finley who arrives, like a prince on a white horse but in a white sweater-vest, here to save the day! Tess screams and hugs her and Shane drops some perfunctory gratitude and says, “I’m gonna get my stuff and I’m gonna take the dog.”
“That’s just it, you’re just gonna go?” Tess asks.
“Yeah,” Shane says, cold as ice. “I don’t know what else to do, Tess. I can’t keep hurting you so I think this is for the best.”
Tess slides into Finley’s arms.
I felt like we saw some growth with Shane earlier but the way this scene ends feels kinda familiar: Shane withdrawing emotionally and moving to cut ties after using cheating as a getaway car, walking off like she always did before. Back then, I think that behavior was rooted in her (self-perpetuating) conviction that literally everybody was better off without her, that she was doing them a favor by walking out. (She was wrong, but.) Now she’s 42 years old, she’s built a hairstyling empire and had a whole-ass marriage that seemingly would’ve lasted if they’d been on the same page about parenting.
So I think I’m wanting something huge and different here, and hopefully we’ll get it in future episodes! For example: a) Shane and Tess agreeing to try non-monogamy. b) Shane having a complete mental breakdown that she can’t believe she’s here again — not one where she just goes on a bender and fucks an ex or does something unsustainably dramatic like swearing off sex, but the kind where you are taking inventory and soberly sobbing in your friends’ arms and actually signing up for therapy and developing a reasonable plan to change your life. c) Shane revealing something unexpected in this conversation that might surprise Tess and the audience, like admitting that she actually fell out of love a long time ago, but she stuck around ’cause she felt obligated to help her Mom and they co-owned Dana’s and she was determined not to repeat old patterns by walking out on her responsibilities, which unfortunately led to her doing something else equally harmful. Or something even more shocking, like that Molly reached out a few weeks ago and they’ve been texting and it brought up a lot of old feelings for Shane and that combined with Ivy made her realize this isn’t working anymore. And then Molly could come back and that’d be fun!
Micah and Maribel have finally filled out their very specific desires on this sperm bank website and surprise! Zero results.
Because I am mentally unwell, I replicated their search on the California Cryobank website and although “interests” is not actually something you can search for, I did input their identical requirements for race, education level and areas of study and found two (2) donors. Huge selection!
We return to California University where inspirational house band music plays in the background as Angie takes the unfortunate step of agreeing to go on a weekend trip with her professor! This is like when I was 18 and went on a weekend trip to France and Switzerland with my 27-year-old boyfriend, except probably her professor won’t buy a sword at a flea market and insist they eat at McDonald’s for lunch and dinner.
Back at Chez Alice, Alice is reading Margaret Cho’s book but her mind is restless so she switches gears and attempts a little snooze.
But barely has she laid her head upon her pillow when her phone begins to buzz, which is a throwback to earlier when there was a bee buzzing in Shess’ kitchen.
We return to the Shess Shack where Finley apologizes for shutting the bar down early and also for what they might owe the fire department but it was either that or drink, so!
“I’m talking because I felt like whatever happened out there was bad and I wanna make it better but I don’t know how to,” Finley admits, nervously. Tess looks at Finley and Finley looks back and they pause and remember the world and decide to go to a meeting.
In a previously undisclosed courtyard of some sort at FiSoMiMar’s, Sophie’s got ice cream and popcorn and Dani and the realization that what happened tonight was so very gay.
Then Sophie reveals an additional detail about her weekend with Dre that I don’t think she communicated very clearly to Finley: “We had the best weekend together. It was like it was in a different life for me or something.”
Sophie tells Dani she should go for it with Dre if she wants to, but Dani says she wouldn’t do that to Sophie ’cause she’s “loyal like a dog” to her ex-fiancee who cheated on her with their mutual friend who then interrupted their wedding to announce her love for Sophie in front of all their friends and family. Dani, if you won’t date your ex’s exes you are going to die alone! Loyalty will get you nowhere in this town!
Sophie and Dani decide there’s only one place to go from here: watching the director’s cut of The Wedding Planner. I love the exes-to-enemies-to-friends pipeline!
We then return to Chez Alice, where Shane and her dog have cuddled up into Alice’s bed and it’s super cute and Shane’s found one small source of solace in this forlorn evening: the now-viral video of Alice yelling in the movie theater.
“Do you ever think that maybe this not right thing has more to do with you?” Shane asks about their relationships because for her at least it does seem to have a lot to do with her.
“Nah,” Alice says, and I love this for her.
“Well look at us,” Alice says. Two sad, hot lesbians in a bed! And then she asks Shane, “you wanna be the little spoon?”
“Nobody’s ever asked me that before,” Shane says, like maybe this could be the root of something bigger. “Yeah, I wanna be the little spoon.”
And so Alice and Shane and the dog join together like spoons in a drawer on sale at West Elm.
L Word Generation Q 305 Recap Round-Up:
Lesbian Squabbles: 2 this episode, 10 total
Lesbian Sexy Moments: 0 this episode, 4 total
Quote of the Week:
Dani: I’ll have a tequila rocks. Nothing cheap.
Finley: No, I know bud. I’ve been to your house.
Comments
When are TiBette returning. Not sure about how the ratings are going with the absence of their new romance but I’m missing them
i think they come back episode 9
EP9/10 will be when Jennifer Beals returns, undoubtedly with Laurel in tow.
The ratings on IMDB don’t look good
From what I can gather, the Tibette Stan’s have been purposely rating them low so wouldn’t take those into account too strongly
Yeah I’m not sure what is accomplished with that — if these favorite characters aren’t on the show then nobody else should be allowed to have the show?
I feel like the producers and network are definitely aware that people want bette back and they don’t need negative IMDb rankings to prove it. But maybe there’s stuff I don’t understand
also, I’m genuinely confused why Tibette fans wouldn’t be over the moon! They got the endgame they wanted, no?
ratings are sooooooooooo very bad like lower than 150 that they wont get posted apart from episode 1 which is posted on http://www.geektown.com or u can try neilsen ratings, i cant see it getting better until episode 9 when tibette return engaged i hope and then they marry in ep 10
I hope they don’t come back. I’m tired of our fandom being held hostage by the endless whines of Bette & Tina stans.
everytime i think this show cannot get worse and the next episode must be better than the last….it gets worse!!!! it’s so poorly written. this show clings to monogamy like the US clings to Christianity. just like, drop it! non-monogamy exists and would save all these relationships! also, why do the writers not want to give the audience even one single healthy relationship????? weird af. the writing is awful and i feel sad that i consistently think that the original l word was so much better than this show and that this show is just wasting our undying support.
Couldn’t agree less. Non-monogamy is rarely ever the answer. There are so few non-monogamous relationships that are actually mutual. They are almost always a manipulation by one partner to get what they want at the other partner’s expense. And frankly this show has dabbled in non-monogamy enough. I’d much prefer deeper character development and less knee-jerk inclusions of niche concepts that don’t feel reflective of the lesbian community. Rather than slap a lazy solve like “non-monogamy” on the situation, I’d MUCH rather see the show do deeper character development.
The writing though has always been a 4/10 on this new iteration of the show though. Unfortunately it falls in the style-trap of all new shows right now (Sex Lies of College Girls, Shrill, being other examples) where it feels really derivative, like Girls but watered down. Hell the intro card is actually a full rip off of Girls. It’s SO worried about being something to everyone and making no missteps on inclusion that the writing takes a back seat. It’s all diluted. That’s what you’re feeling in this show. It lacks any depth because they’re focused on the wrong thing. Honestly the cult quality of the show and the fact that we as lesbians don’t have many other options for content is one of the only reasons viewership holds on.
Not to root against the show—I’d actually love nothing more than to see them succeed and grow—but it’s just the truth of the matter.
I spend my life shouting HOW HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF NON-MONOGAMY at the TV haha, but I guess if they had then they’d be a lot less drama! Glad I’m not the only one!
the original show also had a lot of drama related to cheating. but yes it was definitely better and had more depth despite that.
Exhibit 1) Haven’t finished the episode yet but CAN WE APPLAUD TESS! Because, although they were sort of forced into talking by being locked on the patio, Tess is asking the hard questions even if she’ll get answers she either won’t like or fully understand. Tess isn’t just walking away. This is the kind of conversation Shane should have had YEARS ago.
Exhibit 2) Riese, do you know that Leisha and Kate are aware of these recaps and absolutely love them? And if you didn’t know, now you do and because I brought it to your attention, if you wish to bring Leisha and Kate to my attention, I suppose I’d be alright with that. If you wanted to. If you need my contact details, I mean, you can have them. Riese? Hello?
yes! i wrote about my shout-out on the pants podcast in the recap for episode 303, after listening to it, because it basically made my year / life /etc!!!!
First and foremost, a moment to appreciate how insanely and inordinately hot Finley has been the last two episodes. Ooooof! Yes please, more of that.
Second, I find it exceptionally hard to believe that Shane of all people wouldn’t immediately hop over the railing and down-climb along the house in under a minute to enter through another door. And frankly, I wish she would have, because I personally can’t stand Tess and I hated nearly every minute of this episode-long patio fight. Great acting from Kate, and, as usual, the fakest seeming acting from Jaime. It always feels like she’s a person pretending to act. It makes me viscerally uncomfortable and second hand embarrassed. Maybe it’s the way they’ve written the character, but I can’t with Tess or Jaime. Sorry and also not at all sorry. That point aside, and before I rile up the Jaime Clayton stans, I just don’t buy why Shane is the bad guy here. It seems apparent Tess has been absent from the relationship all season, if not all of the last year? Not to mention, to your point Riese, this is a messy relationship where business and livelihoods and partnership are all intertwined. And Tess basically forced Shane out of some sort of obligation to the relationship into taking on a second bar/financial calamity that she didn’t want and (rightfully) expressed was a bad idea. It’s essentially when one half of a couple convinces the other half to have a baby as a Hail Mary to save the relationship. And Tess was entirely the manipulative girlfriend in this case. Sorry, but it all adds up to Tess being a pretty terrible partner, in more ways than one. Shane should have walked out a while ago. I’m looking forward to a Shane in therapy arc, so long as they detach her from Tess. Also yes, Lolol how has Shane not been to therapy yet? Mind boggling. How is she capable of emotion at all at this point?! Incredible.
And finally, I might be in the minority here, but I would LOVE to see Alice and Shane move super slowly into a best-friends-cross-over-into-the-best-relationship-that-was-always-right-under-your-nose-thing. Key word being SLOWLY. Like, happens in season 4, slowly. The closing scene with the little Shane spoon melted my heart. I want that, all the time. More of that.
And more of Dre, please, however it maybe come. So long as it doesn’t impact Sinley. Or actually, honestly, I’m a massive Sinley-shipper, but hot sober Finley deserves a partner that is all in on Finley and treats her with incredible kindness and affection. I feel like Finley has earned a person like that. She gives and gives and just gets shit on all day. But I digress.
The writing is so awful this season. There’s no story anywhere. So incredibly boring, jointless, and pointless. So sad. I was looking forward to enjoying another season. At this point, I’m thinking the show is just trying to get cancelled. Boo!
Your recaps are so funny Riese! I love reading them. I had gastro today and felt rubbish – this was the first thing to bring a smile to my dial (yes it should have been my 3 year old son but he’s hard work 😂). Anyway I agree that Tess hasn’t been portrayed to be emotionally available for Shane for quite a long time. Her pattern is cheating when she’s already checked out if the relationship. So if she wants therapy that’s what she needs to learn – how to say this isn’t work for me anymore, rather than burning it down in flames. I loved your recap of all the crazy mental things Shane has been through on the series – it’s so funny and totally over the top ! I’m really enjoying the writing in this season actually I think it’s so much better than the last few. It was great to see Max and any Rosie O Donnell cameo I’m a fan of! Have Bette and Tina more or less left the show now? I’m confused with that storyline. I still wish Max had said to Shane when they met “so who do you think killed Jenny?’ 🤦🏼♀️ Thanks again for the wonderful recaps 🪷❤️
thank you so much chitti it makes me happy to know my recap provided comfort through your gastro.
and yes! shane does need to learn in therapy to say a relationship isn’t working for her anymore instead of just burning it down!
i agree that shane would do some climbing or someone would just break the door — because i’m not sure what their long-term plan was? like was there anybody they were expecting to come over and let them out at any point and also i’d think tess would want to be near her phone in case her mom needed anything. BUT I’ll allow it, suspension of disbelief for dramatic tension etc. although sometimes i do wish i didn’t have to do that so much, although that’s true of a lot of shows.
tess was definitely manipulative about the bar! i feel like this happens in a lot of shane’s relationships, where like she does have some genuine concerns about how the relationship is going for her but instead of addressing them, she cheats, and then she becomes the problem. maybe she’s more comfortable being the problem and pushing someone away in that manner than she is in confronting what’s not working for her?
I think she’s done this in every relationship?
except maybe with Qiara, but even then, she basically agreed to do something major she didn’t want to do
Super funny recap as usual, Riese. Hope you’re in a COVID-free household at this point, too.
I’m not going to complain about this episode. It’s the tail end of Sag season, it’s the end of the year, my lower back hurts–not going to waste the energy. But I am going to point out that Angie’s relationship with her too-old cishet boyfriend is already more developed to viewers than her nearly two-year relationship with her ex-girlfriend. I’m not saying they should have shown any sex scenes with minors, but there were so many cute relationship milestones we didn’t get to experience and that sucks.
yes finally we are all done having covid! it took my girlfriend like 2.5 weeks to test negative however so it was rough going for some time!
and yeah i don’t need to see sex scenes with minors but it is really sad that it was so underdeveloped! I mean, there was limited screen time for everybody obviously but i still feel like we don’t really know a lot about who angie is, what her likes and dislikes and dreams are, as she’s mostly been reacting to her parents’ current and former positions. jordan is just such a good actress that she gives Angie so much charm no matter what, which i think carries us through, but we’d love more of her and less of this teacher man.
1. Why is this happening to Angie. Why are we following this. Why was her 2-year queer relationship mostly celibate but we saw no discussion with her moms or aunties about how she feels about that/sex/pacing/pressures?? It seems kind of weird to make Angie into a sexual character only when in a het relationship and turn her lengthy queer relationship into a platonic romantic thing? Would have been happy if her relationship with Jordi explored things like asexuality, mismatched desires, anxiety, sexual pressure on teens, whatever! but to have her have her only having her first conversations about her own sexual likes, masturbation, etc two years through a queer relationship with her seemingly-straight friend seems… unlikely and playing into the trope of viewing young queer relationships as “actually they’re just platonic besties who hold hands.”
2. Justice for Finley! It really seemed to go unexplored in this episode that many of her fears (which seemed irrational at the time) in the last episode were lowkey validated in this one … especially with Sophie ultimately being pretty dishonest about how she felt about Dre. I feel like Finley consistently has some of the most reasonable and ultimately healthiest ways of coping with things on this show, and yet continues to be treated as though she’s totally irrational. Also, I HATE that the show is sort of maybe implying we are gonna have a Dani/Sophie reprise?? Please God no.
3. The Micah/Maribel baby stuff is just killing me. As a queer person currently in deep talks w/ my partner about some of these very issues, it’s grating to see the show not actually get into any of the very real considerations. The fact that the original show really showed us the traumas of second-parent adoption in the early/mid 2000s w/ that social worker visit episode and now we are here in Micah/Maribel land where that doesn’t seem to be a consideration hits weirdly. Also are we going to continue acting like “disability representation” = never talking about or acknowledging disability and the ways that convos about reproductive health, caregiving, etc Might be informed by/intertwined with disability?? Will we never learn why Maribel doesn’t want to get married?? Ugh for this whole storyline.
YES! I keep wondering that too. Literally the biggest, or at least second biggest discussion after “how do we acquire a baby as two sperm-less humans is how are we going to care for this child, logistically. Not only is Micah being thrust into parenthood at 28, a bit reluctantly, he’s also realistically going to be carrying a lot of the burden of child care. Especially in the early years. Glossing over all of that isn’t inclusion, it’s confusion. Not to be like, a curmudgeon, but sometimes I wish the show had taken a simpler route with the characters in order to tell richer stories. When your characters require a lot of time and care in explaining unusual experiences, you need to build a series that allows for that time. This series has not done that. And frankly you could never do that in an ensemble cast situation.
I spent hours doing research and figuring out how to write about this in the recap but didn’t trust myself to do it properly and ultimately just decided not to. But — yeah, this!
“Also are we going to continue acting like “disability representation” = never talking about or acknowledging disability and the ways that convos about reproductive health, caregiving, etc Might be informed by/intertwined with disability??”
where I got caught up was that I think their first step here would’ve been a doctor’s appointment, not sperm-surfing online. The doctor would’ve had specific recommendations about how to make this pregnancy successful for them and as healthy for Maribel as possible. And like, that’s so interesting! We really don’t see a lot of representation of this in tv. And would be great to witness from the POV of a couple who are pursuing pregnancy from a non-ableist perspective.
When they obscure these stories it feels like they are stigmatizing marginalized identities in a new way — “every way the world is different for this character because of this identity is oppressive and therefore airing it is exploitative.” Like, not every identity-rooted experience is traumatic, just ’cause it’s not “normal” doesn’t mean it’s horrifying or even unusual. ultimately, all bodies are different, a parent over 40 would also start with a doctors appointment because there are different considerations there, too. And IDK, even the parts that are about social stigma, or medical stigma, that’s real too, and worth showing. But also would take care to be done properly. It wouldn’t feel like that character’s entire story was about their identity if the rest of their story was written more fully. A lot of couples can relate to one partner or the other having different stuff they can and can’t do as parents based on various mental and physical health diagnoses. Let’s talk about that stuff on our gay tv show! We contain multitudes!
I feel like they do this with a lot of identities.
My goodness, yes!!!!
Yes to all of this! I’d love to get a disabled queer person’s take on Maribel’s whole character, because while this show’s rep is certainly better than most, it still feels about 15-20 years behind the curve with the way it simply refuses to acknowledge her disability at all. It’s like when white writers approach race with “I don’t see color.” We have evolved past this! Normalizing something doesn’t mean pretending it doesn’t exist, it means recognizing that “normal” looks different for everybody. The writers aren’t afraid to show Micah approaching pregnancy differently than a cis man would, so why are they so afraid to show Maribel approaching it differently than an abled woman? There was a real opportunity here to dig into issues like ableism in healthcare and the trauma, lack of literature and resources for disabled mothers, our complicated relationship with our own bodies, etc. Like what disabled viewer is going to relate to a character that seemingly never has to take their disability into account, like at all?
Also I’m not nearly educated enough to explain why lol but it feels very reckless the way they just threw “eugenics” out there.
As a disabled queer person who uses a wheelchair (who has not seen this episode yet, full disclosure) I have a lot of issues with Maribel and Micah but honestly the representation of her disability is not one of them. Disability representation is currently where queer representation was when I was a baby queer – everything used to focus on how hard it was to be queer, how it made everything harder, faced social ostracism etc. All the lesbians died and nobody had a happy ending. Everything nowadays about disabled people is in a similar vein, and don’t get me wrong, both are important – but for a lot of disabled people, becoming a mother isn’t any more complicated than for a non-disabled person except for the discrimination you face, and those stories are never, ever, ever told. Disabled people having an awful time makes much better TV I guess! So while I think for example a brief storyline about a doctor thinking Maribel shouldn’t have a child because she’s disabled and them finding a better doctor wouldn’t go amiss, I’m actually really enjoying that the focus is on Maribel as a person rather than her disability. It reflects most of the disabled people I know much better: non-disabled people want to focus on our disability, but actually for many of us it doesn’t affect our lives very much. Plus I’m gobsmacked that they haven’t completely fucked up disabled representation tbh as they don’t have a great record with anything else 🤣
Tl;dr Maribel’s story definitely reflects some disabled people’s experiences and having a variety of disabled people’s experiences shown is good
Thank you for this perspective, when you frame it that way I can see how it’s a relief they’re not making it a struggle story actually! We got the transmasc version of that with Max and everyone hated that. 🥴 I imagine there’s a way to at least address ableism without making the story ABOUT ableism, but I also do not trust this show to thread that needle lol, so maybe it’s better they don’t even try.
Also lol I see now I had a typo, meant to say “and the trauma that comes WITH it, but that just further proves your point! Trauma stories are exhausting, even when done well
That eugenics bit was so wild, as was putting it in the mouth of Maribel. I want to think that the writers were trying to showcase that it’s not uncommon to have instinctual feelings about how you want your child to look, but that it’s a pretty weird/potentially harmful mindset to actually act on.
I also think that they wanted to drop in a “clever” nod to the og series, since Tina once very openly told her biracial partner that she didn’t want a Black donor for the child she’d be carrying because the baby might not look like her and Bette, like Micah, had to gently tap the brakes and remind Tina that they were going halfsies on baby Pickle and Bette’s half was half Black.
But unfortunately it feels like the show has developed a broader habit of choosing the “safest” mouthpiece to make a joke or statement that even flirts with being offensive. Like having Sophie and Dani suggest that JLO being a Latina playing Italian was out of pocket, when the og series of this show has two famously hot but also hurtful examples of non-Latinas playing Latina characters. They’re not putting that opinion in the mouths of Finley or Tess or Alice, ya know?
Dani’s wife (love the name btw!) – Yeah it’s quite an interesting discussion topic & you’ve summed it up super well with your trauma stories comment I think! In an ideal world it would definitely be more nuanced but I suspect they’re pretty incapable of that. In a weird way I think they’ve actually made her quite radical in that her disability is very normalised and not necessarily much of a barrier – I loved the scene last episode (?) of her sister helping her to transfer to the couch without even asking and it was totally normal! That’s much more relatable to me (my close friends and family do exactly the same) than assuming that she has to have different medical treatment for pregnancy etc because she’s disabled. Some of us do, some of us don’t – my disability wouldn’t affect any hypothetical pregnancy, for example, though obviously I don’t know about Mirabel’s!
I do actually wonder if the actor had a bit of a role in it as she’s telling such a different story to the normal non-disabled assumption that our lives must be really restricted and everything must be really hard for us. Not perfect, but certainly better than the pity figures most media makes us, in the same way that until fairly recently it would have been pretty radical to see a pair of lesbians getting married and having no drama and a nice life on TV. If you’re interested, look up the social theory of disability!
Though with her mean streak I would LOVE to see her chew out some people shouting ableist things at her or talking to Micah instead of her!
Just had another thought – Gen Q doesn’t generally tell many trauma stories. I can’t remember any homophobic abuse or discrimination or super awful families (though there was some in the original if I remember correctly? It’s been a long time) so it makes sense that they treat Maribel the same way. I think for me and for many people being disabled is a lot like being queer (in my privileged country) in that I rarely think about being either except occasionally when people are weird about it (or when I read things on the internet haha). Showing disabled people just having lives shouldn’t be radical in 2022, but it sadly is, even if accidentally!
Yes, this so much. I’m so glad commenters raised this and it’s been a conversation thread here. This whole storyline feels a bit out of left field, so then to not actually grapple with the specificity of these characters’ lived experience and what it would mean for them to get pregnant and raise a child together feels both false but also seems like a huge missed opportunity, no?
Also, the fact that they thought the process would “be fun” should have been our first cue that this IS fully a utopian alternate reality!
Dear lord. Not a musical! Whyyyyyy?!!? Do not bring back those apeshit plays or dreams or whatever Jenny’s addled brain was conjuring up!! Hard pass. No. Only Dickinson can pull this off and that’s because it was 400x more well written.
They can’t write a normal episode of television with any success, let’s not embark on a weird theme for no reason! How is this show still on Showtime?! It’s really taking on a CBS Network tv kind of vibe. I mean even the sex is more PG than ever.
And did Jordi pulling a condom out of her roommates vag feel like something a man wrote to anyone else? There are so many other ways to solve that issue that aren’t the beginning of a really off-putting porn.
Agreed the whole part with the condom was super weird. I really thought they were going to have them hook up after. I’m glad Angie and her roommate acted like friends after that but I have no clue what the writers were thinking when they put that in
Micha and Maribel were cute in this episode. Can we stick with this version of them for a little while?
Before Finley pulled the fire alarm for a hot second I thought she was going go all Dani Nunez style and start throwing the fruit on the counter at Dre and I was like Noooo! Don’t do it! Then she pulled the fire alarm and I was like… well, that was a choice.
My heart broke a little for Finley when she called Sophie Ma’am. I don’t know why, but the way JT delivered that line just made me want to hug Finley. It reminded me of early s1 Finley when she was freaking out over the hot priest. I wish Rebecca would come back. She was the best.
Did anyone else feel like there was a weird moment between Finley and Tess after Finley said she didn’t know how to help Tess? For a second I thought they were going to hook up or something and once again I was like Noooo! don’t do it!! And then Tess was like “Lets go to a meeting!” so I was like whew, misread that one … and then there was another weird pause between them. Was it weird direction or was their weird tension between them? Or did I misread it?
And I don’t know what was said in that last scene between Alice and Shane because all I could pay attention to was the adorable sleeping dog. Poor pupper had a long day staring out the window at his helpless humans.
I thought the same thing!!! But my spouse was like noooo.
I also thought Finley was gonna throw the fruit! Lol and same for the finley/tess vibes. I’m glad they didn’t go there. The ma’am really got me as well. Kudos to JT
JT is such a good actor! Have always felt that way but it’s really standing out in every ep this season for some reason
I do hope we see hot priest Rebecca again one day. Even just in a quick scene or two. I like Sophie and Finley together, but I really liked that Rebecca seemed to have a more realistic understanding of Finley’s pain and her struggles.
Like it absolutely works for me that Sophie is the one person that Finley can have sober sex with without feeling psychological trauma, but I like that Rebecca actually saw the gradual harm that alcohol and self-loathing were having on Finley in S1. That progression made way more sense to me than Sophie suddenly being afraid of Finley’s wild side while also feeding into it constantly in S2.
I loved the role Rebecca closed out s1 with – of being a spiritual mentor to Finley. That worked better for me, bc their romantic relationship had always seemed a bit unbalanced previously. Would love to see her return in that capacity!
They could also give some of those qualities to Sophie, that she’s definitely had before – like being able to gently get people to open up. Weird that essentially hasn’t come out at all on Finley’s sober journey
Just chiming in to agree with both of you, Mina and Em. I feel like Rebecca, like Finley and Carrie and Angie (and sometimes Micah when he’s given more to work with) and even MAX in that brief cameo register more as “real” people. I’d love to see Rebecca and Finley’s lives intersect again (not romantically), and you’re completely right Mina that Rebecca’s handling of Finley vs. Sophie’s felt way more organic, consistent, and even loving (if wrenching).
The dog was absolutely the star of this episode
I mentioned this on the A+ discord watch along, but am I one of the few who remembers that Tess and Finely DID sleep together, in an ill-advised (and very drunken) (but unfortunately still very hot) hook-up in season 1?
I also clocked that tension between them, that pause and the meaningful gaze, but I didn’t read it as the beginning of a dalliance, but rather a kind of recognition that in the past they might have assuaged their different but simultaneously hurting hearts with drinking and/or hooking up – basically using one another as a diversion (as they did previously, when Tess was devastated about Shane sleeping with her gf, and Finely was torn up about Rebecca) – but by instead going to a meeting together it’s like they are both recommitting to sobriety, to working through and articulating their feelings, facing hard things directly, etc.
I really prefer your read on Finley and Tess over my knee-jerk reaction that those two might be about to hook up, caitrw. Their hookup feels like a full lifetime ago, but, even if it was hot, it was the culmination of each othem being upset and drunk trying to escape discomfort as quickly as possible. I like the idea that they’re both aware of how easy that escape was, and now intentionally committing themselves to pushing forward through the hard stuff.
Maybe I’m giving them (or the writers) too much credit. But I’m hoping it was intended as a small signal of change and self-awareness for both Finley and Tess.
I didn’t pick up any sexual vibes between Finley and Tess either! I feel like honestly Tess would simply never go for Finley… also she’s Finley’s sponsor (according to our interview with Jacqueline) and i think that’s very against the AA rules!
Alice and…Shane?!
Tess and Finley?!
I actually…love to see it.
Sophie is no longer excited by Finley, and isn’t old or mature enough for that not to be a dealbreaker I think. She’s caught up on the fantasy of escapism with Dre, because ultimately she is craving something a more wild than newly sober Finley can offer. She isn’t invested in Finley’s sobriety.
Tess and Finley could actually be there for each other! And speaking of things the show ignores, tess and Finley and Dre and Sophie aren’t coping with the difficulty of dating outside your own race. Sophie strikes me as someone who would ultimately care that her partner reflected her. Finley ain’t it.
Yeah I’m not sure what they’re doing with Sophie and Finley – I can’t tell if Sophie is actually not into Finley anymore, or if she just meant Finley’s sobriety stuff is stressful and it’s nice to have a break.
I hope they work through it, I want to see Sophie stop running when things get tough, and for Finley to have a sturdy partner to support her
I sincerely hope Tess/Finley is only a friendship of sobriety. They don’t have a thing in common otherwise, and if the show goes down a relationship route there, I will simply stop watching. Tess, the sobriety story line, is such a drag on the show. I could go the rest of the season without hearing about “gOiNg tO a mEeTiNg” again. Let’s let sobriety = a happy and rich life, ideally in the absence of problematic AA, not a constant worry of “oof I hope I don’t drink again as the result of any minor crisis and ruin my whole life.” It’s such a TIRED story. I have the whole series of Love to watch if I want to see that story again.
I also agree Finley needs a winning arc for once. She’s the chilliest, nicest, most realistic character (overlooking the insanity of last season) on this show. If they built more of the show around her and the season 1 dynamic of the Gen q crew, it would be more relatable. But sometimes I feel like when they venture too far into the land of Alice being famous or Dani/Gigi/Bette being ungodly wealthy for no apparent reason, I lose the thread. But when Dani is in the Finley/Sophie world, the show really shines. The writing feels like real life.
I also have to say, poor Micah has been really reduced as a character too by this parenting arc. I hope they back out of that over time and allow him to have a more robust existence.
I see some sparks and light in this show for sure, I know it’s in there, but sometimes they can’t seem to get out of their own way. They get a little too hung up on throwing darts at the board of easy plots (pregnancy, sobriety, cheating, sex addiction, car crashes). I’m just craving some nuance.
i feel like black people can only date other black people is kind of going backwards from the idea of diversity that this show is so into
The thing is the show “idea” of diversity is divorced from real life. Most Black people date other Black people just like most white people date other white people.
I don’t trust this show to handle the topic of interracial dating and the difficulties *some* people of color experience internally and sometimes externally when they do date outside their race with care so I’m fine that they don’t touch it. Either do it right or don’t do it at all.
I also don’t know where they are headed with the Sophie/Finley dynamic, but I’m so glad that it has been given these episodes to breathe and unfold. So often this show rushes these relationship tensions in ways that feel artificial, frankly not very interesting, and often do a disservice to the characters/narrative/world-building (Dani and Gigi’s blink-and-you-miss-it breakup conversation).
I liked the intimacy of Alice and Shane, but I didn’t read it as necessarily teasing romance. It reminds me of the Tegan and Sara dancing scene between Sophie and Finley in season 1 (although I guess that’s not a great example, as it did lead to a romantic relationship) –– for the way that it depicted the charge, the vulnerability, physical and emotional intimacy, depth, history, etc. that is possible in friendships, perhaps especially between queer people. It’s something we don’t see very often in media, and I for one hope they keep Alice and Shane strictly platonic, but also allow their friendship to be a space where they can both be seen, and cared for, and held (literally, in this case!).
Yeah I was gonna compare it to the Shane/Jenny intimacy but then realized that also led to eventual coupledom! But I feel like Alice and Shane are just sooo platonic bc also they’ve been friends for like 20 years, I feel like the friends-to-lovers pipeline happens in the first 2-3 years or not at all?
So many good points. Yes.
This is so fascinating bc I did not pick up any vibes from Alice/Shane or Tess/Finely, but it seems like a lot of other people did! i feel like shane and alice are just physically intimate friends?
and yes, agree with this so hard: ” speaking of things the show ignores, tess and Finley and Dre and Sophie aren’t coping with the difficulty of dating outside your own race. “
Hopping back in to say that I feel like Gen Q has me by the neck, the writing is so choppy and I feel like my attitude towards the characters and their various rlships swings wildly from week to week. It makes for fun watching in the same way that like, scrolling IG is fun, but it isn’t fun in the way that reading a rly good novel or watching a well scripted show is. I have been rly invested in Sinley at various points because something about their friendship turned romance felt incredibly relatable to me personally. But, much like in my own life, now that the initial excitement has worn off, and S and F have to face each other as they people they really are and figure out if life together is sustainable, I begin to remember why sometimes your best friend just really is meant to be your best friend. Even if you love them and also are deeply attracted to them.
This episode was confusing on so many levels – I of course would like more details / clarity about the Dre situation as Sinley are my priority. I also assumed Sophie was lying but then what she said to Dani at the end really did make it seem like they were not regularly hooking up? I’m confused! Also, if they did only hook up once why is Finley freaking out! Would also love some insight into her inner world at this juncture!
And Dani being “loyal as a dog” about Dre was sooo mind boggling. I know they’re trying to be all Aw Saint Dani is moral and righteous, but like there’s nothing to be loyal about? Sophie and Dre didn’t even really date, and even if they did, it’s a moot point now bc Sophie is fully in a relationship with someone else! And Dre didn’t even seem to remember them hooking up! And that’s not even considering the bigger point of issues of real loyalty, like say providing your partner with emotional support, Dani actually struggles with!
And, someone you’ve never met before having hooked up with someone else in the past does not make you a second choice!
I have several other questions, like what were Alice and Taylor fighting about bc it changed like 3 times, did Micah also tell his mom about having a kid on the phone, why is this Angie storyline happening instead of anything else, have we forgotten Shane has been fully married and was open and all seemed good, but the Sophie/Dani/Finley/Dre stuff was most egregious to me
One thing i will say is with the slight hint to Finley/Tess, and Finley and Dani kissing in a dream in a promo for next week, it does seem things are gonna continue to get messy and that’s fun
Yeah Dani’s “loyal as a dog” when it came to Dre didn’t make a lot of sense to me in that scene. I mean, has she seen Alice’s chart… the whole underlying concept that the show is based on? Lesbian culture is a very connected community. If you’re vowing to never sleep with any of your friends past hookups, you’re basically declaring celibacy. Bless her heart if she ever considers Shane a good friend lol.
However, after thinking about it, maybe Sophie has been discussing Dre to Dani more extensively than we’ve seen. Dani did already know about the Sophie and Dre situation, so maybe she knows Sophie has some unresolved feelings there and doesn’t want to get involved with something messy again. That I can respect. However, that sounds very non-TLW brand.
Oh that’s a good point, didn’t think about how Sophie had been talking about Dre to Dani, so she didn’t want to get into the mess.
Honestly, I support her avoiding the mess if she so chooses, but she should’ve said that, not blanketed it under “loyalty,” especially bc even as a Sinley fan I can admit Sophie doesn’t have a leg to stand on there lmao.
Also I wish Sophie had been talking to me about Dre as well bc I’m so confused!!
Yeah, that’s the only thing that would make sense, specially the wording of ‘I wouldn’t do that to you’. Seems very specific as in she knows there’s a situation there.
The worst about the show is that it’s come to a point you cannot trust that the thing that makes sense is the thing they are going with, lol
Even if they’d talked about it before I still,….. can’t understand Dani being too loyal to Sophie to date Dre. Obvs I’m team sinley and love Sophie and Finley but Dani owes Sophie exactly nothing!
Yeah, that loyalty like a dog comment rubbed me the wrong way. I also don’t understand this sense of loyalty to someone who cheated on you. I’m also super confused with how comfortable Dani and Sophie are being around each other, particularly Dani’s comfort. Couldn’t be me. Cheating isn’t something I can so easily forgive, especially if it involved a super expensive wedding and a HUGE audience.
I also didn’t get Dani’s jump to being a “second choice.”
I’m going to skip the next episode because a musical makes zero sense for this show. Seems like one of those filler shows.
If they take me on a Shane/Alice rollercoaster I don’t know how to feel about that
And Shane just said what she needed to say. “I’m not happy.” I wish she could say that more before cheating but it’s better than staying to make Tess feel better
Even bettter would be actually TELLING her partner that she’s not feeling good about the relationship anymore so that they could have a chance to work on it. Instead she puts Tess through this torturous cheating and grueling conversation to the point that Tess is honestly saying she’s willing to forgive if Shane will put in the work, and Shane’s response then is to leave her immediately. This one ranked as #2 in Shane’s all-time crappiest relationship destructions, just unnecessarily cruel.
If you get caught cheating and you know the cheating is because you want out, lead with that! That whole discussion felt like it was either some sort of power play so that she could get make herself feel better and be the one who leaves and isn’t left, or (as Riese suggested) a panic-jump upon the realization that this woman IS willing to work through this.
now that dan foxworthy isn’t the only therapist in LA, maybe shane could book herself in for an appointment with nat and learn more about ethical non-monogamy and how it can manifest in wonderful things like in episode 104!
in all seriousness though, i think s3 is the best so far of gen q because of the (re)focus on the new characters and (lukewarm take) the shift away from bettina.
i could also be wrong here, but is this season the first depiction of unrequited (as of right now) love between best friends (roxy and dani)??? i know we had friends to lovers with shenny (!!!) and dana and alice, but those were both requited, pretty much from the start. unrequited best friend situations are like a foundation of gay culture, and i’m so so happy they’re finally doing it!
so fricken happy that these recaps exist, so tysm. and crossing all my fingers for s4.
Sophie and Finley were technically an unrequited situation, I think you could say. With Finley saying all the stuff of “I’ve always loved you,” and their lesbian yearning at the end of season one
I’m also very much here for this shift in focus. In the first couple of seasons, we’d go multiple eps without seeing some characters and their stories would stall out because of it, but now, for better or for worse, everybody’s able to move along more evenly.
I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that there’s very little pining in this show, at least not for more than a couple eps, and I’d love a little more unrequited love leading to polite rejections that spur hoe phases with the express intention of getting over someone. Feels like a fun way to inject more sex into the season and with the potential of the original love interest’s feelings evolving and the pining starting all over from the other side.
That’s essentially the sexier version of the heart of most sitcom slowburns, and I’m surprised at how badly this show prefers immediate committed monogamy between people with even a little spark that then has to devolve into cheating.
do you think the lack of pining has to do with the series *attempting* to create a lesbian utopia (using this term very loosely) of sorts? what with everyone, everywhere being gay? when i think ‘pining storyline’ i usually think straight best friend, so perhaps that just didn’t seem possible (or necessary) with everyone being gay? either way, i’m SO thrilled by the dani/roxy potential for a pining/unrequited/eventually requited situation, and i realllyyyy hope they go for slow burn/hoe phase/feelings returned the way you’re saying!
the way s1 started with the throuple had me hoping for some ENM, and we were certainly led astray by that, but i’ll be crossing my fingers!!
I feel like the lack of pining is actually why I never got too invested in the couples of the OG, or most of the couples in Gen Q. I like the lesbian utopia, meet one other lesbian and immediately fall in love, but it also doesn’t have the payoff of when couples have more build up. To bring up Sinley again, I feel like there’s was an example of pining in a lesbian utopia – but of course its very messy when marriage and engagements and such come into play!
I don’t necessarily think that everyone being gay prevents pining, I think it’s more that the show keeps insisting that almost everyone wants the exact same thing. Everyone’s gay, but everyone’s also only attracted to people who then immediately want them back, and almost all of them immediately shift into talking about long-term monogamy.
Taylor informing Alice that dating can be casual felt so exciting in the context of the show to me, even though it’s very normal irl, because most characters don’t do it.
I really don’t know if it’s the writer’s trying to appease the fan base when certain pairings get really popular by rarely entertaining them opening up their relationships, but I actually think the og series was more open to incongruity between characters, like Alice being hung up on Gabby Deveaux, or Papi chasing after Kit’s affections, or Helena loving Dylan while Dylan…was Dylan.
Even beyond making a good slowburn romance, and/or spurring a hoe phase, there is really watchable drama that comes out of rejection, and it’s a shame that Gen Q isn’t interested in showing that even amongst a group of wildly attractive lesbians, there will be people who don’t want to be with each other. Being rejected or having to reject someone and then still exist in community with them is well of untapped gay potential in lots of ways.
I think about this a lot, I feel like people want their favorite ships to just be together and happy all the time, but they’re really underestimating the fun that can come with some dramuh!
This is such an interesting observation, re: the lack of pining! I guess with these abbreviated seasons (8-10 episodes instead of 12-14) there’s less room for a pine but this is so very true:
“Being rejected or having to reject someone and then still exist in community with them is well of untapped gay potential in lots of ways.”
Yeah it’s honestly so extremely consistently a part of our lives and communities but rarely explored in this show!
I feel like these storylines do *eventually* end in a romance in television, even if they’ve spent years being unrequited…. which I guess is a slow burn? But god it’s so rewarding when someone gets the person they’ve been pining for after years of unrequited love… I guess viewers start to grow attached to a potential couple bc they identify with the piner and the piner’s conviction that these two people would be great together.
I feel like the show is fun again!!! I loved seeing Dani smile and get swept into a romcom moment! Glad to see some growth in Shane and Tess for saying the truth!! I heard that the actor who plays Roxy is having a recurring role in season 3, so hopefully we’ll see this character back soon! Fingers crossed.
Dre is hot! I want a Dre in a healthy relationship with Dani. Fingers crossed that can happen but with many of the writing choices on this show, I’m not holding my breath.
The pool was on a patio outside a bedroom.
These recaps are good food for thought. Thank you!
I’m very proud for Hendrix Fitz to catch on and I’m also hoping he follows the trajectory of book Fitz, who experiences consequences for his actions. I’m pointedly rejecting this grown up man offering to take Angie away for the weekend as though she wouldn’t need to use an emergency credit card in her mom’s name to pay her way.
Mostly, I had lots of fun with this ep and with the discord chat, but I think that Shane and Alice and Mack the dog cuddling was one of my favorite parts, and maybe Shane is still an incredibly emotionally stunted person who desperately needs therapy, but her telling Alice that nobody’s ever asked her to be the little spoon was really sweet. It felt a little like Dani saying people never wanted to hold her when she was sad, and I hope speaking it aloud breaks the curse for Shane like it did for Dani.
Shane’s not a kid, but I appreciate even this slow growth for a character who always swallows down her own discomfort and unhappiness until eats at her. Shane learning to communicate feels like a public service to every queer woman in a 20 mile radius.
I liked Taylor insisting that casually dating is legal and fun, and I hope more characters than Dani give that a try. I know Alice is on the whole long-term partner hunt now, but she has historically dated the most interesting people and had the most fun, and I want to watch these characters have more fun.
I loved Dre’s intro, and their meet cute with Dani. I don’t quite get why Dani’s loyalty to Sophie translates to not going out with Dre, but I do think it tracks that Dani decides Dre should be off-limits and then just tells them she won’t be pursuing them romantically. She’s rigid in a way that most of the other characters aren’t, and I think that makes her choices make sense to me in a way that sometimes Micah’s or Sophie’s don’t.
The eugenics thing between Maribel and Micah was weird, but probably not weirder than Maribel still not thinking she should try therapy. I want Micah to have more screentime but I also am not at all invested in this storyline. Max’s presence was a last gasp of enthusiasm for me.
I want Micah to be a dad at some point, but does he even have a savings account? He seems very responsible, but he’s been a therapist for like 2 years and was a grad student before that, right? I know everyone but Finley is somehow wealthy, but raise a kid in LA wealthy? It doesn’t matter I suppose, but I would love to have frivolous thoughts about Micah and Maribel one day.
Related to wanting the characters to have more fun (especially Alice, in this case! and why not Dani – no need necessarily to skip Drew for Sophie’s benefit, right?), I too very much feel this –– and it also feels like in the real world there is a lot more casual dating happening than this show often depicts –– BUT I also feel like dating is somewhat at odds with the show’s expressly stated (and tbh I find rather boring) season tagline of “WHO IS THE ONE?”
obviously should have said Dre, but I’m guessing Drew Burnett Gregory would also not spurn Dani, at least this-episode-energy Dani.
Anyone else think they were nodding to Carmen & Papi when Sophie say’s how it was problematic when they had JLo playing Italian in that movie. Then Dani replies, pretty much everything in the 2000s was problematic. I sure did as the show had two women with Central Asia(Iran & India) heritage playing Latina.
That was my thought as well, @needlesandpin.
Am I the only one that thinks that it’s kind of weird that there are not significantly more characters that are Mexican Am or even El Salvadoran? I don’t know any Chileans (Dani) or Dominicans (Sophie, Maribel) in LA. Carmen obviously shouldn’t have been played by a Persian (as much as I could never imagine anyone in that role but Sarah Shahi), but at least she seems like someone I would routinely run into here. The Persian rep in this show at least seems authentic. Is there even one clearly Jewish character? In LA?! Oh Jenny… I’m not even Jewish and I can say a show in LA would have an identifiably (Gigi? Carrie? Cherie?)Jewish character based on the women I’ve dated.
Yes! Which I felt was weird and unnecessary- there has been plenty of (important) direct discord and comments about how this is why they are not bringing Carmen back. Why not use this precious time for some story development ?
I would literally hurl myself over the railing rather then get stuck in that conversation on the balcony.
I was really well acted, but it never went as deep as it needed to, this show literally refuses to ever have a real conversation.
100%. That was agony to watch.
Also, what a silly premise. If you’re terrified of a bee, you don’t go OUT onto the balcony with it! You stay inside while your cheating partner goes out there to release it! You celebrate the bee’s outdoors-ness by immediately shutting the door between you and the bee! I was so distracted by this, even though it’s a standard TV device, it just looked so awkward.
this is so correct
Why isn’t any media/entertainment reporting asking what happened with Gigi/Sepi Moafi? After 3 episodes without the 3 most popular characters (Bette/Tina/Gigi) the ratings have completely gone down.
How can a showrunner duck what the fan base wants to know? How could lose a well-loved character and actress?
Funny, since the entertainment quality of the show have gone up dramatically since they excised Bette & Tina.
*has
I agree. I don’t need to see anymore of Bette and Tina will they won’t they. Let Bette and Tina be happy offscreen.
i know… i wish we knew but we don’t
Watching television gives me anxiety. I literally just read these Riese… so no pressure but my entire knowledge of Generation Q (literally since S1) is from you. Also v v v nervous about Shane v Alice. I h8 it 🤧
Does the Sinley scene not count towards the Lesbian Sexy Moment tally? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the intimate sex scene between them I’ve been waiting for all season (and Dre audible in the background, lol) but still.
i did think about it but i felt like it BARELY got started, like it was only a few seconds long and nobody’s clothing was removed, but it is debate-able for sure! in general sex scenes that start and then someone is like “i don’t want to do this” idkkkk
fair points! certainly nothing like s1 e8
Also for you L Word trivia nerds the painting above Alice’s bed is by an LA artist Nick McPhail. I almost bought one of his works and now I wish I did! My favorite gallery Ochi Projects represents him. His stuff is reasonably priced considering what the average painting in that bracket is and he has some small works and drawings at his studio that he sells too if you need a holiday present
https://nickmcphail.com/
Sophie’s McConaughey impression is on point!!
One fun(?) thing that I did forget about w/r/t Alice’s concept of dating is that last season she hooked up with Tom, spent some time with him, then hooked up with Nat, and Tom’s feelings were hurt because he’d assumed that he and Alice were dating exclusively. He was admittedly less funny about that particular reveal than Alice though. I’m really slacking as the one Tom fan.
this is a VERY GOOD POINT mina
here to say that looking for sperm donors online IS weird and there should be a service that just picks one from a grab-bag for you!!!!
Yes sometimes I actually want *less* information than is being offered to me
Are we not talking about Tess’s total refusal to acknowledge what Shane is saying? Yes she shouldnt have cheated and yes Shane definitely needs to work on her communication skills, but when she tries to talk to Tess she just blows off Shane with “I can’t with this back and forth” and not taking any responsibility for her own shitty behavior. What is that?! Tess has been not great to Shane for a while and we’re all just yelling about Shane?
So, have we not gotten around to how Finley confessed in S1 that she’d never had sex with a woman without being drunk? And how her internalized shame (that she’s never dealt with that we have seen) is clearly going to affect her sex going forth. But instead of discussing that, it’s easier to put Sophie and Finley’s problems in the bedroom on Sophie stepping out while Finley was out of town? (Which – maybe not the move, even if strictly legal.)
I was thinking this the whole ep! Does Finley being down to have sex right after they talked about Dre mean that was really the whole issue for her? Because that 1) is not interesting to me as all the other reasons she could be having intimacy issues, and 2) also doesn’t really make sense bc she initially didn’t want to have sex in episode one, before She even knew Sophie had slept with someone when she was in rehab
I was really hoping they’d dig into this, but now I’m afraid they’re just going to forget about it.
I think we did see Sophie and Finley have sex sober tho — it was never articulated but it was something viewers picked up on; their first time was at work both sober for example