“The L Word” is back for its fifth season, bringing a fresh, stronger approach to the show and giving fans exactly what they love most: more lesbian drama.
This season, creator Ilene Chaiken brought on board guest directors, such as Jamie Babbit, director of “But I’m a Cheerleader,” to make every episode different and avoid any monotony in the presentation of the show.
So far, after five episodes , the characters are already knee-deep in their own daily dose of drama.
This season, women continue dating, break-ups happen, jobs are lost, friendships are called into question, even a case of arson and vandalism occurs.
So much drama, so little time.
Fans identifying as gay, straight and everywhere in between, tune in every week to get their weekly dose of “The L Word.”
Even moms have come to love the scandalous show full of lesbian loving.
The show is highly addicting because viewers become emotionally attached to the relationships and individual characters.
The show is loved by all viewers because it is inclusive, since it is about human connections and not just about being lesbian.
Everyone can relate, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity.
As for the lesbian community, there’s always a character to relate to on the show.
All characters have a unique back story, personality and identity in the lesbian community.
The one common characteristic shared by all characters is their incredibly good looks.
The only major downfall of the show is the unusually high turnover rate of characters.
Every season, new characters are introduced and by the next, one or two are gone.
Often times, their removal from the show goes annoyingly unanswered, leaving a giant loophole in the plot.
For example, Papi, a character introduced in the fourth season, just vanished in between the fourth and fifth seasons. It’s as if her character never existed.
It’s just odd that her best friend, Tasha, has not said a word about her all season.
Let’s hope the directors, writers and producers finally take notice and someone, will acknowledge Papi’s absence.
Despite this nuisance, the show is growing stronger and stronger as time progresses.
With the progress comes the unique blurriness between the show and reality. During the fourth season, a character named Alice (Leisha Hailey), began a social networking Web site for women in the queer community.
Within the first few episodes of that season, the web site was up and running on the real World Wide Web for women to visit and become members, just like the characters could do and would often refer to on the show.
The unprecedented Web site transcends the line between a fictional television show and the viewers in the real world.
Also, fan fiction has become a huge phenomenon of “The L Word.” Fans have written many works of fiction focusing on aspects not concentrated on in the show.
The third episode of the fifth season began with a hilarious “Charlie’s Angels” scene in which three characters, Alice, Shane and Helena, were armed with gay-dar guns.
The entire scene was written by a fan and later incorporated into the show.
Fans are able to submit their own versions of fan fiction through the web site Ourchart.com.
The high points of the show definitely outnumber the minute nuisances encountered throughout its entirety.
Watch this show! It’s a guarantee it will be a new favorite regardless of political affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity.
“The L Word” is presented on Showtime on Sundays at 9 pm.
