Another L Word: Ludicrous
The most exciting thing in my middle-class, middle-aged, middle-of-a-seasonal-funk life these days has been Season 2 of The L Word. We are almost through with the season, with just one measly episode to go. Herewith, in List form, I bring you my notes:
1. Those of you who have Showtime and watched Season 2 as it came out: it is totally worth renting the third DVD anyway, just to watch the commentary on Episode 9, which is the one where they all go on an Olivia cruise. Leisha Hailey (Alice), Katherine Moennig (Shane), and whatsername who plays Dana do the commentary, and I swear they must've been drunk at the time. Or else up very, very late at night. They dish all kinds of dirt and laugh hysterically at everything each other says and make in-jokes and reveal quite pointedly how much they hate the opening song. It's like a cross between "Car Talk" and a late-night college bull session. My God, those women are funny.
2. Speaking of the opening song: RW and I hate it too. For anyone who's never seen this pinnacle of television brilliance (it is so, so, so, so NOT "Six Feet Under"): The opening song plays over a montage of the characters looking incredibly glam and L.A.-ish, while the band belts out "This is the way that we live....and looooooooove!" This never fails to crack us up.
3. Jenny, a/k/a The Most Irritating Character Ever Seen on Television, has basically worked out her sexual-identity issues and is on to other things. But just because she's not marrying and then dumping people does not mean she has become any less irksome; quite the contrary. Now she is exploring her Jewish heritage, which seems to consist entirely of waxing dramatic about the Holocaust and muttering Hebrew prayers under her breath as she assembles collages of family photos, her family consisting of stock sentimentalized Old-Fashioned-Jewish-looking people. Worst of all, every time she shows up these days she is accompanied by a mournful Klezmer-esque French horn, sort of like she's just wandered out of a production of Fiddler on the Roof in her tattered artsy $300 outfits. I find all this excruciating (and actually kind of offensive), and whenever Jenny and the musical score wax all Semitic I scream and clap my hands over my ears and duck under a blanket and beg RW to tell me when it's over.
4. Because the show is called "The L Word," every episode title starts with...an L. Subtle, no? Like, "Lap Dance"; "Late, Later, Latent"; "Loyal"; etc. etc. One night, punchy after watching two episodes in a row, RW and I started working up some titles for our own version of the show: the way that we live. We came up with: "Laundry," "Leftovers,""Lists," "Lazy," and "Lunch". And I just thought of another one: "Loopy."
And yet, we keep watching. It's addictive, in its trashy soap-y way. And now, thanks to that one brilliant commentary, I feel like Alice, Shane, and Dana are Laughing along with me.
1. Those of you who have Showtime and watched Season 2 as it came out: it is totally worth renting the third DVD anyway, just to watch the commentary on Episode 9, which is the one where they all go on an Olivia cruise. Leisha Hailey (Alice), Katherine Moennig (Shane), and whatsername who plays Dana do the commentary, and I swear they must've been drunk at the time. Or else up very, very late at night. They dish all kinds of dirt and laugh hysterically at everything each other says and make in-jokes and reveal quite pointedly how much they hate the opening song. It's like a cross between "Car Talk" and a late-night college bull session. My God, those women are funny.
2. Speaking of the opening song: RW and I hate it too. For anyone who's never seen this pinnacle of television brilliance (it is so, so, so, so NOT "Six Feet Under"): The opening song plays over a montage of the characters looking incredibly glam and L.A.-ish, while the band belts out "This is the way that we live....and looooooooove!" This never fails to crack us up.
3. Jenny, a/k/a The Most Irritating Character Ever Seen on Television, has basically worked out her sexual-identity issues and is on to other things. But just because she's not marrying and then dumping people does not mean she has become any less irksome; quite the contrary. Now she is exploring her Jewish heritage, which seems to consist entirely of waxing dramatic about the Holocaust and muttering Hebrew prayers under her breath as she assembles collages of family photos, her family consisting of stock sentimentalized Old-Fashioned-Jewish-looking people. Worst of all, every time she shows up these days she is accompanied by a mournful Klezmer-esque French horn, sort of like she's just wandered out of a production of Fiddler on the Roof in her tattered artsy $300 outfits. I find all this excruciating (and actually kind of offensive), and whenever Jenny and the musical score wax all Semitic I scream and clap my hands over my ears and duck under a blanket and beg RW to tell me when it's over.
4. Because the show is called "The L Word," every episode title starts with...an L. Subtle, no? Like, "Lap Dance"; "Late, Later, Latent"; "Loyal"; etc. etc. One night, punchy after watching two episodes in a row, RW and I started working up some titles for our own version of the show: the way that we live. We came up with: "Laundry," "Leftovers,""Lists," "Lazy," and "Lunch". And I just thought of another one: "Loopy."
And yet, we keep watching. It's addictive, in its trashy soap-y way. And now, thanks to that one brilliant commentary, I feel like Alice, Shane, and Dana are Laughing along with me.
posted by elswhere | 8:14 AM
7 Comments:
HATE the SONG!
HATE Jenny--you're right, she's even WORSE now, which I never thought possible and what's with the "I can't afford rent, but I wear a different designer outfit I mugged a runway model to steal EVERY day???"
HOW could Shane--the ONLY decent character on the whole show--forgive that video dude?
I mean, really, HOW????
Hate the show. Hate it! Watch it religiously.
L is for loyalty.
I hate Jenny too. She needs to check into the nearest looney bin and get written out of the script.
What drove me crazy this season was all her coats. Everyone else in the scene is wearing shorts and t-shirts - including the extras and she's bundled up like it's 20 degrees. Not just once, but numerous times. In LA no less. They really need some wardrobe consistency.
And then there is her bad Jewish hertiage exploration. She's all of 25 maybe, so she is generations removed from any immigrants.
Bad, bad character- bring back Mariana!
Guusje--If her grandmother was a refugee from the Holocaust, as Jenny seems to indicate in her trainwreck of a video "letter" to her mom, the dates could work out. And I guess the coats could be seen as some kind of weird fallout from her traumatic childhood sexual abuse that she's working out. But let these quibbles in NO WAY be seen as any kind of apologia for Jenny, for whom no excuses can be made.
Lilysea--That drove RW batty also! She kept moaning "How! How could Shane forgive him! She'd *never* forgive him!" And Jenny daring him to stay instead of just righteously kicking him out! Bleargh. But of course see above on Jenny.
But...Shane as the only decent character? What about Alice?
I like Alice, too.
And Jenny---hello, wasn't she originally written in as a U of Iowa Writer's Workshop grad? And now she's "finding her voice" ? whatever.
I get so addicted to any kind of TV series DVDs.
We are just now watching season 2. I love it and hate it at the same time. Jenny I could strangle with my bare hands. Someone who has cable told me Jenny got better. We have only seen disc one so far -- sounds like she gets worse. And whatever happens with the video guy -- haven't gotten to that one on the Netflix yet -- I'll just hold my hands over my ears, la la la...
And the opening song -- I am thankful I see it on DVD and can fast-forward.
And why did Marina's character get axed? I admit I like Shane -- I can't help myself. I like Alice too. And Dana. But Shane, ah Shane.
Why is this crappy show the only pop culture reference to my life? It sucks! I can't wait to see the next episode.
Enough L-word babbling from me. Time to Leave. Log-off.
We watched the episode 9 with the commentary today - you are right- it is hysterical. I wish they did commentary on some of the other episodes too.
We watched episode 12 with commentary yesterday. You are so right..take about a mutual admiration society. To quote Dorothy Thompson - "Constant Reader Throwed Up".
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