The Show

Having only been a casual watcher of The L Word, I was interested to see what it would be like to watch a fifth season DVD set. I had a basic understanding of the characters and a few of the storylines, but I didn’t follow it religiously by any means. What I wanted to find out was if a person, such as me, who doesn’t follow this show for every episode would be confused beyond comprehension, or actually be able to dive straight back into the show.

The answer may surprise you.

I found that this heartfelt drama about living the lesbian life in LA was easy enough to follow along for the casual viewer, but still contained enough continuing storylines to make it interesting for the fanatics.

I watched the first few episodes with my wife, who’d never watched the show before. She enjoyed it, and even though she didn’t know any of the characters, she was able to quickly identify what kind of people they had been and what they were likely to do. This type of thing is great for a TV show, because it means that new viewers can join in with minimal loss of understanding. Try and do that with a TV show like Lost or 24… not happening.

All your favorite characters are back in this season. Shane (Katherine Moennig) is still the resident player, breaking hearts everywhere she goes (as you’ll learn from the very first episode, maybe she’s finally gone too far). Jenny (Mia Kirshner) is back and her book is now being made into a movie. She’s become extremely self-centered and eccentric. She acts like a spoiled celebrity; it’s both annoying and funny.

One of the main storylines to begin the season is the movie being made out of Jenny’s book, Lez Girls. It’s an interesting dynamic being thrown into the mix. Is it a movie that will shed new light on the lesbian community? Or is it just a sexy Hollywood picture with plenty of girl-on-girl action? After asking those questions about the movie, it seems that you’re meant to ask those questions of The L Word itself. The movie is a commentary on the actual show, and how different people view the show from their own biased perspectives.