I can hardly believe that The L Word: Generation Q is back for yet another season! I am here to recap all 10 episodes of this season, from the highs and the lows to the hookups and the breakups. One of the best parts of this series is sharing it with others so feel free to discuss in the comments!
I’ve been a fan of The L Word since before I even came out. I watched the original series more times than is probably sane to admit, and I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this third season of the reboot! While season 2 wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped, I decided to chalk it all up to Covid limitations and keep my hopes high for this third season. I am cautious to admit that the first episode was just as incredible as I wanted it to be! It feels like we’re on the right track, and I am so excited to see how it all plays out. Let’s dive into the reboot!
The episode opens in the exact same place that we left off at the end of season two- with Tina showing up on Bette’s porch to ask one burning question: Are you in love with me? The answer is exactly what all of us fans were hoping for. Bette is in love with Tina, but Tina isn’t too happy to hear it. Bette doesn’t know how to love Tina, because if she did then she’d have supported Tina and Carrie being together. Carrie was so good for Tina! She is everything Bette isn’t!
Bette promises to make things right with Carrie, but in an exciting twist, Tina tells her that it doesn’t matter. She can’t be with Carrie anyways, because she’s in love with Bette. Tibette stans rise! We are getting our endgame (yet again) (rip season 6)! Jokes on us, though, because Tina angrily announces that she wishes Bette were better at loving her, and storms out of the house. We might not get our endgame yet, but we do get a signature Bette / Jennifer Beals “fuck” scream, which to be honest is almost just as satisfying.
We then flash to one year later, where we see Alice having sex with a very vocal Gen-Z man (rip Tom), Shane and Tess enjoying domestic anti-bliss as they take care of Tess’s live-in mother, and Dani and Gigi in bed making out,
Shane is doing her best to care for Tess’s mom and appears highly stressed. As we know from experience, Shane doesn’t do the best with relationships when things go even slightly awry, and I’m very nervous to see how this goes! The two are planning a MS fundraiser at Dana’s, and nothing is going smoothly. I loved Tess and Shane together for the first two seasons of the show, but for some reason I’m feeling a bit off-put by their relationship in this episode. Tess wants to have sex with Shane while her mother and the nurse are just upstairs, and Shane doesn’t seem that into it. At every turn, Tess is focused on having sex and moving things forward with giddy excitement without noticing Shane’s reticence at all. It just feels… weird.
Trouble is in the air for all of these couples, because the Dani and Gigi morning make-out session ends abruptly with Gigi needing to go get ready for work. Dani says that they should move in, and provides a heartfelt speech about how Gigi has been there for her through everything this past year. That’s all well and good, and Gigi would love to, but she has to talk to Nat first– because of the kids. Dani is clearly upset by this, understandably so. Dani has yet again got herself into a relationship where she is the only emotionally mature and available one!
It’s move-in day at the infamous California University, the only L Word canonical college. Alice and Shane are standing outside with a cart of Angie’s things as Alice talks about her last night’s hook-up and Shane tries not to fall asleep. Angie comes up to grab the cart in a nervous fit. As she walks back to the dorm, Alice narrates that Angie is nervous to see her moms. The only communication they’ve had is to schedule college tours, and with both Bette and Tina showing up for move-in day, things could get awkward.
And they do, but it’s not Tibette’s fault. Tina walks up and Alice is overly excited to see her. Our favorite besties Alice and Shane tell Tina all about the great self-improvement work that Bette has been doing. They clearly want them to get back together, and it’s adorable to watch them suggest that Bette deserves Tina taking her back. At that moment, Bette pulls up in a car and gets rear ended by a nervous college student. Rather than screaming at her (callback to the original L Word scene) Bette wraps her in a hug and suggests that she hold compassion for herself. This is nearly comedic growth; I love the writers going out of their way to show that Bette is a whole new, soft person. Tina’s into it, and that’s clearly what matters.
The whole crew finishes moving Angie into her dorm, and Angie pushes Tina and Bette out of the room before they can become even more awkward than they already are. As her moms walk down the hallway, Angie back out and gives them a hug goodbye. I love my gay family! It’s so cute! Angie is a good kid despite clearly not wanting her parents to exist in the same air bubble. Tina asks Bette if she’s going to the fundraiser, and when Bette confirms, she says that she’s going as well, despite telling Shane MINUTES EARLIER that she wasn’t going to be able to make it. A simp!
On the other side of the neighborhood, Sophie is freaking out because today is the day that Finley comes home for sober living. While they’ve been on a break for a while, they talked and are planning to be back together now that she’s back. The Finley-alcoholism plotline was one of the worst done of season 2, and my personal confusion remains strong for this third season. Has Finley been in that super expensive, Alice paid facility for the past year? Has she not seen a single one of her friends in that time? Is she really going to a bar on her first day back? Folks, I think the answer to all of these questions are yes, but the first two are open to some interpretation.
As Sophie reorganizes the house in case Finely wants her own room, Micah follows her around telling her that it’s going to be okay. Luckily, we get an end to this absolute panic on Soph’s part, because she finds a ring in one of their cabinets. Micah and Maribelle are going to get married! They’re honestly my OTP, the true best couple of the series (It truly shows how bad season 3 was that my favorite couple is a straight couple), and I cannot wait for their marriage.
My joy has to wait, because Finley is home and Sophie meets her with a hug, a kiss, and an announcement that Micah is going to propose. There’s so much awkwardness here I want to melt into the floor and die! Sophie and Finley head out to a park and chat. It’s pretty adorable, and it reminds me why people liked this couple to begin with. Finley reads an incredibly emotional letter she wrote to Sophie to make amends.
Apparently despite being in sober living for 1 year (and apparently speaking to Sophie, since she knows about her “crazy” roommate), she hasn’t yet made it through step 9 of the twelve step program. I’d assume that she wasn’t doing AA, opting for a less Christina-centric program, except later in the episode she quite literally goes to AA. Nonetheless, Sophie and Finley are cute together when they’re being happy together, and I truly want the best for this couple.
When I saw promos for this season, I honestly assumed the MS benefit was going to be an episode 6 thing. But it’s not! It’s happening right now less than halfway through episode 1! The writers clearly worked hard to get groups of people together in this episode, and I appreciate it. It’s so much more vibrant when everyone is hanging out together.
They’re at Dana’s for the benefit, and Tina finds out that Bette is friends with Pippa Pascale now. Bette apologized to her and they get along. Tina is obviously impressed. What I want to know is who sent out the cover-your-necks memo for the fundraiser? Bette, Tina and Alice are all wearing rather bizarre neck scarves / coverings, and I just think if they were going to do that they should have let Shane know as well!
While Finley makes amends with Shane and Tess and gets her job back at the bar despite being ONE YEAR SOBER, Maribelle makes it clear to Sophie that she hates Finley and doesn’t think the two of them are good for each other. Maribelle is right, but I hope that she can be proved wrong!
Throughout the night, Bette and Tina hang out 1 on 1, bonding and sharing adorable little life updates. Each time, Shane and Alice run over to each other to point it out. I love this friend group! Alice continues flirting with her poly/pan/queer Gen-Z boy from earlier (which is absurd, because I thought we covered that Alice doesn’t do poly relationships), and Finley continues her amends. She has been Venmoing Alice random amounts of money to refund the rehab money. She also wants to apologize to Dani, but Dani does not want to hear it. Now’s not a good time, and it never will be a good time. Dani understandably doesn’t think that Finley will ever value Dani’s opinion, and she starts screaming at her to leave her alone, drawing the attention of the entire bar. Tess sweeps in to break it up, and Finley (followed by Sophie) leave the bar.
Sophie wants to know what Dani said to Finley, but Finley doesn’t want to talk about it. Finley is taking far more responsibility than Sophie wants her to take, which is more than a little bit absurd. Sophie quite literally says “fuck her” which… I don’t think she really has a right to say! I’m not against Sophie/Finley being together but I do think Sophie needs to take a deep breath and recognize that Dani has a right to be mad.
Nonetheless, the cute couple frolics off to a basketball court and plays a rather public game of strip basketball, which Finely adorably loses. When they start making out, Sophie makes it clear she wants to have sex, but Finley can’t do it. She needs to go to a meeting. Sophie looks put out, and I yet again want to emphasize that I don’t think Sophie has what it takes to date an alcoholic! She takes her to a bar, wants her “first night back to be fun”, and then argues against Finley taking responsibility for her actions. It’s icky and Sophie remains my least favorite character.
Back at Dana’s, the hot makeup artist (played by Kehlani) starts flirting with Shane. She’s a fan from Shane’s haircutting days, and she even bought old Shane for Wax hair product off e-Bay. She asks Shane to “have a little fun” with her and style her hair. The flirty vibes are SO STRONG and Shane becomes powerless to refuse. In the world’s longest scene consisting of an eyes and mouth montage, Shane gives the Kehlani-character some suggestions for her hair, and then eventually leaves without doing anything to it. If Shane cheats on Tess I will cry.
Bette gets called up to the stage to auction off a piece of artwork from her private collection. She’s donating a piece of art from Bette and Tina’s old house in West Hollywood, and Tina is appalled. The bidding is starting at $500 and the piece is worth so much more! As the bidding slowly ticks upward, Tina panics and bids ten thousand dollars. This obviously delights both Bette and Tess, for very different reasons. Tina asks Bette if she wants to get out of there, and Bette says yes before she can even finish her sentence.
Alice is jealous of how “real” this non-relationship is between Bette and Tina, which inspires her to break up with her Gen-Z boy. Kehlani-character says goodnight to Shane on her way out, and Tess leads Shane out of the bar (which they own, at their event?) to show her a new piece of real estate that’s for sale. Tess wants to open a new business as a way of having another bar-child, but Shane doesn’t seem that into it. She’s overwhelmed enough as it is, but Tess thinks that buying a new bar will make their life together even better. I don’t think that’s how it works babe, but you do you!
Our journey through every chaotic L Word relationship continues with Angie and Jordie. Angie is thrilled to be alone with Jordie in a dorm room at college, but Jordie doesn’t feel the same way. She thinks that they should break up now that they’re going to college, and Angie is clearly upset. My heart breaks for little Ang! She was so happy to be with her girlfriend and Jordie just broke her heart!
As Angie bursts into tears, we get a clip of Finley sharing all of the night’s struggles with her AA group. Sad music plays, and a montage of voices and faces begins. In between clips of her speaking, Micah proposes to Maribelle and we find out that she doesn’t want to get married, she wants to have a baby. Both could be true, but I guess not! Alice ups her age range on her dating app and promptly swipes left on almost everyone, and Shane looks at her old Shane for Wax supplies while Tess seduces her into bed. Dani gets home and asks Gigi if she talked to Nat, and Gigi doesn’t reply right away. Finley shares that she feels like she has a real shot of making something of her life in the voiceover as she crawls into bed with Sophie, who receives a “u up” text that goes unread from someone named Dre.
We end the episode where we started: with Bette and Tina inside of Bette’s house. Bette shares that she went back to the silent meditation retreat (callback to the OG!) and ended up finding her mom to forgive her. The two women tear up and connect with each other. As their hands come together on the couch, Tina shifts and says that she should probably go. It’s incredibly clear that neither of them want her to leave, and as they stand up they stare into each other’s eyes and Bette takes Tina’s hand, raising it up to her lips and kissing it! We get a Bette and Tina kiss! Finally! I am screaming! I quite literally screamed!
And then Angie walks in.
She’s pissed, and the episode ends.
I loved this episode so much, and I cannot wait for the next one! So far, this season seems like it’s going to be a good one.
