“Jesus Christ, it’s like South Beach threw up in here.” — Shane McCutcheon at Dawn Denbo’s Shebar
We’ve gone full meta! In season five, we enjoy the movie version of the book version of the television series The L Word (yes, you read that correctly)—because we’ve reached the point in this series where nothing makes sense! We hit the set of Lez Girls, where Jenny has reached peak diva, and meet closeted Hollywood star Niki Stevens (Kate French), white man movie mogul William Halsey (Wallace Shawn) and Jenny’s doting assistant Adele Channing (Malaya Drew). Meanwhile, Shane can’t keep it in her pants and sparks a lesbian club war between Kit and Dawn Denbo (Elizabeth Keener) and her lover Cindy. Tasha fights for her right to keep serving in the military. And Tina finally shows some emotion! It’s the beginning of the end, baby.
Episode notes and extras:
- A brief history of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- Molly Kroll, Phyllis Kroll’s daughter played by Clementine Ford, is Cybill Shepherd’s real-life daughter!
- And Elizabeth Keener, who plays our favourite lesbian club mafioso Dawn Denbo, is the IRL sister of actress Catherine Keener!
- “This is my lover Cindy.”
- Miami’s Great Lesbian Club Wars of the 1990s
- From Carmen Maria Machado’s In The Dream House: When your abuser is also queer
- Wired’s Kam Burns on how The L Word got trans representation wrong—and why the reboot is television’s second chance at getting it right.
Featuring:
Rachel Giese @rachelagiese
Erica Lenti @ericalenti
Eternity Martis @eternitymartis
Michelle Turingan @chelleturingan
Producer and editor: Corey Misquita @coreymisquita
Senior producer: Rachel Matlow @rachelmatlow
Executive producer: Rachel Giese
Music: KidKulit