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Australian television resumes dating an old flame, writes David Knox.
It’s been so long since we saw Bette, Tina, Shane, Dana, Alice, Jenny and Kit, that it’s hard to remember what they were last doing. That’s because Channel 7 stopped screening The L Word after 2005.
Those conservative campaigns against the show only generated publicity and a brief spike in ratings. Eventually the novelty wore off, and like many ‘cult shows with loyal followings’, it didn’t get a third season airing – until now.
So, when I sat down to renew a distant friendship, it allowed me to reconsider the show’s virtues.
The L Word is unashamed soap – of a higher quality than the sausage-factory we usually acquaint with the genre, but soap nonetheless.
We’re compelled to emote with Tina and Bette pulling together and apart; to swoon as Shane takes Carmen in her arms; and to empathise with a confused Jenny.
Structurally, the show remains very much a female Queer as Folk. Every week QAF mixed politics, romance, anguish, racy sex and a visual showpiece: a new nightclub, porn shoot, fashion show, charity fundraiser or comic book launch. There was always a feature segment bursting with colour, music, energy and sexy extras.
This week Kit has a casino fundraiser at her cafe with Alan Cumming as a zany host; Bette gets angry about equal adoption rights; Shane and Carmen make out in sexy lingerie; and Jenny nearly gets into a brawl when some kids taunts her new girlfriend, mistaking her as male.
Yet I find myself conceding that The L Word also falls prey to the same criticisms levelled at QAF: the cast is predominantly young, attractive and white. It’s hard to know which is the bigger crime.
Men are barely supporting characters – these grrls don’t seem to have any male friends or confidantes.
That said, the series boasts major achievements, too. Ilene Chaiken has devised a mature, engaging and sexy series offering real insight into contemporary lesbian lives, which in itself is a coup for American network television.
I love her flashback prologues, which feel always unrelated, yet return to interact with the present in unexpected ways. By episode’s end I’ve learned much, been hooked by solid storytelling, and find I’m happy to share an hour a week with this alluring ensemble.
Can’t ask for much more than that!
The L Word screens on Movie Extra 9:30pm Sundays.
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