The L Word: Season Two
Showtime Entertainment, $69.99
Giving cred where it’s due, let’s just break this down in terms of guest appearances: Sandra Bernhard, Arianna Huffington, Camryn Manheim, Ossie Davis, Peaches, Melissa Rivers, Sharon Isbin, Charles S. Dutton, Shawn Colvin, Betty’s Alyson Palmer and Amy Ziff, Holland Taylor, and Gloria Steinem, to name a few, breathlessly culminating in Heart’s majestic performance of “Crazy on You.” It’s an impressive gamut, one that works to lend both heft and pop-culture levity to a series that has been accused of superficiality and super-seriousness. The trademark bathos, racy slapstick, and use of hair as metaphor may have continued apace for the pretty, pretty ladies of The L Word in season two, but its secret arsenal includes the ability to address issues of representation, school us in the fine and varied shades of feminism, and underscore its own credibility with a stable of real-world heavyweights, all without being too ostentatious about it. Commentary on the season finale finds series creator Ilene Chaiken and Betty’s Elizabeth Ziff breaking down the episode in terms of political and psychological subtext, treading no new ground for the enlightened but causing stirrings of yonic pride in all but the most retrograde nevertheless. On the flip side, commenting on “Land Ahoy” (the Olivia Cruise episode), Erin Daniels (Dana), Katherine Moenning (Shane), and Leisha Hailey (Alice) gigglingly express their annoyance with motion sickness, plus-sized sex, Pucci pants, and (somewhat justifiably) Betty’s new series theme song, thus providing a yang to the finale’s yin, and leaving us all fairly depleted and satisfied.This article appears in December 16 • 2005.