The L Word

Upon the recommendation of several colleagues I met at a LGBT conference last year, I decided to rent the first two seasons of The L Word from Netflix. I know there has been a lot of disagreement about this show, especially among lesbians, but despite its problems it still seems to suck in just about everyone I know who has watched it. Like many a show, it has its soap operatic qualities (which I actually sort of enjoy) as well as more serious subject matter. The women are all gorgeous and the characters are incredibly interesting.

Of course, while watching the show I found myself hugely attracted to one of the characters. And it was indeed the character that everyone I met at the LGBT conference last spring was talking about. That's right, I've got the hots for Shane (Katherine Moennig). (And from the fan discourse on the web, it would seem so does everyone else!)


The only relatively "butch" regular on the L Word, Shane is totally the type of woman I find sexually attractive. For some reason, the only women I really find myself erotically interested in tend to be what I would describe roughly as tomboy-punk-butch. And Katherine Moennig has got that going on! Shane is definitely the most interesting character on the show, not just because she's hot, but because she has the most mysterious background. We don't know a lot about her past, although tiny tidbits have been slipping through the cracks lately.

My biggest disappointment in the show, however, was the disappearance of a character and resulting storyline that I found very interesting. At the end of season one, Kit (Pam Grier--the only hetero gal on the show) meets a drag king name "Ivan" and they begin an intense friendship. Ivan, however, wants to make it something more. And Kit seems to be leaning toward investigating this possibility as well. But when season two starts, they immediately nip this storyline in the bud and practically eject Ivan from the show. I was so damn pissed about this because I thought this character had so much potential and offered some really compelling perspective in comparison to the other women. But alas, I guess the network thought it was too controversial or something because they immediately shacked Kit up with some adulterous dude afterwards. BIG disappointment.

Nonetheless, I'm still looking forward to season 3 coming out and more of the delectable Shane to admire.