L is for Learn How to Ride a Bike!

Is Shane being pigeon-holed into another monogamous commitment?

First, I just have to get it out there. What's with the poor bike riding? Look at Shane: pedal pedal, stand and coast. She won't get too far too fast that way, yet she still gives Molly a run for her money in their little race. So Molly chases Shane down, dismantles her by telling her she's in love with her, which turns out to be a lie just so she could beat Shane to the checkpoint and talk to her. Somehow Shane is wooed by Molly's rambling pledge to return the oral favor and shuts her up with a kiss. So now we have Shane possibly entering another relationship, and we can't help but wonder how long it will be until this one falls apart. Also, why can there never be a straight woman on the show who doesn't experience lesbian sex? Even Kit had her own little go 'round with Papi. I'm all about showing how heterosexuality can be malleable and move into same-sex experimentation, but it's also problematic when not a single hetero female character can avoid the lustful seduction of another woman. Some people just don't go there, so let's be realistic.

What constitutes cheating?

It was good to see this dialogue open up about the different ways in which relationships can be negotiated from monogamy to open relationships, even if such a variety is not actually exemplified on the show. However, there was still a big lack of resolution when even after all the debate and discussion, most of the characters still agreed that kissing constitutes cheating. When Bette didn't raise her hand, she was interrogated and her relativist answer was lambasted by Alice as being a bullshit non-answer, and the whole thing quickly devolved into a dramatic revelation of her affair with Tina. In any case half a kudos for at least opening up the dialogue around relationships that fall outside of heteronormative monogamy.

"It's mostly black; it's kind of a different scene."

Such is Tasha's reply to Alice when they run into some of Tasha's old friends who happen to be riding for Coco's, a lesbian club of which Alice is not aware. Alice just says "oh" and the conversation shifts to questions of jealousy. This was interesting because it brought the race issue to the surface, but then played it off like no real divide. I like that it illustrates that race is not a barrier in the relationship between Alice and Tasha. But then one also wonders if it is not a dangerous erasure of difference to blow the race thing off. Why is it that Tasha hasn't seen her friends in so long or been to Coco's? Because she's been hanging out with Alice and all the white girls? To what extent should each of them cross into each other's worlds that are divided by racial lines? Is Tasha and Alice's relationship portrayed as too easy in terms of race? Maybe we'll find out when Tasha and Alice move into their cute vinyl sided home on a quiet cul-de-sac as they enact their normative domestication.

Only two more left . . .

What's to come in the last two episodes? So Jodi will be back for answers next episode, but then I'm guessing we won't be seeing any more of her, so there goes the disability minority. I wonder which minority representative will be put in that opening. Maybe an Asian woman finally? Anyway, I hope Tom sticks around because I'd like to see some more development in relation to Max, but it's hard to imagine them keeping Tom around if Jodi is out of the picture.

And what the hell is going to happen with creepy Adele? The questions around her sexuality have been intriguing. I found myself at times hoping that maybe she is asexual, especially when she told Alice that instead of being hooked up, she'd prefer to focus on her work. Sounds like something I used to say. But actually if she were asexual, I would disapprove because she seems to be such a psychopath, and that would only perpetuate the pathologizing of asexuality. But the L Word has been steadfast and faithful in the perpetuation of myths and stereotypes, so who knows?