The L Word - Season 5 Ep 8 - Lay down the law!

Time constraints mean that this review will be somewhat shorter than usual. So let's get straight to the point. I'll even put my glasses on for it. Of course, I'll never be able to throw you a glance like this one:

I didn't feel much sympathy for many of the characters this episode and I can't quite figure out why. Maybe it's because I've read too many spoilers, or maybe because we've all had some Tina and Bette gratification and we're already over it... or maybe this wasn't such a good episode.

Tasha's storyline: the witch hunt by those excellent gents and lady of the US army drew to an unexpected end, which we all expected to a certain extent. The scenes in the gym revealed what I had guessed during last episode, namely that Kelly McGillis' character swung a little left off centre and had a healthy interest in the same sex herself. How she chooses to exercise it, is another matter. Sideways glances in the changing room and a hefty glass of whiskey are an interesting side-effect of 'Don't ask, don't tell', don't you think. But hey, whatever makes you happy, I guess.
As for the hearing itself: the Salem factor was definitely there. Martinez's remark elicited a huge guffaw from my SO (after which she held her belly and screamed oww for about a minute, due to the stitches). To serve under/underneath...
I meanwhile screamed 'Veronica Lake' at the screen, as I saw the forties wartime version of Alice walking down the hall (some interesting dress choices going for Alice lately. The quaker dress last week for her interview, the fifties preppy look on the Look). Alice's hairdo on the second day of the hearing was a dead ringer for Lake or Lauren Bacall (as usual, my b&w film fetish has kicked in in full throttle).



But Alice's little session of bluff poker led to an unexpected dénouement as Col. Davis suddenly requested a recess, telling Alice to back off in exchange for the equivalent of a plea bargain for Tasha. So what does Tasha do? She tells the army 'up yours' and chooses Alice instead. Merciful God, the real Alice Pieszecki is back. On an interesting side note that is completely unrelated, that clickety thing on my gas hob is known as a piezo-electric ignition system. Piezo pieszecki. Way to go girl.

I'm dispensing with all the Jenny drama in this episode. Suffice to say that she looked pitiful while waiting outside the theatre as the evil Adele charmed all the folk inside and worked little Nikki like a modern-day Svengali (kiss the boy).

Did anyone catch Kit eyeing Shane's behind in the photos posted on Dorothy Surrenders?

And the glances by Kroll & Kroll (senior and junior) in the Planet cast towards Shane were quite memorable too.

Speaking of the lesbian Fonz: Shane doing Shane? That's altogether too meta for my taste.

And are you also amazed by the fact that Shane can sign? Wow, Bette fluent in just a few weeks and here is Shane signing away effortlessly. I wish I was so linguistically fluent. Would make my job a whole lot easier.

Bette/Tina/Jodi: their lives seem so complicated. Organising a simple dinner party becomes major drama/rama. The Indian food remark was classic: another reason why Bette and Jodi's relationship is doomed to fail. Ok, that, the onion, and the kaftan.
And is everybody blind that they don't notice what is going down between Bette and Tina? Get your hormones in check already ladies, and just go find a room. I'm waiting for Shane/Joda (hey wait a minute, maybe Shane is yin to Jodi's yang. Get it: jodi/joda? Dumb joke, I know) to pipe up at some point, but that will probably be in next week's episode.

Some final thoughts:
* Hello Max, where are you? Snapped up by the aliens?
* Tasha looked real snappy in her uniform. See, that's why they should have gays in the military.
* I might want to take up boxing for anger management purposes. I think it would do me a world of good.
* the kiss between Tasha and Alice only needed that corny song from 'An Officer and A Gentleman' to complete the scene: Love lifts us up where we belong...

Interesting piece of dialogue:
Tina: [after a long pause] I don't wanna break up you and Jodi. That's not anything I want. I don't wanna be part of that.
Bette: What if I want to?
Tina: Do you?
Bette: I really don't like who I am becoming right now, and when I think about Angie, it's just ... it's just not behavior that I want to model for our daughter.
--- but she didn't really answer the question, now did she.

Photo of Kelly McGillis courtesy of didielekker.blogspot.com