The L Word Generation Q Season 3: What we loved and what we didn’t
This weekend, like many of you, we sat down to watch the last episode of The L Word: Generation Q season 3. Like so many of y’all, we’ve been loyal viewers of The L Word franchise right from the start, but the show is far from perfect. For a long time, the lady gays of the universe seemed to come to a silent agreement that they’d all just suck up the shortcomings of this show in favor of the fact that it was actual representation, but after more than a decade of the same thing over and over, many are tired of the issues.
Look, we’re not going to lie, if there is a season 4, we’ll probably watch it, but we are joining the bandwagon of folks that can’t ignore the blinding issues that keep coming up with this show. There is very little sapphic content on television where queer females are the driving force of the story, where they are not watered down, and not sidelined for straight or male queer characters. It is why this show has lasted as long as it has. No one else has been able to create anything quite like it. Hollywood seems very apprehensive to take a chance on the lady gays. But this show has withstood the test of time, and has kept its viewership. However, folks have turned a blind eye for a long while to the issues that occur again and again. But no more. Not this time. So we’re speaking up. Why is it, after all this time, this show hasn’t been able to evolve and learn from its mistakes? Been able to weed out the cliches, and frankly tropey stereotypes of queer females?
Most of our issues with Season 3 (and the entire franchise) stem from this. However, there were some things that we got into this time around, so it wasn’t all bad. Let’s break it down, shall we? Here are the things we liked, and the things that we didn’t like about Season 3 of The L Word: Generation Q.
Singing praises
Carrie (Rose O’Donnell) is one of the best things about Generation Q season 3. Wait, wait, hear us out, okay? We don’t love Carrie for Tina (Laurel Holloman) and we could not understand why the writers introduced her as Tina’s spouse to bring her into this universe, but we are glad this character made it into this world.
We think the writers did a great job of diversifying her in the end. Initially, it was clear that they were trying to establish her neurodivergence and it was touch and go there for a while as to whether they were just going to rely on stereotypes (as they often do in this franchise) to build her character. Fortunately, the complexities and the warmth of her nature did make it onto our screens and her journey became a favorite of ours this season. Every lady gay needs a queer aunt like Carrie. Two thumbs up.
Dani (Adrienne Mandi) also worked her way into our fave category this season. It was Dani’s time to shine in Generation Q season 3, as she shed all the confines of her family life and all the issues that kept her living in her perfect little box before this. She ventures out, explores, gets to know herself better, has fun, loves, has orgasms, and puts herself first in a healthy way – which is not something too many of the characters on this show know how to do.
We like that Finley (Jacqueline Toboni) finally gets her life together because yeeeeeesh fam, it was getting really hard to keep watching her screw up over and over and not learn a thing. Go, Finley.
We were also just really happy every time Micah (Leo Sheng) was on our screen, even if it was with his girlfriend who we very much do not think is right for him at all. If there is a season 4, we would love more Micah content, please.
The not-so-good stuff
Our biggest problem with Generation Q season 3, and with this franchise as a whole has, and will be (until they figure this out) the incessant cheating that these women engage in. In real life, people cheat – this is true – but this group of friends seems to be infected with some kind of disease that makes rationality and monogamy impossible for them all.
And it’s not a good look for the community, fam.
The homophobic, anti-LGBTQ voices in the world often cite cheating and an inability to commit as one of the negative traits of LGBTQ people and they use it as a reason to shun us all. We all know that they’re wrong, that there are plenty of LGBTQ people in the world in happy, healthy committed relationships (and we include poly in that because that is consensual) that want to be.
The L Word franchise seems incapable of writing in female queer characters that follow this mantra. Instead of cheating being the shocking outlier storyline, it’s the dominant force that drives this show forward and brings drama to screens.
And it’s very, very old.
We really think the writers of this show have done Shane (Kate Moennig) dirty, in particular. It’s understood that Shane is the loose one in the group, the one unable to commit to anything. However, in this reboot, the writers at least seemed to want to sort that out for her, to give her a shot at a different life and try something else for once. There is so much depth to this character that just goes undeveloped and passed over in favor of her ruining everyone’s lives all the time because she can’t keep it in her pants. It was funny for a while when Shane was in her twenties, but now it’s just disappointing, and honestly, it just feels like lazy writing at this point.
Do the writers not see her for the complex, rich character that she is? Because we sure do.
In Generation Q season 3, we also kind of hate what they did with Alice (Leisha Hailey) too, which is to say, not very much at all. They haven’t developed Alice’s character at all, and like Shane, Alice doesn’t seem to have learned much from her life experiences. She was definitely one of our fave characters in the original series, but we expected more from her in the reboot. Again, we put this on the writers’ shoulders and chalk it up to lazy writing.
We also really hope they fix what they did to Tess (Jamie Clayton) because yeeeeeeeesh they definitely train-wrecked her storyline absolutely and completely.
To finish off, we’re going to throw out one unpopular opinion and one special highlight. Our unpopular opinion is that, although we know they are the OGs of this show and this entire franchise, we didn’t care about Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina’s wedding. They ruined each other so completely in previous seasons that we just couldn’t invest in their reunion anymore.
We’re sorry, we know. They are the fan favorites.
Our special highlight is that we loved that we got to check in with Max (Daniel Sea) again, albeit quickly. It warmed us to our very core to see Max thriving and happy after everything he went through in the original series. We would love to see him become a permanent fixture in Micah’s life in the future if that’s at all possible.
Like we said, if there is a season 4, we’ll probably watch it for nothing other than loyalty to the lady-gay community. However, if there is a renewal we really hope that the writers sit down and take a good, hard look at the history of the show and start moving forward in a way that isn’t repetitive and stereotypical. The female queer community deserves better than this, and we know there are writers out there chomping at the bit, begging to tell our stories like they deserve to be told.
Did you watch season 3 of The L Word: Generation Q? If you did, drop by our socials and let us know your thoughts.
The L Word: Generation Q is available to stream on Hulu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
