"; if(is_file("header.php")) include "header.php"; else include "../header.php"; ?>

The Other L Word . Sure, the L Word plays in the field of lesbian sex, love, and friendship, but don't be fooled--every story line seems to be focused on another L word altogether: Lying. Take a look at Jenny. Yes, she's sexually confused, but she's also a tremendously damaging liar, the kind who overcommits passionately at the drop of a hat, then backtracks the moment the next shiny thing comes along. What happens to Jenny? She's played like a fiddle by Marina, a more experienced, calculating version of Jenny, whose illusory, mortgaged life sure looks like Jenny's future. Consider Shane, who sports the shaggy haircut, job description, and casually jaded sexuality of Warren Beatty, ca. Shampoo. On one hand, she makes no promises, and when she insists that she's misread by her lovers, she's got a point. But look at whom she attracts--they're baby-faced ingénues, so easily misled they mislead themselves. What happens to Shane? She meets her match in a conniving Hollywood wife (Rosanna Arquette) who trafficks in sexuality at a far higher level. Like her own naive lovers, Shane reads too much into their relationship and gets played. Watch how the other liaisons play out. Alice navigates the nuances of social situations for her clueless best friend, Dana, but neither acts on what's right in front of them, because Alice is blind to herself, and Dana is blind to the world around her. They don't lie to each other, but they don't tell the truth either--it's all inhibition and sins of omission with these two, played with wonderful comic timing by both actresses. More darkly, there's Bette and Tina, dealing with one of the central challenges of any relationship: if you don't say what you mean, eventually, you won't mean what you say. To preserve their domestic status quo, Bette and Tina keep leave too much unsaid, opening the door to outright deceit. Bette becomes the kind of person she's always rebuked, and Tina's passive aggression helps push her there. Finally, look at the irony of the one of the last characters to make an entrance in Season One: Ivan. On one hand, she's a transvestite, and everything about her appearance is a lie. On the other hand, there's nothing at all deceptive about her--visually, you know what you're dealing with instantly, and in terms of character, Ivan is her own man. She's confident, courtly, honest and unwavering, perfectly at peace with her identity. Watch how the leads come together and fall apart in the season's final episode, and notice how Ivan is the lone ever-fixed mark amid the crises. If you put your Red & Blue State assumptions aside, you might see the L Word for what it really is--a carefully constructed show with drama, melodrama, laughs, and sly takes on the mysterious ways lies play out over time. Get this DVD.