The L Word: Generation Q Review: Less is More (Season 1 Episode 2)
The L Word: Generation Q Season 1 Episode 2, “Less is More,” explores how queer culture has become both more normalized and more precious than ever before.
It’s striking how much of this episode is devoted to refuting old stereotypes and outmoded ways of thinking, which in many ways seems to be show’s primary motive.
There are a number of scenes reminiscent of similar scenarios in the original series, but this time they’re depicted with tenderness and joy, rather than the old pervasive sense of shame.
In the original, when Max came out as trans to a girl he was dating, it went horribly — there was disbelief, anger, and storming out of the restaurant.
Anyone who remembers that scene has good reason to feel trepidation about Micah and José’s first date, especially the moment José tells Micah that he knows he’s trans — but Micah brushes it aside with a cute bit about using a gift card, and now the two of them have a dorky inside joke.
When the topic of Micah’s transition comes up again right before the two of them hook up, he patiently explains why he doesn’t want to discuss it.
Micah: I haven’t met a lot of people who don’t squint and try to imagine what I used to look like. So I just don’t talk about it. And… now I’m kind of afraid to look at you.
José: You can look. I’m not squinting.
Their conversation is uncomfortable at first, but it’s allows Micah to set personal boundaries and have them be respected by his partner.
Micah has far more agency in this sense than Max did — rather than being passively caught in the current of other peoples’ judgment, of having things happen to him without any sense of control, Micah is in charge here. He gets to decide how, and if, he talks about his identity. He isn’t required to submit to a sense of shame.
There’s a lot of self-awareness on display here, an earnest and purposeful attempt on the show’s part to atone for the sins of its past.
It comes through in other moments too, like the way Sophie’s entire family enthusiastically celebrates her engagement to Dani — a subtle refutation of the stereotype (reinforced by the original series) that Latinx families are categorically conservative and disapproving of gay marriage.
Some of this is about the show course-correcting, but it also shows the genuine progress our society has made in terms of embracing different identities and meeting people where they’re at. Our social norms, both within and outside of the queer community, have changed significantly since the show first aired.
On the flip side, Shane and Finley’s scenes are about what might be getting lost in this moment of social transition. Queer culture is out in the world, but queer-specific spaces are becoming scarcer.
Shane has a brief conversation with Tess about how the bar used to be a gay bar but is now filled with straight jocks and fraternity-type patrons. There are no lesbian bars left in Los Angeles, and very few spaces where people like Shane, Tess, and Lena and can be wholly themselves and unbothered by people outside of the community.
This is the tension at the heart of The L Word: Generation Q — on the one hand, it’s easy for Finley to feel comfortable and confident in most settings. Her masc-of-center style doesn’t raise any eyebrows in public. She can hit on a dozen women in a bar, regardless of whether those women might actually be straight, without fearing any kind of violent reprisal.
On the other hand, Shane — who is older, and more used to lesbian-specific spaces — feels less comfortable in a world where social lines are blurred, where every setting is open to her but is not for her.
The scene seems to be foreshadowing a storyline in which Shane buys the bar, so it will be interesting to see how the show continues to explore this theme of balancing inclusivity with respect for difference.
What did you think of this episode of The L Word: Generation Q? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The L Word: Generation Q airs Sundays at 10/9c on Showtime.
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Ariel Udel
Ariel fell in love with storytelling on the night Flight 815 crashed on a mysterious island, and has been blogging about television ever since. She has an affinity for messy female anti-heroes and an enduring love of Battlestar Galactica, Xena: Warrior Princess, Lost, and Halt and Catch Fire.