s3e12: Review

Episode 12: Left Hand of the Goddess Directed by: Ilene Chaiken Written by: Ilene Chaiken Note: Alexandra Hedison does not appear in this episode, which means that she appeared in 8 episodes in season 3, from episodes 4 to 11 inclusive. It is 6 weeks on from Dana's funeral in the previous episode (episode 11), when Dylan left town after leaving Helena with a video-taped apology, a torn-up cheque for the first installment of the settlement and the footage from her documentary. Sadly we won't get to know what Dylan's reasons for betraying Helena were, thanks to Helena muting the tape. Is there a valid reason in the world that could explain Dylan's actions? I doubt it, and obviously Ilene and the writers couldn't come up with one. So, yes, I feel cheated. Just like I did at the start of season 3 when I realised I had missed Dana getting back with Lara. Hopefully that feeling will pass if/when Alexandra Hedison returns for season 4. If there is a TV Goddess it must happen, don't let it end like Kim and Kerry on season 7 of ER. Please! The opening scene sees Helena, Alice, Bette, Lara, Jenny & Kit at The Planet talking about Shane & Carmen's upcoming nuptials. Helena states that Shane had better go through with it because she's booked 15 rooms at the Fairmont Chateau, Whistler plus private ski instructors, massages, a fondue and more. Yes, Helena is busy redefining the term generous, and is being even more extravagant than in episode 8 when she flew everyone to San Jose for the basketball game. She explains it away by saying that it makes her happy to do it, Shane doesn't have any family and she's not sure if any of Carmen's family are coming. Alice tells Helena 'That's very generous' and adds 'It's nice to have rich friends.' Helena's generosity doesn't end there, as we soon see her talking to someone on the phone (perhaps her assistant?) . 'I don't want Carmen to know because I don't want to get her hopes up, just make sure that the hotel is holding the rooms.' So it seems, Helena is trying to get Carmen's family to the wedding. In the previous scene she said that she'd booked 15 rooms. By my calculations that is one each for herself, Peggy, Alice, Lara, Bette, Jenny & Max, Shane, Carmen, Kit & Angus, Tina & Henry. That makes 10, so who were the other 5 for? Or had Helena already arranged for Carmen's family to be there, and was keeping quiet? At Carmen's wedding dress fitting, Helena looks longingly at a wedding dress and holds it up against herself, looking in the mirror and perhaps wondering what might have been (and what still could be, please Ilene) with Dylan. Talk of wedding dresses allows Ilene to use Bette to get a few big words into the script, when talking about Tina's wish not to get married: Bette: "She didn't want to cleave to the heterosexual paradigm." Alice: "Now it's cleaving all over her." Carmen: "Oh God! Come back to us Tina. Come back on our side." Bette: "Fuck that, they can have her." No they can't Bette! After everything that's happened in season 3, I'm not sure if I want Tina to get back with Bette, but I certainly don't want her to be with a man. At the end of this scene, Helena makes the mistake of asking Bette to try the dress on that she was eyeing up at the start of the scene. Bette politely declines, and I have to wonder what Helena was thinking, asking Bette at this moment in time with Tina seemingly ensconced in the land of heterosexuality. Peggy, Helena, Alice, Shane & Carmen are travelling in a stretch limo to the Fairmont Chateau, Whistler. (I visited Whistler in 2001, while I was on holiday in Vancouver with my girlfriend. It was in September, out of season without snow, but it was still beautiful and watching this episode brought back happy memories. Yes, I have travelled on Highway 99 known as the Sea to Sky highway.) Gone now is the deleted scene that saw Peggy explain to Helena's friends her theory on why Helena is the way she is: Peggy "…mother daughter weekend. Err, in the aftermath of that debacle with the pseudo-filmmaker extortionist." Helena: "And what mother wants, mother gets." Peggy: "Quite right." Helena: "And it had to be this weekend." Carmen: "Well I mean, Helena you can bring whoever you want. The entire reason this whole thing is hap..." Alice: [interrupting Carmen] "But it’s really the more the merrier, is that what you’re trying to say?" Carmen: "Yes." Alice: "Right." Shane: "And… you know my dad might be coming as well." Carmen: "Honey he is coming. He told you he was gonna come. And I am so excited to meet him." Helena: "Anyway, Peggy, it’s great that you’re coming." Peggy: "The entire sordid affair brought me to an epiphany." Helena: "No, mummy, please don’t do that." Alice: "I wanna hear. I wanna hear." Peggy: "Thank you my dear. It would seem that as a parent I somehow failed to impart to Helena any sense of her intrinsic value as a human being and so she tries to buy the love of her [inaudible], to whom she looks only to replace the love which she never got from me." Helena: "In other words: my mother thinks I’m a lesbian because really I’m in love with her." Carmen: (laughs) Peggy: "Well, not love but… Well, actually that was the theory of one of the three psychiatrists that I consulted, all of whom concurred that it was not too late for me to repair some of the damage [inaudible]." The scene is just under a minute and a half. As it has been cut we now don't know if Helena told anyone else what happened with Dylan, but I guess we would have to assume that at least Alice does know because surely after Helena & Dylan's pda in episode 8, Dylan's unexplained disappearance would not go unnoticed. Alice's behaviour is rather contrary in this scene. On the one hand she stops Carmen from putting her foot in it with Peggy but then gives no thought to Helena's feelings when telling Peggy that she wants to hear about her epiphany. Perhaps it was cut to leave more of an opening for Dylan's return in season 4 or indeed because Peggy's reference to Dylan as that pseudo-filmmaker extortionist does not fit with the way she put the blame firmly with Danny for using Dylan to get to Helena at the mediation (episode 10), not Dylan herself. Now a couple of months on she must surely know that Dylan has rejected the settlement, and surely would not think any worse of her than she did at the mediation. Helena's continued generosity is further displayed when they arrive at the hotel and Carmen's family are there. Peggy's response to Alice, after learning that Helena was responsible for bringing Carmen's family to Canada is a classic "I guess it grows on trees." There has been much talk on the various L Word forums about pairing Helena with Bette, which I personally don't think would work on so many levels apart from the fact that they have both been involved with Tina. The introduction of Dylan this season, did not succeed in quashing the speculation. Is it really just because Bette drives a car that is obviously blue? People seem willing to forget the fact that the psychic told Helena in episode 1 that her romantic interest would be bisexual and Bette is not nor ever has been bisexual. Besides, the psychic was talking about Helena's next romantic encounter and nobody can dispute that what happened between Helena and Dylan in season 3 was devoid of romance. The scene in the ski lift has probably helped to increase the speculation. However, I feel that Joyce Wischnia's conversation with Bette is a direction the writers may well choose to go in. Remember in season 1, episode 4 this particular conversation on monogamy between Bette and Alice: Bette: "Why is it so important for you to believe that everyone is sleeping with everyone else?" Alice: "Because they are." Bette: "No, that's just your little fantasy. Here is a truly radical idea for you to contemplate: Monogamy isn't just hypothetical. Some people actually do practice it." But by the end of season 1 Bette had forgotten all about monogamy, so perhaps the following is also a prediction for season 4: Bette: "I think I'm gonna take that job." Joyce: "Excellent, that will play very well in court. Dean of a prestigious art school... and it can't hurt when it comes to pulling in chicks." Bette: "Excuse me?" Joyce: "Lots of pretty young art students.... you'll be like a kid in a candy store. Bette: "Ah Joyce, that's completely unethical. I would never do anything like that." I am willing to bet that the above conversation foreshadows a new promiscuous Bette in season 4, and I for one will not be complaining. Perhaps Jennifer Beal's pregnancy can be blamed, but Bette has not had nearly enough great scenes in season 3. So, everyone is gathered in Canada for the impending nuptials. Shane's bachelor party provides some great moments between Helena and Peggy. As Helena leads Peggy in to the restaurant by the hand she tells her: "Please take my hand, and let me bury my head in your ample bosom if I get a little too emotional." Then looks back at Alice, Shane, Max and Lara with a clasically funny expression on her face. Oh how I love Rachel Shelley! More great mother/daughter moments follow between Helena and Peggy when Peggy enquires if Shane and Carmen are planning on having kids and tells her: "If you give one another children I only hope that they're as generous, kind and lovely as the one my good for nothing Brit gave me." Bless Ilene, it's moments like this that make The L Word such a great ensemble drama. Then we are treated to Peggy getting down with the rest of the gang as God-dess and She perform Carmen's present to Shane, a nice little ditty called Lick It, which I found rather amusing to say the least. I confess that I thought the stuff with Shane's Dad was more than a little weird. Do adult children usually hold their father's hand, especially if they've only just met them? I think not. Then there's Helena's second tragic mistake, where she gave Shane's Dad $10,000 to buy Shane & Carmen a wedding present. Helena telling Peggy that he had no money and how heartbreaking it was, reminds me of how she used the phrase fucking heartbreaking, when she first met Bette, to describe one of the social justice programmes. Oh how times change. So, Shane's Dad used the money to run off with a woman he met in the hotel bar. Really? The amount seems both too large for a wedding gift, and too small to cause even the most degenerate person to run off with someone they've just met in a hotel bar. Especially if said person has a wife and kid, and is just about to attend his only daughter's wedding. But this is The L Word, so let's suspend disbelief for a tad longer. The deleted scenes go further in explaining what really happened. In one scene Shane sees her Dad leaving the hotel, then she sits with his wife at the bus stop who tells Shane that it's not the first time he's run off and she's not taking him back this time. No, sorry I still don't buy it. Shane only asked Carmen to marry her as a reaction to the loss of Dana. After everything they've been through this season, they weren't in the right place to make such a commitment to each other. So therefore it was no surprise to me that Shane did a runner, degenerate Dad or not, especially seeing as I read the spoilers. It also provided a convenient way for Helena to make her second tragic mistake, so it could be argued that the wedding was all about Helena and not about Shane & Carmen at all. The final scene of the episode between Helena and Peggy is touching: Tina: "Where did Shane's Dad get $10,000?" Alice: "I don't know." Helena: "Oh my god. Is that what happened? Well, he has no money. He, he wanted to buy her a wedding gift. It was heartbreaking." Valet: "Mrs Peabody, will there be anything else?" Peggy: [to the valet] "No, no, no, fine. I'll be there in a moment." Peggy: [to Helena] "My darling, I have cherished the time we have spent together. It has reaffirmed all of my recent convictions. And now, because I love you so very much, I'm going to do something truly radical." Helena: "Mummy, he told me..." Peggy: "Sweetheart. I'm cutting you off financially. From this moment forth, you are going to have to make relationships with people who love you for yourself, not your money." Helena: "You're not serious." Peggy: "This is going to turn your life around, darling. You're such a wonderful girl, such a beautiful girl, you have such a surprisingly kind heart. You need to know that people love you even if you are penniless." Peggy cuts Helena off financially, but she does it out of love not malice. Even though I knew what was going to happen I was pleasantly surprised by the way it was handled. Both Holland Taylor and Rachel Shelley were brilliant in their scenes together, in this episode. As much as I have grown to love Helena over the course of season 3, I believe it was the right thing for Peggy to do. Not only for Helena, but for Rachel Shelley. I'm sure that Helena will be even more of a challenge to play in season 4, and Rachel has definitely proved that she more than up to the challenge. I can't wait to see what's in store for Helena in season 4, but of course I hope that it includes lots of Dylan. Last week I wondered if Helena's downfall was planned from her introduction in season 2. Peggy's insistence to Bette in episode 4 of season 2 that Helena would not be making any tragic mistakes, foreshadowed the 2 tragic mistakes that she made in season 3 that caused her heartbreak and Peggy to cut her off financially. I think I was right. The arc that was started in season 1, episode 3 with Peggy Peabody's introduction, when Peggy told Bette "I was a lesbian in 1974" now comes full circle. Peggy ends the season resuming her relationship with Marilyn, who was to marry Shane and Carmen, and a younger version of whom began this season's random act resulting in a new abridged chart. Despite its flaws, I loved the season 3 finale. It is easy to dismiss the bad elements of The L Word, but plaudits to Ilene and the writers for tying everything up rather neatly, with Peggy and Marilyn driving off into the sunset. There's another 9 months until Season 4, which seems like a lifetime away. Where's the season 4 spoilers?