It’s Great ‘The L Word’ Is Back. But What Does ‘Generation Q’ Want to Say?
What is it like to have The L Word back? The answer is: very welcome, though with reservations. But at least television’s only all-lesbian drama is returned to bright, familiarly glossy life, its old-meets-new group of characters looking way more diverse than before. (Warning: light spoilers follow.)
On Sunday night, Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q begins, 10 years after The L Word went off the air. Its original showrunner Ilene Chaiken has passed the baton to playwright-turned-screenwriter Marja-Lewis Ryan, who has had many tough decisions to make (one: get rid of that god-awful Betty theme song). While the original show had many fans, it also had just as many critics—some, like this reviewer, serving as both.
Like the original, Generation Q centers on a group of friends—in this case, returning leads Bette (Jennifer Beals), Alice (Leisha Hailey), and Shane (Katherine Moennig) as well as a younger, queerer cast of newcomers, namely androgynous fuckboi Finley (Jacqueline Toboni); Latinx PR exec Dani (Arienne Mandi); her partner, Afro-Dominican television producer Sophie (Rosanny Zayas); and their roommate, gay Asian trans TA Micah (Leo Sheng).