In the end we are led to believe that it was Nikki Stevens who killed Jenny, but the final episode “Last Word” really left more questions than it gave answers.
If you read my predictions for the final season you will know that I suspected that Molly was responsible for Jenny’s death because I thought her death would have something to do with her tumultuous relationship with Shane. I was right that it would have something to do with Shane, because Nikki mentioned that she say how Jenny had her on lock down and it got her upset to see Shane like that. Right up until the end I wasn’t sure who did it, and even though I said I didn’t think it could be Dylan, I almost thought it was! I thought it could have been Bette, Tina, Kit, Max, any one of them right up until the end.
Here is how the episode played out…
It starts off with Shane in the interrogation room. Right away she is saying “Listen I cant tell you I didn’t think about it. I was kidding, its not like i would ever do anything like that.” As time goes on she begins to talk about what bugs her about relationships, where one person says ‘we’ in speaking for both of them. Then she tells that the day of her death Jenny was recording a video for Bette and Tina who were going away to New York. She said she couldn’t get a word in edge wise because Jenny was saying ‘we’ through their segment. We then see Jenny and Shane taping the segment and what Jenny says at the end of their segment is that with Bette and Tina leaving it will be an adventure for them to take their place as the supreme couple. Shane is grinning and bearing the whole thing. Jenny ends their goodbye to Bette and Tina video segment with “I promise… we are going to make.” (Referring to herself and Shane.) Shane just smiles uncomfortably.
At the Planet, Alice is telling Jamie that she loves Tasha – Jamie and Tasha are on one side of the table and Alice is on the other.
Alice is asking Tasha and Jamie to be honest about what is going on. Jamie says that nothing has happened between them. Alice knows that nothing happened physically, and that they haven’t admitted it to themselves. It’s obvious to Alice that Jamie and Tasha are like minded (unlike Alice and Tasha) when Jamie and Tasha have ordered the same meal. Tasha hasn’t said much, and when Alice tells them to just admit their feelings and that it is out of their control Tasha says she’s not going to accept that. Alice is upset and says that all her military training cant make her control her feelings.
Jamie says “Ok I admit it. I am only speaking for myself, but I have think I have fallen in love with Tasha.”
Alice says “Thank you… and fuck you.” Jamie says she’s sorry and it was the last thing she wanted to happen, and she doesn’t even think that Tasha is… Alice says “Oh yes, she is.” Tasha just looks away. Alice tells Tasha “Go. You’re free.” Jamie says “Oh God do not break up over me.” Tasha says “We’re not. Don’t do this.” Alice replies “When we’re having sex I don’t close my eyes and imagine someone else naked in the shower.” Tasha tells her “Fuck you.”
Jamie is saying she is sorry and for them to just get her out of the equation and things will go back to how they were.
Alice tells Tasha just give it a try, try it. Tasha is giving attitude and saying “Try what, what the fuck does that mean”. Alice grabs her things and says “If you don’t call me by the same time tommorrow I will know you made up you mind about what you want.” Tasha replies “Alice this has never happened to me before. You know that I live a life of honor and duty.” Alice doesn’t want her to stay with her out of a sense of duty, or because it’s the right thing to do. She walks out.
The next thing we see, Alice is in the interrogation room.
She says the only person she only really loved as much as Tasha was Dana. Then we see Dylan on the balcony waving to Jenny who is approaching the front door. Helena comes out to tell Dylan Jenny is there. They have a brief argument about Dylan angling to move in with Helena, and Dylan is upset that Helena doesn’t trust her.
Jenny is there to shoot their segment for the tribute video to Bette and Tina’s goodbye party so they get started on that.
Next we see Max being interrogated, talking about the girls and calling them more than friends less than family. We move over to Kit cleaning up out back for the party and up walks Kit. They are talking, Bette says they need to fix the railing on the second floor, and they talk about the process Bette and Tina have to go through to adopt a baby. Kit mentions that they might consider adopting Max’s baby. Bette says she thinks Max is ready to be a mom and they move on. Kit asks Bette why are they really moving since they just opened the fallery and remodeled their home. Bette confides that she is ready to get out of their because Jenny is all up in her business. She tells her that Kelly made a pass at her but she didn’t tell Tina. And she can’t tell her now because it would be a mess, but Jenny is saying she saw her and Kelly together. Kit asks her what she was doing, and Bette says nothing.
Kit is being interrogated now telling the police how loving this group of friends are, and how loyal they are.
Now we are back in time again and Shane is at Alice’s house talking about the situation with Tasha and Jamie, and Jenny. Shane says she is pretty much with Jenny because she feels responsible for her. Alice doesn’t understand why she would pick her, and then goes on to say she knows Jenny stole her idea and can prove it. Shane says it’s not about that.
We see Alice being interrogated and telling us that women drive her crazy.
Back in Alice’s room, Shane says if she walks away Jenny would go off the deep end, it either Jenny’s happiness or hers. We then see Dylan on the phone and when Helena walks by Dylan quickly hangs up. Helena is suspicious and Dylan is mad about that. Then Helena is being interrogated and says being rich is a curse. She never knows if anyone really cares for her if they are just with her for the money.
Back at their argument, Helena chases Dylan and apologizes.
She says trust is hard for her. Helena and Dylan make out and wind up on the kitchen counter. Dylan asks Helena if she trusts her, and Helena says yes. Dylan grabs a knife – yikes! She puts it next to Helena’s neck, and then slices off her shirt strap. Whew! That was kinda hott, but scary. They commence to making love.
Next we see Jenny editing the video to Bette and Tina with Phylis and Joyce talking.
Then we see Bette and Tina making love, and Tina notices they have to fix the second floor railing. They kiss a bit and then Bette says that when they get to New York she would like for them to get married. More intimacy now, but this time to a Sade song “By Your Side”. ;o)
Now Bette’s in interrogation, telling us Tina is the love of her life.
Then we see Shane walking up to her house in the morning, and she sees Bette and Tina outside. They are talking about Jenny using Shane’s studio, and about the situation with Alice and Tasha. Bette thinks that Jenny gave Shane the studio so she would have something else to take away from her. Tina says Jenny’s heart is in the right place and that was harsh. Bette says “Yeah her heart is in the right place but she’s misplaced her meds.”
Interrogating Tina, she says she was jealous of Kelly Wentworth, Bette’s business partner.
Helena sees Dylan on the phone out the window again and sees Dylan leave. Alice is on the phone with Shane saying that Tasha and Jamie are probably having a good time having everything in common. She says they are so the same they can masturbate and it would be the same thing. Jenny comes home and is freaking out so Shane gets off the phone with Alice.
Jenny has to finish her tribute video but has lots of other things to do. Shane offers to do a few things for her to help her out and Jenny calms down.
Bette and Tina are cooking and Kit comes by with Sunny bringing home Angelica from the zoo. Sunny has to change for work and Bette offers him to use the powder room because she doesn’t like men in her bathroom. Tina offers the new bathroom and Bette is peeved a bit.
Shane brings Jenny all the things that they need and then is off to get her gift to Bette and Tina.
Right when she leaves Dylan walks up. Shane calls Alice back like she promised.
Back at Bette and Tina’s house everyone is chatting and when sunny comes out to leave angelica says to him “bye daddy”. It was a bit awkward but Tina says its normal.
Helena and Alice are talking on the phone now and mentions that Shane saw Dylan at the studio with Jenny.
We see Dylan telling Jenny not to tell Helena about something she confided in her about. Jenny said Dylan hasn’t come clean to Helena when she promised she would. jenny tells her to just tell her the truth. Dylan says that if Helena finds out that she knew that Nikki Stevens was a set up before she walked into Hit she would… “So your liar” says Helena from downstairs! All three get into a loud conversation about Dylan being a con artist and relationships being based on trust. Jenny tries to smooth things over a bit and says she should have never been involved in any of it. Helena tells Jenny “Fuck you Shechter you’ve been getting involved in my life for far too long now.” and then walks out. Dylan follows her and they talk more on the street. Helena will never know for sure if Dylan would have passed on Nikki Stevens and she can’t trust her – thanks to Jenny.
Shane is buying the gift for Bette and Tina when she sees Molly in the store.
She is happy to see her, but Molly tells her that she heard and Shane and Jenny and it was weird to hear that after she had seen how upset Jenny was the night she dropped off Shane’s jacket with a letter in it. Shane doesn’t have any idea what she is talking about, but since Molly is with someone and seems to be happy Shane doesn’t say anything to Molly except for small talk.
Alice shows up to Bette and Tina’s party, and Max and Helena are already there. They start talking about Jenny and nobody has anything nice to say.
Then we see Max being interrogated, and he says that Jenny was the only one who could see him for who he was and help him accept it. He said Jenny could see a person’s innermost desires and thoughts, and it was kind scary actually. Back at the party Alice says she has decided to make up with Jenny this evening for Shane’s sake and Bette mentions that they should all give it a try. They all agree. We see another interrogation and Helena is talking about how special all the friends are. She says all of their names one by one… except for Jenny.
Now we see Jenny and Kit going into the room she is using to show the video tribute.
She closes the curtain to the window with the view of the pool. Kit asks her about the situation with Bette and Kelly, saying Bette said nothing happened. Jenny says she doesn’t want to hurt Bette and Tina, and the she can see her friends want her to shut up and go away. Kit asks her for proof, and Jenny says she doesn’t want to show her. Kit says “If you have proof, I want you to show me.” Jenny plugs her cell phone into the TV and tells her she can press play.
We see the cell phone video and it looks like Bette has her head in between Kelly’s legs.
Next interrogation we are seeing is Bette’s. She is describing Jenny Schecter saying shes is talented but very complicated and complex. Then we see Shane and she is looking through Jenny’s closet for the jacket and letter. She pulls down the ladder to the attic and goes up. She looks around a bit and then finds the jacket, with the letter in it. She sits down to read the letter. After she is done she gets up to leave and accidentally pulls a sheet with her foot – which reveals the negatives to the movie ‘Lez Girls’. During her interogation Tina is asked about the movie.
Bette leads everyone upstairs to gives them a tour of the new second story (Tina stays downstairs).
Tasha is being interrogated telling them Alice has one of the biggest hearts of anybody she knows. At the party, the others are looking at the second story Kit walks in and asks to talk to Bette privately. Everyone goes downstairs and Kit tells Bette about the video. Bette denies it and doesn’t know what she is talking about and they start yelling. Kit is saying “Don’t lie I saw it; you fucked up.” Shane comes over and tells Tina to go with her somewhere.
Nikki is being interrogated and asks for a lawyer.The sergeant mentions that nobody else has asked for a lawyer.
At the party Jenny comes out and asks everyone to come to the media room to see the movie. Jenny goes upstairs to look for Bette and Tina while everyone else goes to the media room. Shane is showing Tina the negatives next door. Tina is shocked and mad.
Jenny finds Bette upstairs, and they are on the back balcony where the railing is broken.
Bette says “Jenny. Look I just want you to know something. My family and the life that I have worked so hard to rebuild for them means everything in the world to me. And there isn’t anything that I wouldn’t do to preserve or protect them.” Jenny says “I would never do anything to hurt your family. Bette I love you and I love Tina.” Bette says “Well I’m glad to hear that because you know what? I don’t really care if you think that I fucked Kelly. All I really care about is that you know that I will not abide anyone who threatens my family.”
We see the part of Bette’s interrogation where she describes Jenny again.
Bette says Jenny is “complex, complicated, talented. Very talented. Self destructive, sometimes very generous, but complicated and complex.” The video is playing in the media room, with Jenny’s ex boyfriend Tim talking. Tina looks for Jenny in there. She says to herself “How could you do that to me? I’m just going to put her out of her fucking misery.” Alice and Shane are on the porch talking. Alice tells Shane she has decided to forgive jenny and make peace with her. Shane asks why. Alice says she is alone now and she needs her friends and since they are going to be together… at which point Shane says they aren’t together.
In the interrogation room Alice is saying “What does this have to do with who killed Jenny”. The sergeant replies “So you think someone killed Jenny.”
Bette runs into Tina, and says she was looking in on Angie. Tina said she was getting a sweater from upstairs. Tina says they need to talk and asks if Bette has seen Jenny. Max rushes in and he says he just went to get his sweater. He says he felt a kick for the first time and they all hug. Tina asks if Max has seen Jenny he says no.
Jenny’s dog is around the pool whining and sniffing
In the media room Max, Kit Shane, Alice, Helena, Bette and Tina are watching the video and all of the old characters saying bye, and Kit says its a parade of all her exes. We see Helena’s mom and Jody and Marina from France. They wonder where Jenny is. They see Carmen on the video wishing Bette and Tina the best. They wonder if they should pause the movie. Alice says she is supposed to be her friend tonight so she’ll go find her. We see Kit talk on the video, then Shane, then Alice, then everybody together. The main girls and Max are saying “We love you Bette and Tina. We are gonna miss you Tina and Bette.” Then Shane and Jenny give the final segment. Then Alice comes in… she is freaked out and all she can say is “Jenny, Jenny” and they all run out to see whats going on. There are splashes into the pool and next we the police pulling up, and the sergeant getting out.
She gets briefed as she walks into the house, and we see the body pulled out of the water.
Next we see the cops pull their weapons out around the pool pointing towards the bushes and shouting “Come out with your hands over your head!” and we see Nikki come out of the bushes. As the police took her through the house in handcuffs Shane says “Nikki what are you doing here?” Nikki says “I just came to talk to Jenny. I saw what was going on at the dance marathon and how she was keeping you like a prisoner and I just wanted to tell her that…” Shane says”Nikki shut up. Just shut up”
Outside Tasha walks up and seeing the police and such she is worried. she shows her police academy badge to the officer outside to get in.
She goes into the living room and says “Alice come, here are you okay? I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. They hug and Alice is surprised. The sergeant says “I think this is going to take a bit longer than we thought.” They say “We’ll do whatever you need for us to do. “We’re a very tight knit group.” “We take care of each other.” “We don’t know what happened out there. “You probably just want us to come down to the station.”
The video finishes in the room with Jenny saying that Bette and Tina changed her life and she will never forget them so thank you for everything.
The last thing we see is all the girls nice rides pulling up and parking next to each other in front of the police station. They all get out and walk up looking sexy as hell and we get to see each of the girls (and Max too) one by one as they strut their stuff on their way to the interrogation into who killed Jenny Schechter.
After the show, Leisha Haley comes on to tell us that starting this week they are now doing The L Word as a webisode and you can watch things like the interrogation tapes and more online.
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Filed under: Entertainment, Featured, TV & Radio, Gays on TV, L Word, Lesbian drama series, Lesbian TV, showtime, The L Word, The L Word Season 6
March 9, 2009 • 7:00 pm 0
The Crest
The end of the L word has a lot of people thinking what’s next. Is it me or does it feel like we’ve reached a turning point for the Lesbian community?
Prop 8 is up in the air, probably another battle ahead in 2010 whether it passes or not. There’s been this huge push the last few years. Shows like QAF and the L Word ushered us into the limelight, but what are we to do now that the moment of “breakthrough” has passed? MILK, Brokeback Mountain, Monster, Boys Don’t Cry, the Hours and all the other amazing films that shattered this cinematic glass ceiling, I fear are just leading to a fad like the flood of superhero films being made. The danger is that fads fade, and what are we going to be left with when that happens? Are we going to be resettled into obscurity?
I think there is a need for us to be able to see ourselves on television.
It helps me feel less hidden, less outside of the mainstream culture, I guess. Its nice to have something that brings us all together too. Once a week you knew you could find a bunch of lezzies around the tube. There was something for us all to be linked with, which is really highlighted by the dissolving of OurChart as well.
I’m very worried about the Lesbian community splintering further and further apart now.
We’re approaching a new decade, this one seeming like a bad nightmare threatening the next to be worse, its hard to try to plan what’s next. I don’t have a lot of hope for a show in the future with a focus on our lives, sure a superficial storyline or character, but a show? No. If that were the case I think 3way would have been picked up by now. I know, there’s supposedly an L Word spin off in the works… that takes place in prison… or something. Someone could maybe fill me in more on that.
How can we get more connected? How can we use these awful days to make a break for equal rights? Is this the crest of a powerful moment about to happen, or is this the crest of a wave that is crashing?
Jenime is an artist living in the SF bay area. You can watch her musings and ravings any time by visiting her channel on YouTube.
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Op-Eds, film, Gays on TV, Television, The L Word