Wow, this was a fast 8 weeks! We’re about to be on hiatus again as fans. It’ll give us time to go back and re-watch and re-analyze everything :-)
SUMMARY
Tensions run high on election night as Bette and Dani await the results, Shane and Quiara go through their most difficult challenge yet, and Alice takes a big swing on her show. Meanwhile, Sophie and Dani consider another big step in their relationship, Finley is forced to stop running from her past and confront her feelings, and Micah is dealt an unexpected bombshell about José. Season finale.
Release Date:
26 January 2020
Directed by
| Marja-Lewis Ryan | ||
Writing Credits
| Marja-Lewis Ryan | … | (developed by) |
| Ilene Chaiken | … | (created by) and |
| Kathy Greenberg | … | (created by) & |
| Michele Abbott | … | (created by) |
| Thomas Page McBee | … | (story editor) |
| Allie Romano | ||
 |
Jacqueline Toboni | … | Sarah Finley |
 |
Jennifer Beals | … | Bette Porter |
 |
Katherine Moennig | … | Shane McCutcheon |
 |
Sepideh Moafi | … | Gigi |
 |
Stephanie Allynne | … | Natalie ‘Nat’ Bailey |
 |
Arienne Mandi | … | Dani Nunez |
 |
Leisha Hailey | … | Alice Pieszecki |
 |
Leo Sheng | … | Micah Lee |
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Rosanny Zayas | … | Sophie Suarez |
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Fortune Feimster | … | Heather |
 |
Carlos Leal | … | Rodolfo Nùñez |
 |
Amanda Joy Erickson | … | Waitress |
 |
Diane Yang Kirk | … | Helen |
 |
Joël Dupont | … | Patron |
 |
Nina Gosiengfiao | … | Hostess |
LWordGenQ Season 1 Episode 8 Recap aired 1/26/2020 – Summary by @BAT2012
Lapse in Judgement – Finale
Bette
Episode opens with a big watch party at Dana’s (Shane’s Bar) awaiting the results of Bette’s mayoral race. After much anticipation, and surprising wins in unexpected districts Bette Porter loses the race by a very close margin 48% to Milner’s 52%.
However, he’s a good sport and calls the next morning to offer her to spearhead a task force addressing the opioid crisis in the city. Bette is feeling good about the turnout despite her loss because this will give her the platform to make the difference she’d hoped for as mayor. That is until Dani breaks the news that the offer was a setup. Dani’s father has been supporting Milner against Bette. His self-interest being the expansion of his company, which allowed him to negotiate a deal with Milner months before. Milner’s connection to big pharma was still very deep and present. Dani tells Bette that Milner was using her to make himself look like he gave a shit. Bette is heartbroken and questions if any of what she’s been through was worth it. Dani seems to think so, but we don’t find out why.
Bette has held it together throughout but finally breaks down. Angie comes home to find her sleeping on the couch in the middle of day. She’s appears lethargic. Angie recognizes Bette’s depression saying that she knew it would hit her eventually and that it was okay to be sad. This gets Bette’s attention and she rises from her prone position. Angie asks her to get dressed, she wants to take her somewhere.
They arrive at an overlook. “Do you recognize this place?” Angie asks.
“Of course. We spread some of Auntie Kit’s ashes here. I haven’t been up here since then.”
“I come up here with Jordi, a lot.”
“Well yeah, sometimes. Just when I’m feeling sad about … Aunt Kit or Mama T or.”
“Are you sad about her getting married?”
“Yeah, I guess a tiny part of me always hoped that … you two would get back together. I know it sounds stupid but I …”
“No no no it’s not stupid. I’m really sorry that you saw me like that.”
“It’s okay. You never let yourself be sad.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well mom left, and then Aunt Kit died and like I see you. You just …”
“What?”
“You just kept going.”
“I think … I think that I felt that if I … if I truly let myself grieve then that would mean saying a final goodbye and I wasn’t ready to do that. I guess I just tried to outrun my feelings.”
Bette then tells Angie about the time she went on a silent retreat. Angie laughs asking, “how did that go?” Bette admits it didn’t go well, but she did learn one thing that helped: screaming. She asks Angie to scream with her, but first she must really commit to make it work. Angie agrees and they proceed to scream!!!!
On the way down the path, Bette asks Angie if she and Jordi are having sex. Typical teenager she doesn’t want to talk to her mother about her dating life. Bette proceeds to give her a talk anyway, but Angie soon distracts her when she sees a woman walking a dog. Angie runs up to it and starts petting. Wouldn’t you know it’s a female reporter (Maya) that knows Bette from the campaign. She asks Bette out to dinner on a date. Bette is taken aback but Maya is cool. Just think about it she says, you have my number. Now Angie turns the table on her mother, relentlessly teasing her about the date. She comments that Maya is pretty, and Bette may have found the love of her life. “I see sparks in the air.”
In the closing scene, we see Bette arriving at a restaurant to meet Maya Stevenson for dinner.
In the meantime, Angie is enjoying her new love; she and Jordi share one headset as they are listening to something that makes them giggle.
Shane
Shane is at the watch party when she receives an urgent phone call from Quiara. She finds her wife sitting in the hospital emergency room having not yet seen a doctor. Shane goes ballistic against the receptionist who is going by the process while Quiara is bleeding and spotting. They finally get in to see the doctor, only to find out that Quiara has miscarried. Shane tries to take care of her as best as she knows how, but she can’t comfort her. When Bette asks how she’s doing Shane answers she doesn’t know. Of course, Bette can relate having suffered a similar fate when Tina miscarried their first child. The difference was Bette wanted her baby; Shane didn’t want children.
Quiara finds Shane packing up the baby items.
“What’s all this.”
“That’s just some stuff our friends sent over. I thought you wouldn’t want to see it.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know … um”
“I’m still going to have a baby, Shane. I’m going to try again as soon as I’m ready.”
Shane can’t hide her emotions at the thought of trying again. She half-heartedly agrees but Quiara knows all too well.
“I fucking knew it.”
“You knew what?”
“You were relieved. I lost a baby, and you were relieved.”
Shane protests the accusation. “No no no I was relieved that you were okay.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“What?”
“You win. You get whatever you want.”
“Hold on a second. That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fucking fair Shane.
“Hey, you knew that I didn’t want this, but you showed up pregnant anyway, so what was I supposed to do?”
“You could have been honest from the beginning.”
“I was honest with you.”
“Well then why did you agree to this?”
“Because I love you, and I agreed to do this so I could be with you.”
“Do you want to be with me now?”
“Yeah.”
“So, you’re saying you’d like to try again too?”
“I’m saying that I want to be realistic … and to plan.” Shane is struggling to get the words out and once again Quiara calls her on her bullshit.
“You’re never going to change Shane. No one is ever going to love you because you are incapable of loving anyone but your fucking self”
Quiara walks out after throwing her wedding ring at Shane. The always stoic Shane M. is stunned into silence then crumples to the floor in tears as she holds the ring.
In her final scene Shane is seen driving around in the middle of night. She comes across a stray dog eating garbage. She stops the car and picks him up.
Alice
Alice is at the watch party lamenting to Shane about her love life or lack thereof at the beginning of the episode. She went from one great girlfriend to two girlfriends to no girlfriends. She’s on her phone swiping potential hook-ups, trying to move on, but her heart is aching for Nat.
Since Shane has been called away for Quiara’s emergency and Bette and Dani are embroiled in election results Alice is left to keep an eye on Angelica. The teen asks Alice how old she was when she lost her virginity. Alice keeps avoiding answering the question until Angie tells her that she’ll just ask Shane. Apparently, Alice doesn’t think that’s a good idea, so she confides in Angie that she lost it at 17 to a boy who played her mother’s son on a movie of the week. (You will recall Alice’s mother is an actress).
“What’s a movie of the week?” Alice is stunned at Angie’s reaction that the only take-away she got from Alice’s admission was not knowing what a movie of the week was.
Next, we find Alice with Shane and Bette after their devastating losses (Quiara losing the baby and Bette losing the election) each handling it in their own way. In Bette’s attempt to make Shane feel better she comments that they still have each other and would be there to support her. Alice quips that if her show gets canceled and with her current state of homelessness, she would be around a lot more than she realized before that moment.
In further conversation about recovery Bette says something that sparks a fire in Alice. The next morning, she gathers her staff and crew from the Alice Show and gives everyone a pep-talk.
“… two of my best friends suffered horrible losses last night, and it got me thinking… you know none of us know how things are gonna turn out. Maybe the best thing to do is just … stay true to who we are.”
She tells her team that she “set out to change a few people’s minds about a couple of things”. And if they can’t use this platform to do that then she doesn’t want to be there. She makes up her mind to fuck the viral video and network mandate. They are going to make the show that she wants to make starting with booking Roxane Gay as her guest. Everyone goes in knowing the risk that they may not be renewed for a second season, but they stand behind Alice. “Let’s go down swinging.”
During the interview with her guest Alice asked her guest if someone can be a bad queer. Absolutely she answers then goes on to explain. Alice totally identifies. “I think I might be a bad queer.”
“Oh really, how so?”
“Well I’ve been in a relationship with a really wonderful woman for about two years, and we were really happy, and not too long ago we introduced a third person into our couple.”
“Like a poly situation?”
“With her ex-wife.
“Wow. That’s certainly an original way of getting into polyamory?”
“I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“You think?”
“But that is the queerest thing I could ever do. Right?”
“Oh absolutely. On a scale of one to what the fuck that’s way out there.”
Alice admits she is heartbroken and just wants Nat. Suddenly she hears someone in the audience saying, “I’m here.” It’s Nat who had come to the same conclusion. She only wants Alice.
Alice wants them to stop rolling camera, but Sophie tells them to continue. Alice is obviously stunned; this was not the show she wanted for her final episode but nevertheless she’s not in control and
Nat is determined to say her piece. She tells Alice that she lost a marriage because she was afraid to fight for what she wanted, but she’s not going to make the same mistake twice. She’s in love with Alice and wants them to get back together which they do once Alice makes sure that it’s ‘just her’ that Nat wants.
Jose & Micha
Jose premiers his art show which includes a painting of Micha. He’s kept Micha in suspense, so he sees it for the first time with the public showing. Micha confesses his love to Jose, and Jose reciprocates but then Micha is shocked to find out that Jose is married. His husband is also attending the show. In the end we find Micah back home, and Jose banging on his door pleading with Micha to let him in. “I’m sorry, it’s not what you think.”
Dani & Sophie & Finley
Dani decides she wants to elope with Sophie to Hawaii and purchases tickets for them to leave the next day. Since Bette’s race is over Dani is unemployed and Sophie is on hiatus from the Alice show. When Sophie protests about getting married without their families present, Dana says they will have a big party when they get back from Hawaii. ‘My Moms’ gonna kill me’ Sophie says but reluctantly goes along. In the meantime, she and Finley have talked about the kiss and agreed to forget it ever happened, and not let it mess up their friendship. Finley is good but Sophie isn’t really on board, but she agrees.
Dani has a conversation with her father about her plans to marry Sophie and he still is not comfortable with the idea. Dani thinks it’s because of money, but her father says it’s not.
“Then what is it?”
“I taught you to have ambition and pride, her family is …”
“is loving and kind and supportive”
“I don’t want you to take a step backward.”
“I’m not.”
“Listen. When you are … when you come from a broken family like Sophie that’s the only way you know how to live.”
“She’s not from a broken family.”
“She doesn’t know stability and I’m afraid when things get hard, she’s gonna leave you because that – that’s what she knows.”
“Dad, she’s so much better than that. She’s not gonna leave me. We love each other and we’re good together. I need you to be okay with that.”
Dad says “Okay.” But he’s not onboard.
They change the subject to Dani’s current unemployment status. Dad asks if she wants her old job back. She says she doesn’t need a job, especially after finding out that her father was in bed with Milner to move ahead with their corporate expansion of his pharmaceutical stronghold in Los Angeles. As soon as she hears this, Dani runs to Bette to let her know that Milner’s offer was a set-up.
In the meantime, Sophie acts on her attraction to Finley and they have sex in the Green room on the set of Alice’s show. Later in bed with Dani, Sophie is crying obviously conflicted, but Dani just thinks she’s scared about the wedding and comforts her telling her she will always be there for her.
Finley goes to visit Rebecca (the priest) and confesses that she slept with Sophie. She’s self-recriminating. Rebecca identifies it as shame and tells Finley that she needs to address that.
“How the fuck do you do that?’
“I don’t know. It’s not a cut and dry thing. It is a life-long journey … of cultivating self-worth, self-love.”
When Finley leaves Rebecca’s she returns the bike that she stole in the first episode, and decides she’s going back to Kansas City to attend her sister’s wedding.
It just happened that Finley’s flight is within a few minutes of the flight to Hawaii. Sophie leaves work and heads to the airport. We see Finley boarding her plane and looking back as if she’s expecting someone and we see Dani getting anxious that Sophie has yet to arrive at the gate when their flight is in the final boarding process. The episode ends with Sophie appearing that she’s trying to decide which woman she’s getting on a plane with. Or maybe she’s decided.
That’s the big finally cliff hanger that we are left with.
Ok, i’m ready:
Positive: Bette and Dani not hook up. Great Bette and Angelica scene in the mountains.
Negative: Laurel return only for this? She even didn’t get goodbye scene with Angie? By the way – Angie already know about her intention to get married, so i guess plan to tell her with Bette and Carrie didn’t work.
Bette lost election – it’s good. But know we have Kit’s character was died for what?
And of course – Bette got new girlfriend. And of course she afro-american, how Beals always wanted (Candace, Felicity)
Don’t see match positive for Tibette in the future from all this.
I loved that Bette and Dani didn’t hook up I would have felt embarrassed for Bette. JMO/YMMV
Dani’s father is an unforgiving tool. The majority of cheaters on this show were not from broken homes. Anyone could fall out of love. His daughter has her own issues and unable to give Sophie what she needs. Takes more than a pretty face to sustain a marriage.
Nat…oh Nat. I’m so glad she went to Alice at the end no matter how hokey the plot. Alice is my girl. I hope Gigi comes back cuz girl is fineeeeee.
Loved Bette and the kid moments. Eff you mama T.
Didn’t care for Shane’s ex or wife or whatever. So glad she got a dog. Shane can love.
Finley, who I call Finely… loved her and Sophie. Kicked me right in the feels.
The cliffhanger was whack. Look at me talking like a millennial.
The episode felt sloppy. I know what they were going for, but it just didn’t gel. Can’t wait to see what’s next for them.
I fast forward all of micahs scenes. No hate, I’m just not into dudes. ;)
The biggest takeaway from this soap opera season (it doesn’t qualify as a drama series for me) is that lesbians, gays and trans are all screwed up. The only stable characters were straight parents and children. I’ll also say that Angie became stable after Mama T came to visit.
The major event was that Bette lost the election. I really wanted but didn’t think it would happen this way. Maybe now the writers will concentrate on her emotional well-being. Quite frankly, TLW writers are so politically pretentious that I don’t think that they have given up on Bette’s political career. Her new date won’t be there on S2. I think it was to show that Bette recovered from the loss and to avoid the perception that Bette only has dysfunctional relationships with African American women. I have to say:
Bette and her WTF moments:
– Bette to Shane: I just don’t think that you should make any kind of life changing decisions when you are heartbroken.
– Bette to Dani: I have morals, I have standards.
– Bette to Angie: Take it easy on the f*cking F bombs, OK? (cute, though)
– Dani to Bette: Is this your MO? You do something great and then you f*ck up? (so true!)
Tina was gone and, as I predicted, they skipped the tell-all meeting with Angie. I will keep hoping for Laurel to be back on S2.
It was also good to know that they didn’t magically fix Shane. I never believed that Shane would marry anyone (at best, live together) so the whole divorce storyline was not realistic to me. If, in the TLW world, Bette could spend all that money with professional help and not learn a thing, how could Shane fix her much worse problems on her own? I’m glad that she got a dog, though! The actress who played her wife is too pretty. If she is straight, she will be gone to better shows, just like Carmen.
I always liked Alice so I was happy to see that the throuple ended and she got her partner back! She has a good heart and deserves to be happy. Of all the sex scenes on the show, though, the best one for me was between Nat and Gigi (without Alice). The two actresses had a lot of chemistry, were not afraid, didn’t fake kisses and Gigi actually went for Nat’s nipples, which was the most realistic that I saw in TLW. In most TLW scenes, and for obvious reasons, they pretend to kiss breasts but stay miles away from nipples.
I think that the last scene was a good dramatic way to end the season but I find it unbelievable that anyone who knows her, can seriously fall for Finley. Way too screwed up! But … maybe they want to free Dani for a romance with Bette after all … They keep dropping hints, from the Stendhal syndrome scene, to various scenes of Dani looking at Bette with wonder in her eyes, to the trans man co-worker statement hinting that her loyalty was personal, to Sophie worrying that Bette is hot … I personally think that Bette Porter is too old for romantic relationships with Dani. I have to say, though: JB’s voice is like no other. Bette can woo any young woman with that voice. And Dani seems to have an infatuation with her, maybe because she sees herself in Bette, or because she lost her mother. It may turn sexual for a season.
As usual, I think there were way too many unnecessary characters and too little time to spend on the stories that mattered.
From latest interview Beals to elle.com:
What other romantic partner did you like for Bette?
“Well, the fact is, there’s only Tina. I loved working with Marlee Matlin, and I think that Bette learns so much from Jodi. But the fact is, the love of her life is Tina, and she’s just too foolish to figure out how to handle that.”
Certainly true.
As both Jennifer & Laurel have stated in other interviews for this season, they “hope that Tina & Bette will find a way back to each other”
Meaning – it will happen, but not immediately. They want their characters to experience more growth & fix their problems.
Laurel has stated that she is available for part of season 2. She only has committed to 1 art show in 2020, so she’ll have time to act for season 2.
That’s my HOPE!!!!!
Yeah, but i see a problem with Laurel timing. She has exhibit in London 24-26 of July. Of course before that she’ll be busy by organization. So she’ll have time only in august.
I don’r really remember when they start and finish shooting season 1 of GQ – all summer maybe?
So, we’ll see.
And about interview – of course Jennifer sometimes hazy in it, but i still like that she said ” IS Tina”, and not “WAS Tina”
I think Laurel Holloman will be back and Tibette will be together eventually, but Bette will have romances. From Laurel’s interview with the Advocate:
As for whether or not Holloman will reappear as Tina on Generation Q, she doesn’t make it sound as though it’s out of the question.
“I’ve gotten to have a whole global view of the world, and travel and do other things,” Holloman says of her art career. “If possible, now I might just try to hybridize it with acting. We’ll see what happens.”
Jennifer also said in previous interview that she how producer make sure that they have all time from Laurel schedule, as possible.
I think Laurel will be in s2. For me main question – for how many episodes?
About the newbies, I think that Jacqueline Toboni is a star. I actually looked for interviews of hers from the past to see how much like the character she is and she seemed to be quite different. She made Finley a very likable character, despite being completely screwed up. Her scenes of drunk Finley are perfect in my view. But, is she going to be another Shane? Two seasons of that mess will become old soon. Emotional growth never seems to happen in TLW.
I also liked the actress who played Rebecca, the priest. Very real in her acting. It would be nice if she came back and she helped Finley grow.
Dani & Sophie have a race difference (besides having a class difference) which is not being addressed. Being Hispanic is not enough. Their heritage is from different countries and different backgrounds. Dani represents the white, wealthy, European Hispanic culture. Sophie represents the blue collar, Afro-Native American Hispanic culture. Rosanny Zayas as Sophie also impressed me. I liked that she showed the different aspects of Sophie’s personality. How she would be playful, with a more Jenny-from-the-block Hispanic accent among friends and how she would change her accent in business meetings to a more refined and professional one. She mentioned grad school. That made it more believable that a person like Dani, who is so Bette Porter like privileged in her background, would fall for Jenny-from-the-block Sophie. Sophie has a fun side that Dani’s introspection needs.
I hope that, in S2, they come back from Hawaii without having gotten married, or even broken up. If they actually got married without Sophie telling Dani about the cheating, that will be worse than B&T – a total mess.
Why did Dani have to be the one to ask Sophie to marry her? The friends and Sophie kept teasing her about it. I don’t like these stereotypes. But Sophie was not giving anything to Dani when it came to the wedding. She wanted a party the way her family did. Well, that was not Dani’s world and Dani either did not know what she wanted or did not impose her wishes.
Having the trans female actress act as a cis lesbian waitress in Shane’s bar didn’t do it for me. I could immediately tell that she was trans. That voice is not female.
The African American actor who played Bette’s male assistant said in the story that he was a trans man. That was surprising to me. I still see him as a cis man. Is he a trans actor?
Gigi is a more interesting character than Nat and more in line with Alice’s past attractions. Lewis-Ryan’s wife is a psychologist or psychiatrist, like Nat.
I really like the actor who played Dani’s father. Solid! Sophie’s family was kind of a repeat of Carmen’s but less stereotypical. .
As for Micah … I know that there are trans men who become gay men, Warren Beatty’s trans son being such a case. I understand that a girl may see herself as a lesbian and later realize that she is a trans man. I get that after becoming a trans man, he may be sexually rejected by straight women and lesbians, and that people are fluid and need love after all. But I would see that trans man as falling for an understanding gay man like Jose, and slowly achieving sexual satisfaction with him by allowing him to touch his vaginal area. What I find unbelievably sad is that he would be on grindr having raw casual sex with gay men and still being so private about any touching of his female erogenous zones or, as in the first experience with Jose, just being content in giving hand jobs to gay men. I really liked Jose until the last scene … I hope that there is a good explanation but it may be the last of Jose.
There is a school of thought that sexuality is gender specific in some, meaning if they are female they will be attracted to female, male to male… hormones are a funny thing. Not saying this is everyone’s reality….
Because of the rush job to get as much into 8 episodes as possible, we really don’t know Tess’s full story. She may end up playing a trans woman on the show, but how great if she doesn’t? I like it. I also read Jordi is trans in real life. How groundbreaking to have trans actresses just be the actresses they are and drop the trans. Micah’s story is one of a trans man, so they had to give him back story. Up front.
Can’t wait for next season. I’m hooked.
Tess … I believe she is cis since I don’t think a waitress would have the money to fully transition and she had sex with Finley without any discussion of body parts. I know that there is a big movement to give roles to trans but they have to be believable, otherwise, we can’t look past that. Tess looks female until she speaks. One would not hire Quiara to play a Nordic European woman. Jordi looks cis, so it doesn’t matter that the actress is trans. She clearly transitioned before puberty.
Yes, I was thinking she didn’t say anything to Finley about it so she must be cis. There seems to be a mystery to Jordi’s story.
Although, I don’t want to be socially ignorant about it either, some trans women, from what I hear, you can’t tell. The voice is deep, but so is Shane’s. Not that deep, but, you get the idea. :)
i have liked the show more than i thought i would.
fell in love with Shane this season
my love for Bette has not gone away.
Huge shout out to Jordan Hull who plays Angie – she is 17 – cannot be easy to play against a great actress like Jennifer and lets face it – there were actresses in the original who couldnt act for toffee. Bette and Angie’s scene up in the hills was so natural and they looked very comfortable
Bette with Dr Cam from Bones – hell yes
Yesterday Leisha,Kate and Jenn were astonishingly good
i like the newbies – yes Gigi is more interesting than Nat
season 2 needs one or two Peabody’s – Jenn has said she loved working with Holland
so what shall we all talk about for 10 months ??
We talk about all those entertaining, heart-wrenching, beautiful, brilliant, wonderful, sexy, soulful Tibette-stories that creative, talented, amazing writers like yourself will give to us. Whether The L Word or the L Word Gen Q as long there are Tina and Bette as the happy couple at the end :-)
Sounds good to me. :)
I don’t share the same feelings about Shane or her storyline so far. . I didn’t buy the whole hairdresser mogul or marriage stories. Hairdressing is a field dominated by flashy gay men. I would like to see the day that a butchy lesbian will be trusted by straight women around the world with caring for their hair. Particularly, one who hasn’t changed her own haircut in 10 years, as you pointed out. Of all the characters, she was the least ambitious. I would be content with her turning into a bar owner pretty much like Kit turned into one..
She is very good with Angie and has a warm heart. But I feel that she and Bette are two dysfunctional people patting each other on the back and telling each other that it is OK to be dysfunctional. After 7 seasons of TLW, it is tiring to see how they can’t help each other. At this point, I’m more in line with Alice’s frustration..
I agree Ally, I liked the show more than I thought I would as well.
I truly liked Shane’s story and saw some growth. The honest conversation she had last night showed me she’s trying to communicate. That’s all I’ve ever wanted was to show some growth for these amazing characters and those that play them. Being honest bit her hard but I hope she remains on a path to being open and showing maturity.
I’m glad that Alice wants to be boring. They honestly always use her as a messenger for what I call “the word of the day” so when she said she wanted boring….I was in. I hope they let Leisha play more on the dramatic side because when our beloved Dana died Leisha was amazing with that storyline. Still not feeling the chemistry with Nat but maybe they’ll grow on me.
I agree I love Angie….she has a lot of chemistry with Jennifer Beals and that helps.
Not too sure how I feel about Bette losing and then going out on a date. My TiBette heart aches but I really don’t want them together if they don’t work at it. I’m tired of the rinse and repeat. LOL. If Tina plays more of a role next season because Laurel can, I want them to really work at it or don’t be together.
Dani and Sophie….ugh. Dani deserves better. Honestly I really like the character Dani and assumed they’d hook her up with Bette. Sophie and Findley seem more suited for one another and it’s easier for Sophie. She seems to party more than Dani and again, I don’t find her giving herself to the relationship. Just taking honestly. Glad they addressed Findley leaking the bike but seriously where is her car?!
The big shocker for me was Jose!! I was like…say what?!?! He did NOT just say husband but sadly the random guy did.!
Okay…..so what happened in Episode 8 that would make you scream at the TV? That was what Ryan promised, did she deliver?
I didn’t scream at the TV on epi 8. But I said WOW! I thought it was a clever and somewhat dramatic ending. The song playing is Pink’s “What about us” and it shows scenes of all the characters, including Sophie in a taxi playing with her engagement ring in her hand and looking pensive, Shane saving a dog from the streets and supposedly driving home with it, Bette entering a restaurant for a date with an African American reporter, Angie and Jordi watching a movie and smiling and Alice kissing Nat . But it ends with Sophie entering the airport and checking the departure monitor, where she sees the flight to Hawaii that she is supposed to take with Dani and the flight to Kansas City that Finley is taking to go home. Sophie looks pensive and then rushes to catch a flight. Meanwhile, Dani is waiting for her at the gate and the flight is on the last boarding call. She looks concerned. And Finley is almost entering the gate and, for some reason, she looks back. Then Sophie comes running,and stops with a smile, and sighs. We don’t know at which gate she is..
My opinion, by the way: she is meeting Dani. And I hope she tells her about cheating before their planned wedding.
I agree about Sophie meeting up with Dani. However, I’ve got no vested interest in any of these new characters. IMO, none of them are very good actors, have limited abilities as actors & haven’t done anything to move me to care about their story lines.
Gigi is the only one that has shown some range of character & can hold her own against Alice in their scenes together.
Absolutely agree. For me from all new characters they need leave only Angelica, and if all others they would change – the show don’t lose anything.
IMO, the only new characters to keep would be Angie, Jordi (liked her), Tina, Gigi( with Alice instead of Nat) & Q.
All the others – see ya!!!!
Finley can stay in Kansas City, Dani can stay in Hawaii, Micah needs to find a personality anywhere else besides on this show, Nat needs her own psychiatrist, Tess is a mess & needs to go to rehab & get out of the bar business. And get rid of all these other nonsense extra characters that take up space & screen time. Par down the character list & focus on developing the core characters & their lives – Bette, Shane, Alice
Would encourage them to bring back other core characters from the OG as well – like either or both Peabodies – Helena & Peggy.
Looks like Tamara Taylor is committed to another series, so not sure if she will appear again.
I never though that anyone can think that Tina – new character :)
About Jordie – i pass, i think she has bad influence on Angie.
Who is Gigi – one of the Alice wife? Hot one? Than maybe she can stay – return Helena and they can have good chemistry.
About others – honestly don’t even know all their names because in s1 i mostly watch only Bette, Angie, and of course Tina’s scenes.
You’re right about Tina – my bad!!!
Angie has to have someone to interact with in her age group. It would be a way for Bette & Tina to interact about the co-parenting focus they want.
Yes, Gigi is the hot new one!!!
If Bette gets back into the art world, they’ll be new artsy folks for her to interact with – same if they have her pursue another political role.
I think main problem that it’s Marja who is showrunner. And obviously her focus on the this new characters, and not on return old one.
I think she perfectly understand that she needs Tina from OG because of Tibette’s fans in addition to Bete, Shane and Alice, but about another – i don’t know. Shelley in twitter support the show – so she maybe will had guest appearance, but about any others – i doubt.
I think biggest failure for Marja is that audience still love OG much more than new character. In ep 06 and 07 all only talks about Tina and Tibette, in ep 08 all talks about if Bette would won election or not. Who even care which one will choose this Sophie?
You guys are harsh! :D I think the show will be fine. And the ending shows that Bette may not be the center character any longer. The younger crowd will fall in love with the new characters. The question is: who will be the new Bette? Maybe this is an ensemble cast. Marja Lewis-Ryan identifies mostly with Sophie and gave her a lot of airtime and the ending of the season. I hear that she will also be the first face in S2, which implies that they may have already filmed that scene. Finley was the one who got the most airtime but she is such a mess that something needs to happen before she becomes the star of the show. Remember, Lewis-Ryan is writing this for her 16 year old self, so where are the positive storylines? So far, only Angie. A lot of good actors in the new crowd, starting with Finley, Sophie and Angie.
I don’t agree with you – for me obviously that this show still caring only 3 OG and in the middle of season they get burst from Tina’s appearance.
The ratings are not good. I always say that this show will get the second season – only because Showtime always allow second season to all show. But many of them they canceled after s2, with ratings close to s1 Gen. Q.
And like we know usually s2 get worse ratings then s1 – so i’m absolutely not sure that this show will be fine.
For my opinion Marja very weak showrunner, even Ilene was better. In additional – main new characters absolutely don’t have chemistry together. Weak storyline, bad actors and no chemistry – this my verdict.
Speaking of audience … it may not be as high as the OG TLW on TV, but it may get a lot of money from streaming. One thing about this new show is that not everyone is hot and not everyone is white, and there are a lot of mixed-race couples. The first TLW was an all-white, traditionally beautiful cast of lesbian characters. So, there may be a reaction to that because the majority of the US population is white and people tend to identify with their own. Even non-whites are used to traditional standards of European beauty. And there is racism in the US (and in Europe, and in Latin America too). I think Marja Lewis-Ryan is very brave to give Sophie that kind of prominence. Sophie is not hot by most accounts, and she is not white, but she is such a delightful character. I applaud Lewis-Ryan for that.
You know, TLW was an eye-opening experience for me about where the fan base lies. All the other shows were straight, so there would be a fan base for the male and the female characters of a couple. And obviously, everyone likes beauty. In TLW, with an all-female cast and mostly female audience, it was disturbing to see how Bette and Shane were the loved ones from the first episode, and fiercely defended by fans, no matter their flaws. No, kidding: JB and KM were hot! :D Poor LH had to become friendly with the fans for Tina not to be stoned, most of the time! JB and KM never even cared to be accessible to fans, so it was clearly their hotness that reigned supreme! :D I don’t know why I expected more from a female audience, but … oh well! If people still want that kind of hotness … it may not be in Gen Q yet.
Actors not always need to be hot – they need aura and need to ability to act.
Sorry for analogy, but Meryl Streep, Al Pacino or De Niro never been hot. It’s not necessity. What necessity – it’s ability to act on the screen. I never see that from new characters.
And second – good show – it’s not only get ona person from every race, every color, one from each letter of LGBT and show them on the screen. It’s much more than that. In GQ – i don’t see this “more”.
Yeah, that’s a poor analogy, Zhenya. Because none of the OG actresses were great.. Everyone had strengths and weaknesses. The new cast has good acting too.
They were first who came to my had, i hope you get analogy. For actors important to act, they not supermodels.
About new cast – i guess we have agree to disagree on this – i don’t see talent in anyone of them
In addition – if Marja wants to develop new characters – it’s fine. But – You don’t alienate your core fanbase (from TLW). You nurture it (without letting it direct your storylines), and you build onto it with your new characters. You let them win over the audience instead of pushing them out onto the audience.
And she literally pushing the new character in our faces. When i want to know why Tibette divorced – i see Finley’s armpits. When i want to see scene goodbye between Tina and Angelica, or want to know what happen to Helena or Tasha – i see Dani with single face expression every time.
I will echo Ally and Gumby in that I liked the show a lot more than I thought I would. Like I said before, I had no interest in watching the new show, but fortunately for me, Ally talked me into it.
For this first season, I liked the music a lot more this time around. Last time, the music was good as well, until they brought Betty on, then it went to shit. I also love that they are actually shooting in LA rather than Vancouver. Don’t get me wrong, I love Vancouver and spent a lot of time there as a kid, but they live in LA, so shoot in LA!
As for the characters, I disagree with the person who said the new actors don’t act that well. I have one word for you…Max. And, for as much as we love Tina, Laurel Holloman has a tendency to over act at times, so I have no issue with the acting abilities of the new actors.
Love Angie, and I love that she has both a joint and individual relationships with both her parents. She is able to share things with Tina, like kissing Jordi, that maybe she would rather not share with Bette, and she is able to share things with Bette that she isn’t comfortable sharing with Tina. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be. Love that.
Bette, I like that she is not as bombastic this time around. Oh, she’s still the queen of the f-bomb, but she has calmed in the last 10 years and I like that. She is still as fucked up as she was, but she comes at it calmer if that makes sense. LOL
Alice, I think she has corralled her craziness over the last decade. She has taken what was an annoying gossip and got to know at all costs habit and turned it into a healthy curiosity. I hated Alice the first time around, but this Alice I really enjoyed…except for that stupid threesome. I’m the only one who seems to like her with Nat. Gigi is wonderful, but let’s find someone else for her and leave Alice trying to work through raising children with Nat.
Micah…I loved that they brought on an actual trans man to play this character. Does anyone remember Daniela Sea wearing a beard? I just wish his character would feel better about who he is and have more confidence. He spent the entire season looking up at men with these puppy dog eyes hoping he was good enough.
Finley, as much as the thought of Finley and Sophie sounds fun, this is a woman who admitted that she doesn’t even like herself. She has serious alcohol and religion problems and needs to get some help before she could be anyone’s partner.
Sophie, I loved this character, mainly because I saw a woman who is comfortable in who she is and where she is in life. She’s responsible and has ambition. Is professional when needed, but still able to play and have fun. There no pretensions with Sophie.
Dani is Bette Porter 15 years ago…watch out.
I loved Rebecca the minister…she was one of my favorites this season, but I know TLW and because she was so good, she won’t be back for season 2.
Shane…Gumby said it best and I agree with her.
As for Bette and Tina…this is the part that separates me from most on this site. TLW deliberately manipulated the fans with the B&T story lines…cheating, breaking up, sleeping around with other women, getting back together, sleeping with men, other relationships, getting back together. Back and forth, back and forth. We wouldn’t put up with this in real life and we certainly wouldn’t want this for anyone of our family and friends, so why would we put up with in on TV? If they get these two characters back together AGAIN, fine…but they better fucking keep them together FOREVER this time, otherwise, I’m perfectly happy watching them have relationships with other people. And YES, I do believe they are capable of loving other people and being deliriously happy.
Don’t forget that JB is the queen of overacting but the fans love it. Of all the actresses in the first TLW, the one who never disappointed me was Erin Daniels, from the lighthearted to the dramatic scenes. Of course, Mia had a special talent for emotions but in her career, she seems to repeat weird Jenny a lot, so …
I wonder what the writers meant with the scene of Bette and Dani at the coffee shop.
Dani is upset after a call about the opposition negative propaganda. She loudly speaks.
D – Why has this line not f*cking moved?
Bette, calm and smooth, holding her arm.
B – It’s fine … It’s fine … People can hear you.
D – Sorry …
Was that scene a passing of the baton … as in Dani is the new Bette? I thought it was cute to see Bette correcting an action that would be hers 15 years ago.
Bette at times seems very motherly toward Dani but she also sounds very smooth. Her voice is always down a notch when she talks to Dani and it comes off as very sensual. I think the two actresses are in on the future sexual tension, or at the very least, trying to generate a buzz to promote Dani as her successor.
Yes, music. Forgot to mention that I loved all the songs, all very meaningful, particularly the end of epi 6 when B&T embrace (Bitter), the sex scene between Gigi and Nat on epi 7 (Body Talk), Sophie in the shower (Ass like that) on epi 7, Micah&Jose at the restaurant/Bette cooking for Tina (Riding with me) on epi 7, and the end of the season, with Pink’s “What about us” – perfectly reflective of the current state of politics in the US. There is a site with the soundtrack already.
I loved all the music too. I found myself really loving the Sophie/Finley journey. I think all the girls are beautiful in their own way. I just don’t have the love for Dani some of you do. I also think Bette is too old for her, sorry. Gigi should come back and find love, that actress is very good.
Nat and Alice, that will be interesting to see what they have in store for them since their story was wrapped up. Shane will always get into drama. lol
“Does anyone remember Max?” Bwah!
Btw I’ve watched the Sophie Finley love scene 10 times. I think it’s the cutest thing ever! And I love that song.
Now I’m all thinking about this. lol
I think there are some regrets on the part of the actresses left over from the previous seasons. Jennifer Beals is an advocate of the LGBTQ community now and she never gave up on that after the show. She wants to do right by us, or so I got the sense of during her interviews. This show was a big deal for all of them.
They aren’t making it all about them. You have to look at this as a whole different show, even though I think Tina will be back for the OG fans. Once she’s back the ratings will go through the roof because I don’t think the younger peeps need the show like we did.
Just random thoughts.
We always enjoy your random thoughts! :-)
Hehe thanks, Sea. <3
The ratings that I’ve been following show an increase of 20% on the 18-49 demo but a 10% decrease overall for the last episode. It means that the older crowd just wanted Bette and Tina and that the younger crowd is starting to pick up. This is what TV shows and movies want! It’s a new show and a new audience but they may still need the Tibette crowd. It’s the one with money for subscriptions,
I personally don’t want to parade the old characters. Most were very poorly written, like Helena I only want to know about B&T because they brought Bette back without Tina. Their story was complete in 2009.
After watching Gen Q, I streamed the first epi of the old TLW. OMG, how young they looked! :D I’d rather leave them there.
But you may be right: the young audience has more available to them, so the show better be good.
Not sure if this was already posted here. Jennifer Beals on What’s next for the LWord GenQ
discusses the finale.
https://www.wmagazine.com/story/jennifer-beals-l-word-generation-q/
What’s it like for you and Laurel to work together now? Is it different?
Not at all. It’s like no time has passed at all. Zero time. It’s just really simple, you know? Almost like a shorthand. And I love that Deirdra put her in leather pants. It was so fantastic. She walked in the door like part angel, part baller. It was incredible.
Do you know if Laurel will be more available next season?
If I have anything to say about it, yes. [Laughs.] If I have to drag her!
Have you started work on season 2 at all?
No, we haven’t started talking about the story too much. But I did talk to Laurel, and she said she would definitely be open to it, if her schedule allows it.
Now that we know what happened, I would encourage people on this site to go to the showtime site and consider a subscription. It’s a little more than $10 for a full month. You can watch a lot in a month, including the old TLW. I’m sure that you are paying a lot more for you cell phone. They even have a free subscription for a week. Please overcome your Tibette angst and support the community so that other shows can happen. There is hope for Tibette and this show is promising. The community can’t be too choosy and needs to stick together to advance and have options in the future.
I have to admit I have a lot of mixed feelings about how this show turned out. As I mentioned before Bette and Shane were the main reason I stuck around for the full eight episodes and sadly both their story lines ended in losses.
I wasn’t really surprised that Quiara had a miscarriage because God forbid they would allow a healthy pregnancy, much less a happy family unit in the LWorld. It’s just easier to destroy everything so they don’t need to get too deep. However even though I know grief played a huge part in how Quiara reacted to Shane, she was really vicious and hateful which I thought was a bit out of character (surprise surprise). She seemed to know Shane so well and for someone that didn’t expect Shane to change especially when she said she didn’t need Shane to have her baby, then to accuse her of not being honest or capable of being loved that was brutal. It seemed to me that their entire relationship was about honesty and love between them but I guess when things got hard the truth surfaced. By next season Shane will be back to having sex with every woman she comes in contact with and the bar will become a haven for hook-ups. I really wanted to believe that Shane had grown up and matured. It would have been refreshing instead of predictable.
Bette being the mayor of Los Angeles in subsequent seasons didn’t really seem likely so her loss wasn’t too surprising but it seems like such a waste of airspace to have her go through the campaign focused on her sexual scandals instead of making some head-way on her causes. She could have been so much more effective if at the end of the day we saw her actually helped those homeless kids or moved the dial on the fight against drug companies. She talked a big game but at the end of the day she did disappoint those kids, and she did fail Kit and now she’s off to start another ill-advised romance with Felicity#2. If Maya sticks around then we have to deal with the Bette and Tina angst. Either they will both be dating or marrying other women, or one will be available when the other one is not and so it goes.
Angie wasn’t my favorite character in the first few episodes but I must say I liked her a lot more after the episode with Tina. Maybe her life changed and she was happier now being in public school, having a girlfriend and getting some independence from Bette’s stronghold but I definitely saw some majority in the actress playing the part. I loved the scene where she and Bette were at the overlook, they skirted the conversation about Tina but the reference to the silent retreat and screaming was awesome.
Alice, definitely like her best in the final episode.
I think Dani needed to listen to her father about Sophie and if Dani was honest she would admit to the same fears. She said it herself in a previous episode when she told Sophie that it scared her how easily Sophie left her previous girlfriend to be with Dani. I think what Dani’s father also meant was that Dani was hard to be with, and she would easily drive someone away if they were not a match for her. Sophie’s affair with Finley just proved his point.
Micah and Jose – I have to go back to the earlier episodes but I think Jose’s husband appeared before lounging at the pool of their apartment the day when Jose broke his date with Micah and told him that something came up. I had a suspicion it had something to do with that guy. Once again it wouldn’t be the LWorld unless every character either cheated or got cheated on so no surprises there.
As for Sophie and Finley or Sophie and Dani – I could care less who she met at the airport. I can’t believe that was the big suspense that’s supposed to keep us on the edge of our seats for 10 months until the second season starts.
If Sophie is supposed to be the anchor for the new characters I just don’t see it. She annoyed me with her whining, and she didn’t convince me that she was a producer on Alice’s show. Finley was a total joke. For someone that works, she is basically homeless and mooches off everyone she comes in contact with but it was interesting to see that she can afford Calvin Klein underwear :-)
We learn more from Jordan Hull’s interview with MEA Worldwide. It was Jordan’s first job and she seems very mature in her answers. Apparently, Angie was back and forth between the two moms before moving to LA for sure. Amazing how the show doesn’t tell us the backstory that the actors were told.
“[Audiences] get to see how at the beginning of the season, just the divorce, Bette and Angie just don’t know how to like deal with each other. They were in immense pain and things were hard for them,” she shares.
And especially for the teen. “The impact of the divorce was a lot cause there’s one heartache after another (as she moves between Mama T in Toronto and finally coming to live with Mama B in Los Angeles). That was severe,” Hull tells us.
The rapport Beals and Hull share on the show is fluid, which comes from the numerous lunches and dinners the actresses shared before the filming. (JB and LH also did this in TLW.)
“And then being on the sets — being able to slowly build Angie’s and Bette’s relationship with the two characters skidding alongside each other — felt so organic,” Hull tells us.
Hull asked several acting pointers to Beal so much so that there came a point when she felt she was being annoying. “After a scene (with Jennifer), I would ask her so many things about acting. She was so patient and so helpful with that.”
Hull told MEAWW (about the 3 OG’s). “Just being in their presence and working will elevate you no matter what because all three of them have their own distinctive qualities on how they work and what works for them and what doesn’t. I got such a stark variety and that was amazing.”
Totally agree about the back stories – they are non existent to the fans. You are right that we have learned so much about the characters thru the interviews with the actors.
For the Porters/Kennard, we were lead to believe that Tina just abandoned Angie to Bette & moved away to Toronto. Well, now we know that’s not true.
But if we think back to the OG show, there wasn’t a lot of explanations either in some instances. We never found out anything about Tina’s life or family. Personally, I think that was Ilene who made that decision because she had no intention of continuing with Tina’s character beyond the first season.
Thanks for the posting of the article.
It completely changed my view on Angie’s behavior during the first episodes. Because, if she were living with Bette for 2 years, that would be bad behavior. But, apparently, she just started living full-time with Bette and she is reacting to that, and missing her other mom, who was her closest parent until then. And she and Bette don’t have the same closeness. So, when she says: “I want to live with Mama T!” – it was out of pain and possibly her desire at the time, not necessarily just being a brat.
As for IC and Tina, I don’t know what happened, and if it had to do with IC’s own divorce. Tina’s side of the story was never properly told and it is still not properly told in Gen Q.
Agree with you on these points.
Think IC wanted Bette to be the player & split with Tina permanently
However, several factors forced her hand to rethink that path –
1 – the unbelievable & undeniable chemistry between Jen & Laurel
2- the huge following for Tibette that arose
3 – Jen & Laurel’s desire to stay connected even though their relationship went through lots of turmoil
4- Laurel’s real life pregnancy & their desire to work that into show
Hopefully Jen & Laurel will win out for season 2 & reunite Tibette
Thanks
@collins, @dbff
The interviews definitely give more insights but this is not what is being portrayed on the show or in the dialogue. If the actresses know their storylines I wish they would be more vocal with the writers and show runners to get it right. This is a bad reflection on them too if they are acting a part not consistent with the script. I would hope that Jennifer, Leisha, and Kate as executive producers would play a larger role in the quality of the program they are producing.
I agree that it was poor quality writing: essential information was missing in the dialogues. I believe that their decision to keep the fans in the dark about Tina and Kit contributed to this failure. The first 5 episodes were vague, and JB and Marja were more than vague about Tibette in their interviews. Later, on epi 6, they failed to correct the problem.
When I looked back, based on Jordan’s interview, I could better understand several dialogues. Besides Bette&Angie’s arguments and Angie’s unhappiness at school, I also wondered: why was Tina thanking Bette for creating space for Angie 2 years later? Why was Bette so clueless about Angie after 2 years? How come Tina said that she would get nervous while teaching Angie to drive? Why was Angie asking Tina 2 years later why she was away?
We still don’t know their story. When did Bette move to LA? When did Tina go to Toronto? Has Angie been with Bette since August, when the school year started? One or two phrases could establish the timeline. For example, Tina could have said: “Thank you for creating space for Angie after my move to Toronto. It hasn’t been easy being away from her these past X months.”
dbff, I think I may re-watch the early episodes with a less critical eye and maybe garner some understanding of what they were trying to do and failed instead of what they actually did.
In the scene when Bette and Angie had the argument Angie also said how difficult it was to be Bette’s daughter and something like Bette’s actions ruining her life. Considering at that point all she found out was that Bette had an affair and Jordi was the only one with her could it be that this was a recurring situation where Bette did things without regard for the impact it would have on Angie, or was it social media that exploded that made Angie a target of ridicule that upset her so much? She said she wanted to live with Mama T – was that because Tina’s world was less explosive and she didn’t make waves or cause controversy like Bette does?
I know Angie had the fight at school because of what the girl said about Bette but it seems Angie’s anger was too intense to be just about the affair. Granted she was high, so that might have intensified it but I think there is also history of maybe Bette not being a great role model for Angie or able to deal with her internal struggles because she can’t relate as much as she thinks she can..
I’m very sensitive about bringing race into the conversation but I think there were some underlying nuances between them about being bi-racial. Bette could make her way in the world differently than Angie and maybe Bette’s choice of the school she put Angie in didn’t bring that to light until after the fight and the unequal punishment that each of the girls received. .
I also noticed that Angie is very influenced by Jordi, and it wasn’t until Jordi said that Bette was ‘cool’ that Angie started to behave differently and perhaps gained some respect for her. Bette too started seeing things through Angie’s lens when she decided to put her in public school.
It’s just hard for me to believe that after 16 years of raising this child they were still having these types of struggles. It was almost like they froze the past 10 years and picked up again where they left off.
Anyway, good, bad or indifferent they were successful in getting enough support to renew for a second season. We’ll see what they do with that opportunity.
Gen Q permits many interpretations. At this point, I think that the actors’ story is more likely and I don’t want to think of Bette as an incompetent mother for 2 years. Just that, in the family, Tina was the primary mother and Bette never had to deal with Angie by herself until now. (Kramer vs. Kramer, with Meryl Streep & Dustin Hoffman)
In liberal LA, kids are surrounded by the rap and the Kardashian cultures, and less than 50% of the population is white. Racism won’t be that radical. Yes, there would be mean girls but where are Angie’s school friends? Angie is a privileged kid who has a white mother and grew up in the white world of her two mothers. She even has a white best friend/girlfriend. And, according to Bette, she is an excellent student. I feel that she would more easily integrate in that school … unless she hadn’t been there for long.
Angie’s suspension was realistic to me, but not in the way that Bette interpreted it. I attributed it to Bette being a mama bear and using it as a teaching moment about race. Private schools are all about money but violence may be where the line is drawn. Angie hit the girl on the face and deserved her punishment. Racist/mean language would not necessarily get the same punishment, particularly if the girl denied it, and if her parents were very rich. And the girl would never tell the truth about it.
But again, if she had been there for 2 years, shouldn’t she have school friends? And how did she meet Jordi? On social media? I didn’t think much of that “your mom is cool” interaction. It is typical of teenagers their age. But it would also explain that Angie is just “discovering” her Mama B.