Day 4 (Saturday, October 18th, 2003)

We go straight to Saturday Night with Kit (Bette’s sister) being introduced to the audience, being pulled over in front of the Hollywood Wax Museum, located on Hollywood Boulevard, Northeast of where Bette and Tina live.  Kit’s car is possibly a 1970s model that people in the 21st Century normally use for demolition derbies.  A car expert reading this is welcome to help out with car that is.  They are across the street from the Hollywood Guinness Museum of World Records.  The officer has a name tag that isn’t very clear.  Kit has a California license.  Kit was on her “first paying gig in over a year.”  That gig will be revealed to be at the Roxy Theatre, located on Sunset Boulevard.  The Roxy is also between a couple of other notable establishments, the Rainbow Bar & Grill and the Whiskey-A-Go-Go.

Bette & Tina’s Party, also known as The L Word’s version of Back To The Future’s Enchanment Under The Sea Dance.  This party is the focal point of the L-Universe’s space-time continuum.  Lives are forever changed from this gathering in the quest for a donor.  The couple arguing is Kerry and Lori.  It is likely that Kerry was Shane’s client back on Wednesday at The Planet.

Before getting to the main plotline, there is something interesting with Kerry and Lori here.  Kerry has just met with Shane earlier in the week.  Lori is chastising Kerry with, “You are so overreacting, she is our friend.”  Kerry responds with, “Like that’s ever stopped you before.”  The reason why this has an intriguing factor to it is a moment that occurs in the next episode (Episode 103) where Lori walks up to Shane before being interrupted by Lacey (who we are about to be introduced to here).  Kerry and Lori are at the party, which means they were likely invited by Alice who may have played a role in Kerry and Shane meeting up at The Planet.  It is possible that Kerry and Lori also know Mandy, who was recently in the pool with Shane, and leading to Kerry being a client for Shane, getting word that Mandy is actually interested in someone else, that someone else being Lori and Kerry not approving of the idea of Lori going off to have a tryst with Mandy, which if all this is true (it’s just a theory, honestly) means that Lori and Mandy got it on, leading to her breakup with Kerry and both going their separate ways, but not before Lori becoming curious about Shane’s sexual prowess which is then interrupted by Lacey, whom Kerry may also be friends with.  However that’s all secret history stuff and ultimately, just there to serve as a setup for a punchline delivered by Bette and Alice, who themselves will turn out to be ex-lovers.  Also in the background during this is Dana, talking to someone unseen to the audience.

Shane arrives with Bette further establishing Shane’s character as Lacey soon arrives.  Lacey leaves as Tim and Jenny arrive.  This means that Jenny has seen Shane and has heard about Shane before properly meeting her.  Before being properly introduced to the Group Of Friends, Jenny is warned of danger, specifically Shane, who will eventually break Jenny’s heart (Episode 512) and lead to the downward spiral and possibly Jenny’s death (Season 6).

So far, this episode is an exercise in accidental prophecy.  It is likely that Annie, Bette’s friend and curator is also at this party, being portrayed by one of the extras (though not necessarily Shane’s Redhead).  The disconnect between neighbor friends Tim and the couple, Bette and Tina is made apparent with Tim meeting Dana.  Tim mentions being a huge fan of Dana and Dana almost beating Jennifer Capriati at an event called the Women’s Invitational “last year.”  The “last year” in question is 2002 and if I’m not mistaken will be revealed as much in Season 3 by Moira/Max.  That means that this is definitely 2003 and with this being a Saturday Night gives only a couple of possibilities.  This is either Saturday, October 18th or Saturday, October 25th, 2003.  The 18th would be preferable given the lack of Halloween related decorations or marketing.  Dana introduces Tim to her mixed doubles partner (and pretend boyfriend), Harrison Landy, who is also gay and in the closet.

As far as Capriati goes, 2002 wasn’t too bad for her.  She won the Australian Open that year and was a contender in other tournaments.  Venus and Serena Williams were also showing off their excellence that year with Serena being ranked #1 at the end of the year.  The only events in Los Angeles that year were the JP Morgan Chase Open in August (Capriati was a Quarterfinalist) and  the WTA Championships in November (Capriati was a Semifinalist).  It’s likely that in this L-Universe timeline, the Women’s Invitational served as that timeline’s version of the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami where Capriati finished runner-up to Serena.  It’s possible that in the L-Universe, that was the Women’s Invitational (which for the sake of argument could have also been in Miami) with Dana giving Jennifer such a run for her money in the semifinal round that Jennifer had little left when it came time to challenge Serena.  This would justify Tim referring to Dana as one of the top women’s tennis players, even in a field with Capriati, the Williams Sisters, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, and Anna Kournikova, whom Dana winds up being compared to (and quite possibly for similar reasons as Anna was probably best known on-court for a run she had at one of the major tournaments).

As for why Dana isn’t competing at this point.  Most of the events in October, 2003 were being held overseas.  If this party is taking place on October 18th, 2003 then that means Dana was missing out on events taking place in Austria (Generali Ladies Linz) and Luxembourg (SEAT Open Luxembourg), while the following week would have tournaments in Philadelphia (Advanta Championships) and Quebec City, Canada (Bell Challenge).  Given that Dana is still around after the party, chances are, she’s pretty much done for the year with the lack of sponsorships being a catalyst, something her agent, Conrad Voynow (introduced in Episode 103) will be hard at work on.  Either that or she’s just not that big on traveling.  At this point she should be late 20s which would put her at a point where the career could be getting toward the end anyway.

Back to the party where we’re introduced to Marcy, Marnie, and Marti, who will also be revealed later on to be Shane’s roommates.  They reference the National Enquirer while doing “field research” involving index fingers, ring fingers, and female sexuality.  No word on whether this is actually based on a real National Enquirer item.  If so, it would be from either 2003 or possibly 2002.  No word on who the scientist would be.  Dana refuses to take part, because closet.

Shane eyes the Redhead, whom I’ll refer to as Red for short.  Meanwhile, Annie may or may not still be at this party.

Kit’s license was revoked 6 months ago.  6 months ago had a lot happening in this timeline.  6 months ago, Tina was giving up her job to see if Sean could jerk out some decent sperm for her and Bette, Jenny was beginning her waiting process while finishing up at the University of Chicago as a student, and Kit’s license was revoked.

As a result of missing the gig, Kit will be unable to perform on a bill that also includes Ivan Neville.  Kit also references AA, or Alcoholics Anonymous and she and Ivan going to a meeting together.  No comment on Ivan’s personal issues, however it should be noted that Ivan was busy in 2003, as he had just formed a group that year called Dumpstaphunk.  Dumpstaphunk would make an appearance on Late Show With David Letterman in 2003 and would also tour with his band that year.  The officer doesn’t realize that Ivan is the son and nephew of the Neville Brothers (his father is Aaron Neville) as opposed to being one of the Neville Brothers themselves (though Ivan has performed with them, so there’s that) which Kit will use to her advantage by bribing her way out of serious trouble for the revoked license, in the form of a ticket to the Neville Brothers’ House Of Blues concert “next month.”  Los Angeles does have a House Of Blues and it’s located on Sunset Boulevard.  The officer mentions seeing the Neville Brothers in concert years ago in New Orleans where he was, “stationed,” which implies a military background.  Unfortunatley the officer’s nametag is too blurry to decipher.

At the party, it appears that Tim is aware of Bette and Tina looking for a donor.  Given what Bette is looking for in a donor, it appears Tim never got asked in the previous half-year.  If he was meant to be asked, he will leave the party with Jenny before that idea can be brought about.  Also, Harrison’s turkeybaster joke.