Day 15 (Saturday, November 22nd, 2003)

Early Morning as Tim finally gets to read what Jenny was typing and finds it remarkable and powerful as it involves Jenny’s Sarah Shuster analog character maturing past her student days.  This is definitley Saturday as Tim mentions wanting to get something that afternoon before the basketball game he is to be a part of.

Next door, Bette is in the bathroom and discovers that Tina is ovulating again, but finds the home test in the trash, never bothering to mention it to Bette.  At this point, the idea of them starting a family appears to be on hold, which Bette finds depressing as Marcus’s sperm is on ice and ready to be used.

Outside, Tina is on the phone with Alice, who is having some sort of issue with Dana.  The issue in question could be Alice wanting Dana to come out or possibly with Dana taking exception to Alice involving herself in Bette and Tina’s drama.  Either way, Alice has asked Tina to come with her to Milk later tonight.  Tina is certain Shane will be at Milk.  Bette walks out to her car, about to drive off.  Her program, which Tina refers to as an “art talk” is scheduled for 7 PM.  To Tina, it appears Bette is leaving for the CAC a little early.  Tina notices Bette is unhappy and informs Alice she will not be able to go to Milk tonight, instead choosing to be with Bette at the CAC.

Bette drives the Monaro past her sister, Kit who is now riding a bicycle on the sidewalk to meet up with Kit at her apartment.

The Sisters Porter talk in Kit’s apartment and Kit’s musicianship is hinted at with the 2 guitars in view at one point.  Kit admits to past mistakes that involves running away.  Bette and Kit’s relationship up until this point appears to have been strained and this is the first, true familial moment between them in some considerable time.

Later in the evening, Alice and Dana arrive at Milk in West Hollywood.

Meanwhile, Bette has gone from an all black outfit to an all white one for the Group Of Seven talk with Laurie Papou.

Laurie is a real-life character and the first appear on camera in The L Word.  A Group Of Seven involves a series of paintings by Laurie that provokes (as in Provocations, which will become the running theme at the CAC for the duration of Season 1) the debate between what constitutes the line between art and obscenity.  As Bette talks with Laurie, Tina is seated next to a young man named Beck Bishop, either an aspiring artist himself or someone who’s just a fan of Laurie’s work.  At this moment, Beck is more fixated on hitting on both Tina and Bette, acknowledging their girlfriend relationship.

On the DVD commentary, Ilene and Jennifer make mention of Laurie having recently given birth at the time of the filming and would take breaks to breast feed her newborn baby.  How this would fit into this timeline is uncertain, but still seems worth noting.

At Milk, Alice and Dana discuss the “floating girls, floating bars” situation that has overcome the area.  Dana, who is drinking a martini points to someone across the bar.  Given the direction of Dana’s pointing, it is likely she is pointing either to the lady with short black hair and matching leather jacket or to another lady seated at a table, talking with 2 friends (and laughing as she enjoys a beer).  Given Alice’s eyes wondering to the left at “vicious cycle,” it is likely the woman Dana spots as “cute” is the one with the short black hair.  This would seem to fit as Dana also had a brief fixation with Renee, who also had black hair, but wound up being one of Shane’s many trysts.

“She’s been with two of my exes.  Stayin’ outta that vicious cycle,” is Alice’s reaction while Alice also appears to be having a martini.  The identity of this “vicious cycle” woman is revealed later when Alice unveils her Chart.

Meanwhile, we skip Marina and Jenny’s dinner as they wind up near a swimming pool (something of a running theme).  Marina and Jenny kiss and this time, it lasts a little longer.

At the CAC, Beck is now hitting on both Bette and Tina as the Group Of Seven conversation has ended and people are just looking at Laurie’s artwork.  Bette comes up with the radical notion of bringing Beck with them to their home to donate sperm via sex with Tina, which is an obvious signal of desperation at this point.  Jean-Paul is presumably elsewhere, missing out on his big chance.  Basically, Bette’s about to pimp Tina out in desperation.

At Milk, the girl who appears to have “been around the block a few times” according to Dana has short blondish hair and has no name.  The likeliest scenario is that she could be one of the random names that serves as a constellation on Alice’s chart.  At this point, Shane has joined Alice and Dana.  The woman listed in the credits as New Girl At Milk arrives.  This is also Twink from Episode 204.  Assuming this is the same person, which is exactly what is going to be done here, then Twink is one of 2 women (3 if counting Annie) that splits her time between Los Angeles and New York City, the other being Tess who will make her first appearance in Episode 105, while making her 1st Los Angeles appearance in Episode 108.  More on Tess later.  In terms of Secret History, Twink could be in Los Angeles on a bit of a scouting trip on someone else’s behalf.

This is Twink’s apparent first time being seen in this area as Alice points her out as “new blood.”  Shane refers to her as “fresh meat” and of course, there’s Dana’s “crispay!”  Keep in mind, Alice seems to know or at least knows of practically everyone in West Hollywood, so if she points someone out as being new in town, chances are they’re actually new in town.

While Bette, Tina, and Beck arrive for what will be an awkward attempt at a 3-way, Marina and Jenny are becoming sexually intimate at Marina’s house.  Jenny’s emotions at one point become mixed with arousal and guilt.  At Bette & Tina’s, Beck will leave in disgust after realizing why they don’t want him using a condom.

As Beck leaves off on his motorcycle, Jenny arrives home next door, having borrowed Tim’s Firebird.  This means Tim wound up having to hitch a ride to the game, most probably with Randy.

Alice, Dana, Shane, and Twink exit Milk together with Shane and Twink heading in one direction and Alice and Dana heading in the other.  According to Ilene on the DVD commentary, Milk is actually a place called the Revolver in Los Angeles, serving as its analog and would be placed on Santa Monica Boulevard.  Next to it is A Different Light book store, complete with gay pride flag on the window.  The bookstore would close down in 2009.

As for the location of the California Arts Center, given that the CAC is considered one of the smaller museums as Season 1 progresses would indicate that it would be closer to Bette and Tina’s home, meaning it would be somewhere on Santa Monica Boulevard, not far down the street from The Planet, and possibly next to West Hollywood Gateway, located at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and North La Brea Avenue.  This also means that the CAC doesn’t appear to necessarily represent an analog for any of the other museums in the area, 2 of which will be mentioned by name in Episode 103.

Anyway, back to Milk.  Shane wants Alice to call her later, possibly as a way for Shane to leave Twink behind after they’re done with sex.  It will appear that call never comes as Alice will start delving into her Chart after introducing it to Dana a little later on.  Also, Alice and Dana agree never to have sex, which makes clear to the audience that they will eventually do just that, specifically Episode 205.

Bette and Tina engage in some sexual intimacy with Beck gone.

Tim is already in bed sleeping as Jenny arrives, overwhelmed with guilt.  How well Tim did at his basketball game is never revealed.

Our first glimpse at Alice’s apartment as Alice is a smoker at this point (she will have apparently quit by Season 2).  Dana admits to having slept with 2 girls in her lifetime.  This is also the audience’s introduction to the Chart.

“The counselor at tennis camp” when Dana was 15 will be referred to as “Ralph” though in Episode 112, a flashback to this brief affair will reveal via the power of lip reading through the censor that the counselor’s name appears to be Stephanie, and is apparently famous according to Dana.  The other girl is Melanie, which will be revealed fully as Melanie Caplan.  Melanie will make a brief appearance with the girl eventually known as Marta in Episode 209.

The idea is to link Dana to Alice (a link which becomes a little more direct via kiss at the end of Season 1).  For now however, the link goes from Dana to Melanie, whom she slept with and quite probably had only a brief relationship with to Heather (slept with Melanie) to Brooke (slept with Heather) to Nina (slept with Brooke) to Alice (slept with Nina).  The result is it takes 4 people to link Dana to Alice.

Linking Alice to Tina is easier since Alice and Bette are exes, which Alice shows in her Chart scribbling, giving Dana a much better understanding of how The Chart works.

Mandy is next and for the sake of argument is the lady from the swimming pool.  This means that Dana also knows Mandy and may have even been friends with her prior to the swimming pool romp with Shane, which Alice helpfully points out.  There is a probability that Dana had a fixation on Mandy, similar to the one with Renee, only for Shane to be in the way.  Considering this could be a possible pattern that Shane’s oblivious to, it may explain Dana’s earlier resentments of Shane in this episode.  What Dana wants, Shane gets instead.  Winding up with Lara will probably feel like a major victory to Dana.