dramatis personae
I have to pick a new favorite.
Twelve of the last 48 hours at my house have been spent watching "The L Word: Season Three," and now that we're caught up for next season's premiere, I have one big question: Who's my favorite now?
They killed off tennis-star Dana, who was, hands down, the best of the bunch: She was goofy, funny and neurotic, and she was good to her friends. Dana was, like the others, glossy and sophisticated and impossibly good-looking, but there was a depth of truth in her that was unmatched in the rest of The Planet's denizens. She was able to be ideal and real at once.
But the writers were looking for a new creative challenge, so they saddled Dana with cancer and killed her off in the tenth episode. The storyline was, of course, convincing and depressing -- tears flooded my home for the last three eppies -- but now there's a very large void for the "L Word" crew to fill: the role of my favorite character.
An early prediction would be Helena, the sheltered heiress who was portrayed as manipulative and evil in the second season but much more human in the third. The others -- both Bette and Tina, who were my early favorites but got too psychotic; Shane, who's on my bad list for hurting Carmen in the finale; Kit, who I can tell is going to hit bottom again; and even Max, who's being hurt by the one character I wish would leave the show already, self-absorbed Jenny -- are all too love-them-AND-hate-them to rank first in my heart.
There's only one who can really compete with Helena -- Dana's best friend, Alice, who's also warm and real and funny. Let the competition begin.
Oh, wait. Season Four doesn't kick off 'til 2007.
Until then, well, there are always other shows.