MattH.

HTF DVD Review: The L-Word - The Complete Fourth Season

The Series

Never having seen an episode of The L-Word before getting this DVD set to review, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be familiar enough with the characters to understand their personalities or motivations once I started on the series. I worried needlessly. By the end of the first episode in this 12 episode box set, I felt I had a handle on all of the major characters at play in this slice of Southern California life - lesbian style.

Yes, almost all of the major characters in this Showtime series are either lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered. There is art professor Bette (Jennifer Beals) newly single after her lover of ten years Tina (Laurel Hollomon) has left her for a man. There’s Jenny (Mia Kirshner) who’s a published author and who begins writing a new book based on her friends with their names only slightly changed. Alice (Leisha Hailey) also writes for a magazine and catches the eye of newly gay Phyllis (Cybill Shepherd) who’s coincidentally Bette’s boss. Also part of the family are promiscuous Shane (Katherine Moenning), transitioning Max (Daniela Sea), movie executive Helena (Rachel Shelley) who’s just lost her job, and Bette’s sister Kit (Pam Grier) who has a cheating boy friend.

During the course of the season, almost all of the women embark on affairs of one kind or another. The most interesting by far is Bette’s infatuation with an artist in her college department (Marlee Matlin). Their passionate and painful relationship is quite involving. A negative review of her book sends Jenny into a tailspin and causes her to seek revenge which involves a cruel deception. Desperate for money, Helena embarks on a rather surprising profession, and Alice breaks Phyllis’ heart only to find her own heart tested by her interest in a captain in the military police (Rose Rollins). Shane’s young brother Shay is left on her doorstep by her addicted mother, and Shane’s transformation into a nurturing and caring parent surprises even her.

The writing is not the strongest aspect of The L-Word. The melodramatic plot strands take up far less of the running time than the love scenes which are frequent and as sensual as one can get on pay cable. If girl-on-girl sex is not your thing, The L-Word is not for you. Though many of the actresses on the series are not especially gifted performers, the series is blessed to have some really stunning looking women in the cast, and in the case of Marlee Matlin and Jennifer Beals, two really viable performers which combined with their gorgeous presences make the show palatable even when the drama going on elsewhere in the episode is predictable or irritating. Among the guest stars this season in addition to Cybill Shepherd and Marlee Matlin are Bruce Davison, Eric Roberts, and Heather Matarazzo.

Here are the episodes contained in this set.

1 - Legend in the Making
2 - Livin’ La Vida Loca
3 - Lassoed
4 - Layup
5 - Lez Girls
6 - Luck Be a Lady
7 - Lesson Number One
8 - Lexington and Concord
9 - Lacy Lilting Lyrics
10 - Little Boy Blue
11 - Literary License to Kil
12 - Long Time Coming

Video Quality

The show is broadcast on Showtime in 1080i, and this down converted 480p transfer is problematic. Sharpness never rises far above average, and color looks blockish and often smeared. There is edge enhancement and annoying grain, too, which makes the image bothersome. Blacks aren’t great and shadow detail is also lacking. Color can be bold, but with the sharpness lacking, that sometimes works against image quality. Each episode has been divided into 9 chapters.

Audio Quality

The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound also has problems. Occasionally, there are phase problems where dialog shifts from the center channel to one of the front or rear channels for no reason. Often, the music in the rears is too cranked up to make dialog intelligible in the center channel. And, of course, the rear channels get very little use other than for music cues.

Special Features

Text biographies of all the major actresses on the series are offered as the only real bonus feature on the disc.

Pam Grier and Leisha Hailey make an earnest plea to fans to support the Much Love Animal Rescue operation in a 1½-minute appeal.

A 7-minute feature profiles the Fanlib fiction contest winners. The featurette is in anamorphic widescreen.

An array of winning T-shirt designs sponsored by Fanlib is presented.

Stills from season four of the series are presented in a special section.

The first episodes of Showtime’s The Tudors and Californication are presented in anamorphic widescreen. The former is an hour long biographical melodrama on the life of Henry VIII while the latter is a comedy series about a sexually compulsive Californian.

A trailer on other CBS/Paramount TV-DVDs available (including the CSI shows, Medium, Numb3rs, and NCIS) is presented in nonanamorphic letterbox.

In Conclusion

I’m sure the cult audience which has kept The L-Word on the air for four seasons (and renewed for a fifth) will enjoy this box set regardless of its problems. With a few outstanding actresses in the cast, one wishes the writing could be a bit more inventive and a little less predictable.


Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC