The announcement has finally been made- we’re getting a Gen Q season 3! I, like most people out there, was overjoyed by this information, only to immediately be thrown into a pit of worry that season 3 would somehow be as bad as season 2. When listening to the Pants Podcast recently, Gen Q stars Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey asked showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan whether or not she thought there would be a season 3 (this was way back in 2021) and she said “I think they’ll give me another chance”. That line fills me with hope still to this day, because that means that she knows just how horrible season 2 was! And that gives me the (probably false but hopefully not) confidence that season 3 will be great. It will go back to being the L Word that I know and love*

Filled with this optimism, I bring to you the list of all of my hopes and dreams for Generation Q: Season 3. At the very least, we can look back and laugh at how young and optimistic I once was.

*Season 1, 2, and 5

1. Bettina

Before I start, I just want to make it very clear that I have never, and I mean NEVER been a Bettina shipper. When I first watched the L Word in 2018, the one thing that I was absolutely sure of was that both Bette and Tina deserved better (or, at least, deserved different) than what the other was giving them in that relationship. Bette was controlling and prone to cheating and would never treat Tina as an equal in their relationship. Tina was passive to a fault and looked up to Bette to such an extent that she wouldn’t feel like an equal in their relationship either. Their relationship is undoubtedly toxic, and should not be looked at as an image of a healthy long term lesbian relationship.

What does it look like to be an adult lesbian? What does it look like to be in a long long term relationship? Yes, we have Bette and Angie, which gives us a great perspective from a single mother, but what I want is to see what love looks like from an older lesbian couple. Gen Q had an opportunity to partner any of the original cast and have them still be together with their person. It had the opportunity to have Sophie and Dani get married, although it was clear from the beginning that they were instead planning yet another toxic long term lesbian relationship. It had the opportunity to introduce a new character, who either was an older married lesbian, or had older married lesbian parents. There were countless opportunities for them to introduce just one single couple that was in a long term relationship and happy, and yet they didn’t. I’m not saying that this couple had to be completely 100% enamored by each other all of the time. In a long term relationship, there are fights and bickering and disputes. There can be drama with other parents, drama with friends, and even really hot sex scenes of the two of them together. Instead, Gen Q chose to offer us Bette, Shane, Gigi, and Nat all divorced. It gave Alice a brief look at domesticity with Nat, and then ripped that away too. Of the new characters, it had just one long term couple, who also ended in tragedy. We have a full cast of single characters, aside from Tina and Carrie, who aren’t even in the show enough for me to consider them the long term representation that I need.

I still feel like we have a chance to make good on that long term relationship dream with Bette and Tina. Maybe this is insane, because they don’t work, an we know they don’t work, but I still want it. Call it nostalgia or call it the fact that now they both suck so much that they deserve each other, but I really truly want to see it. They’ve strung us along this far, and episode 301 had better come clean and make good on promises.

2. Tess & Shane

Tess and Shane are my OTP and I will die on this hill. Shane needs to settle down and she seems emotionally mature enough to finally do it. Tess is hot and fun and can deal with Shane’s problems in a way that don’t even make them seem like problems at all. I will absolutely cry if they don’t end up making it work in a stable way.

I think what I’m saying is that I want this season to give us stability. I am happy with the pairings that the show has given us, and now let’s see how these play out. There’s enough drama among the youngsters to keep things interesting. Let Tess and Shane find happiness. And also let them interact with the group! They never come out of that dark little bar- bring my girls into the sunshine happily engaged!

IMPORTANT QUESTION THOUGH: WHY IS SHE NOT IN THE TEASER PHOTO EVERYONE HAS BEEN POSTING (INCLUDING ME) HELP I NEED ANSWERS I AM PANICKING

3. A Friend Group

When I watched the original L Word back in 2017 for the first time, I absolutely loved it. The show was extraordinarily problematic in many ways, with rampant biphobia and transphobia as well as a lack of attention to non-white character’s story lines and character development, yes. But the reason so many of us kept watching the show, and even rewatch it today, is because it is the only show featuring primarily lesbian storylines. The best part of these storylines was undoubtedly the friendships.

Every single one of my favorite episodes featured the strong female friendships of Shane, Alice, Dana, Helena, Bette, and Tina. They were a friend group first, and we got to see them hanging out and having fun times, talking about classic lesbian things, and just living life as a squad. They were the friend group that I desperately wanted to have. It’s a comfort show for me because I can watch it and pretend that they are my friends, and that I too have people to talk about my queerness with.

Now, flash forward to Generation Q. We started with a strong friend group dynamic that showed potential to be just as fun as the original. Micah, Sophie and Finley all lived together. Dani was dating Sophie, but was also best friends with Micah. On the older side, we had Alice Shane and Bette back, plus Nat dating Alice and Gigi as a dramatic coparenting story that I could have seen evolving into friendship. Tess and the other bartender seemed like two more fun additions to the show.

Fast forward to today, and here is what we have left:

  • Micah has had one off scenes with members of the cast, but I don’t think he has ever once participated in a group scene
  • Sophie and Dani cannot speak to each other, and her and Finley have a tumultuous relationship dynamic
  • Finley has been basically cut off by Micah, definitely cut off by Dani, and now as of last episode also cut off from Sophie
  • Dani’s only friend is Micah, who as noted is barely part of the show. Her and Gigi are dating (not friends)
  • Alice and Nat broke up, both her and Nat don’t want to deal with Gigi
  • Shane’s only scene partner is Tess who she’s dating. Tess herself only speaks to Shane
  • Bette’s only scene partners are whoever she is dating at the time
  • We have had one (1) scene featuring bette/alice/shane all having fun together

I’m sure I missed some things, but the gist is that each character in this show is only speaking to their romantic interests. There are very few shows where friends are just sitting around talking, and that was the strength of the original. Even in episodes such as the poker tournament where the entire cast are in the same room, there is soooo little focus on friendships. The group all sitting together at the table doesn’t speak except to comment with tension on their exes.

I just want to see strong female friendships on screen. Bring back the friend group, I don’t care how you have to do it.

4. Sober Finley

Alcoholic Finley had the potential to be interesting and educational, but to be honest it was written so poorly that it just made me annoyed at everyone who greenlit her speedy descent into self destruction. What I want in this episode is for Finley to pop out of rehab super sober and happy and ready to live a life where she asks for soda water at the bar and the bartender shakes it up for her but her son walks in and sees and assumes she’s drinking and leaves without getting the chance to talk to her all because Bette is in the bathroom. goes about her merry little life without being plagued by the desire to shotgun beer at 10am. Is that necessarily realistic? No, but neither was the way alcoholism was addressed in season 2, so I don’t think anyone would be that mad if we just made it go away.

5. Gigi

I want more Gigi. I was originally going to write that I want Nat and Gigi to get together and have an open relationship together, because I think that would work wonderfully and they’re both hilarious so the scenes where they exist together are my favorite, but I’ve been told that Stephanie Allyne does not want to come back to the show because she’s doing things like directing movies with her wife.

So instead, I will simply ask generically for more Gigi content. Not only is she hot, but Sepideh Moafi’s comedic timing is enviable, and she overall just brings a lot to the show. I’m only 50/50 on her relationship with Dani (mostly because I’m not a Dani fan, unlike the entire rest of the world) but I am 100% on anything that will get Gigi on my screen more

6. Make Micah Make Sense

I like Micah, and I like Micah with Maribel, but I am still lost and confused as to what actually happened to their relationship in Season 2. I’d love for them to be together and happy because they make sense together and it would also do wonders to creating that friend group I mentioned in point number 3! But regardless of what they do with that relationship, I just want it to be coherent so that I can cheer for it. Is that too much to ask?

So that’s what I want from the L Word this season? What about you? Are you optimistic enough to have dreams? Let me know in the comments!

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