The L Word: A Recap of the TV Show

Everybody's busy at Shaolin Studios when Tina arrives for work; she gets a text on her phone saying Aaron wants to see her ASAP. When she enters his office she begins to get chewed out by her boss. It turns out that the negative to Lez Girls (The Girls) has been stolen from the lab. Aaron demands Tina to tell him what happened; she's just as in the dark as he is. He does tell her that he doesn't think she did it because she's not a complete and total raving lunatic; however Jenny Schecter is. Tina asks if Jenny could do this; Aaron can't think of anyone else who would be devious enough to do it. He tells Tina that since she and Jenny are friends, he holding her personally responsible. He tells Tina to do whatever she has to do to get the negative back. Tina's at her wit's end and says she's gonna kill Jenny.

It's the morning after Shane and Jenny went to the next level and Shane's awaken by Sounder. She wakes Jenny and begins to let it all sink in. Jenny's happy she and Shane made love; Shane's still reeling from everything. Just as they up on more the doorbell interrupts; Alice is there to get some pointers from Jenny on writing a treatment for a film. Shane gets dressed and answers the door. Alice takes one look at Shane and knows she had sex; according to her Shane has a look about her indicating she got some. Shane tries to change the subject but Alice isn't backing down. Jenny comes from the bedroom glowing and has a light conversation with Shane. Alice sees the unexpected chemistry between them and put two and two together; Shane and Jenny had sex! Alice goes to the bathroom feeling a bit overwhelmed by what she just saw; not too sure what to make of it all. Alice being Alice has to tell someone; so she texts the girls with this piece of breaking news. Each giving their own reactions - while working out Helena slips off her treadmill, Tina expresses her shock while in a meeting at work and at the academy Tasha laughs at how Alice can't keep things private. Bette in a staff meeting at CU when she gets the message and bursts into laughter; she tries to compose herself but she can't help herself and laughs harder. Kit's not very phone savvy yet with her cell so she doesn't check it out with the continuous buzzing.

Jenny and Shane step outside on the front porch for a private moment and Alice gets a call from Helena. Alice gives her the play by play of the conversation and tells her Shane said Jenny was a good kisser; they both cringe. Jenny sees Shane off and comes back in; Alice pretends she's on the phone with Mary from the show. Jenny asks Alice not to say anything about what's going on; Alice says it's none of her business and Jenny agrees. Little does she know - the news has already spread.

Bette's on the phone talking to Tina about the message and stolen film negative while on her way to her office; she has a meeting with Jodi. After she finishes her call Bette notices Tom in the office as well. She asks why Tom's there when Jodi knows that she can sign. Translated by Tom, Jodi says that the Americans with Disabilities Act gives her the right to have an interpreter; Bette's signing has never been really great and it would be better for her to just speak. Bette respects Jodi's wish and their meeting begins. Bette feels it can be agreed that working together has become very uncomfortable and since she's the department head who wants things to run smoothly, it would be best for Jodi to resign. Jodi loves her job and refuses; Bette reminds Jodi that she offered to resign a few weeks prior. She only did that to protect Bette and would do that for anyone she loves; obviously Jodi's no longer in love with her. Bette tells Jodi that's she'll be fired if she doesn't resign; Jodi tells Bette to go ahead and fire her.

Alice's phone is ringing off the hook while she and Jenny discuss her treatment; it's aggravating Jenny. Alice turns her phone off so the focus is on their meeting. Jenny asks Alice how long did it take for her to write the treatment; Alice did it in one sitting. Jenny goes into a rant about how people think they can come to Hollywood and make it; that writing everything in one night will be great. Jenny's work to write a screenplay is a craft and if Alice's gonna sit across from her it needs to be respected. Jenny falls into playing mode as an executive and wants Alice to pitch the screenplay to her. Alice's screenplay is an action/comedy involving a talk show host who's dating a cop. They get involved in a murder mystery; it's a mix of Foul Play and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Jenny doesn't think it will sell because it's not realistic for these two to be in a relationship; Alice disagrees.

Jenny tells Alice the future is now and her screenplay is not the way forward. Because when she's with Alice and a group of people, Jenny closes her eyes and thinks Alice should do cartoon voice over work. Feeling discouraged, Alice says she never thought about cartoons as a career move; Jenny says Alice has a unique vocal range. Tina's ringing the doorbell and knocking at the door telling Jenny they need to talk; Alice thanks Jenny for her inspiration and leaves. As she's heading out, Alice tells Tina not to tell Jenny about the text because she promised to keep mum about it; Tina's cool with that. Tina asks Alice if she's sure about them; she saw them tongue kiss - so yes and Tina cringes. Alice says she's already having a shitty day and has the image burning in her head. Tina takes that as the meeting not going so well and wants to hear all about it but first she needs to talk to Jenny. Alice asks what's happening but Tina has to tell her later. Tina needs to calm down and talk some sense into Jenny; Alice wishes her luck.

Jenny got a new cappuccino machine and offers Tina a drink to which she declines but Jenny's not really paying attention to her need to talk. She offers a soy cappuccino and Tina accepts; anything to get the conversation going. Tina tries to tell Jenny about the stolen negative while she's working the machine. Everytime she turns the machine off negative is the only thing she hears and asks Tina why does she keep saying it. Tina is finally able to tell her the Lez Girls negative was stolen; Jenny doesn't see what the big deal is since the editor has it on her computer. Tina explains that the movie was shot on film; the kind pictures are taken with. The negative is the original image, without that prints can't be made and without prints the film can't be screened in theaters. Therefore, it doesn't matter if the editor has it on her computer because it can't be projected on screen and no one's gonna see the movie. Jenny tells her the movie is her whole and Tina knows that; which is the reason why she's there. She came over to talk to Jenny face to face, she talked to the lab and they're putting a trace on it. Tina thought Jenny could talk to her one on one and jenny asks what's there to talk about. Tina comes right out and asks if Jenny has the negative; she can't believe that Tina would ask her that. Tina says if it's possible, Jenny needs to grab it so they can take it back to the lab and promises nothing will happen to Jenny.

Jenny says shit has already happened to her. Her film was stolen from her; she asks Tina to ask Adele. Tina says Adele wouldn't have a reason to steal the negative because her career would be on the line. Calling Adele a twerp, Jenny says she has a three picture deal; Jenny has nothing. Jenny continues her rant saying she doesn't have an agent anymore because they don't think she's professional. If the film doesn't come out Jenny's totally screwed; she needs the film to come out so she can have some chance of getting a job again. Jenny says she didn't steal the negative and Tina needs to find it; Tina apologizes. She lets Jenny know that Aaron is holding her personally responsible and says she believes Jenny; she apologizes again.

While having lunch at The Planet, Alice asks Shane if she and Jenny are a couple. Shane says they're not a couple; things got emotional and it was a one time thing. Alice stresses that it's Jenny they're talking about; Shane's fully aware. She says they get each other and she has to believe Jenny's not gonna get weird. Jenny said it herself they live under the same roof and they've got boundaries. Alice questions Shane's expectations of Jenny setting boundaries; Shane doesn't have a choice. Alice says any level headed person would freak out if they slept with their roommate. Shane again says it's a one time thing and just because it happened doesn't mean they're gonna add water and it becomes an instant relationship. To be honest about it, Shane wouldn't mind it happening again; it was good. Better than expected good. Alice thinks Shane's gonna sleep with Jenny again; Shane doesn't plan on it. At the end of the day, Shane's glad to have Jenny back in her life.

Bette goes to Phyllis' office to talk about Jodi and sees Jodi and Tom are also there; Phyllis asks her to take a seat. Phyllis feels its best to talk about the situation with all parties involved. Jodi's given her side of the story and if there's anything Bette thinks she should know, now's the time. Bette asked Jodi to submit the resignation she agreed to several weeks prior. Phyllis says the Justin Donovan incident (the fake gun to the head) is no longer a problem so there's no need for Jodi to resign. Bette feels the incident is only indicative of a larger problem. Jodi isn't interested in any authority but her own and as Bette's subordinate she has repeatedly demonstrated that she is determined to make it as uncomfortable as possible for Bette to do her job. Phyllis asks about Bette threatening to fire her ex because Jodi makes her uncomfortable. That's not what Bette said; it's a question of authority. Phyllis is shocked that Bette would allow this 'dyke drama' to interfere with her doing her job; Bette says it's not 'dyke drama'. Phyllis makes it clear that when Bette entered into a sexual relationship with Jodi she no longer had the right to fire her because that's what called sexual harassment. Bette asks Jodi if she's suing for sexual harassment; that never occurred to Jodi because she's not really interested in lawsuits. The lawsuit possibility isn't coming from Jodi but from Phyllis; the last thing the university needs is a sexual harassment lawsuit between two lesbians. Phyllis doesn't care that Jodi said she won't file suit; she can't allow Bette to expose the university to this kind of threat. The sit down ends on a hard note for Bette.

Jenny tells a napping Shane she's finished her treatment; Shane's happy for her. She says she was thinking about what they did the night before; she liked it. Shane pulls Jenny on top and they kiss; she asks Jenny to take off her sweater. Jenny sits up to take off her sweater and asks Shane if she's glad they made up; Shane sits up to kiss her and pulls her down to make love.

Alice is at work on The Look with quirky Saundra Houson and conservative Mary Lamm. Saundra sees the audience has been waiting patiently to hear what Alice has to share with everyone. Alice thanks her for the intro but 'secret' makes it sound a little dirty. Mary says dirty is in the eye of the beholder; that may be Alice's point. She knows the viewers may think of her as the keeper of all these dirty little gay secrets; she's got a letter that made her think a lot about things she's done and she thought she would share something intimate with everyone.

Alice reads a letter from a viewer:

Dear Ms. Pieszecki,
I'm writing to you because you might be able to help people understand what I'm going through. For the last three weeks my brother Wade has been on life support. I've been in the hospital everyday praying for a miracle but this morning, I watched them lower my big brother's coffin into the ground. My brother's dead because he wrote a love letter to a guy named Marcus. And Marcus shot him in the face. I'm writing to ask you to please tell your viewers that it's not okay to hurt gay people. We didn't do anything to them. So why can't they just leave us alone?

Alice knows she's justified outing in the past saying its political act. She certainly does believe the world would be better if people felt free and safe enough to be who they really are. What Alice forgot was some people choose to stay in the closet for other reasons. One of those reasons is homophobia is alive and well; often times in this country it can be deadly. Alice wanted to share that and thanks everyone for listening; they break for commercial.

It's a new day at Shaolin Studios and Tina is getting stares like she's wearing the Scarlet Letter. She asks a receptionist what's going on; Aaron wants to see her right away. She goes in as Aaron's getting a fax asking the Deluxe Motion Picture Lab to release the Lez Girls negative to the Eastside Messenger Service who will arrive at 8pm; it's signed by Tina! She asks Aaron if he actually believes she did this; he asks Tina is that or is that not her signature. It is her signature but she did not write that letter. Aaron demands she finds out who did; just when she thought things couldn't get any worse and this happens.

Bette and Phyllis are at a bar discussing the meeting with Jodi. It sounds like instead of having to fire her, Phyllis wants Bette to resign. Bette is confident that she's not the only administrator who's had a relationship with a faculty member; Phyllis said she's a lesbian administrator who's had a nasty public breakup with a faculty member. So basically it's because Bette's a lesbian or because Phyllis is a lesbian. This is true and this situation can reflect badly on Phyllis and unfortunately this isn't Bette's first offense. Knowing what she's talking about Bette acts the opposite; Nadia's complaint cited Gordy Percy but also referred to her encounter with Bette. Bette is beside herself and asks why she wasn't told about it; Phyllis knew Bette would be angry and want to fight it. She found it more convenient to make it go away; therefore Phyllis already gave Bette a second chance. Bette tells Phyllis she and Tina are about to adopt a new baby and they've started construction on the house; Phyllis tells her groveling doesn't become her and with her talent she can find another job.

Now that everything is out of the way, Phyllis gets personal. She had her own struggles with attraction to subordinates; one crush that's been incredibly difficult not to act on. Phyllis asks Bette if she wants to know; she would rather not know. Phyllis pushes her to guess because its someone to knows. Bette doesn't have any idea who it is; she thought Phyllis and Joyce were getting married. They are and Phyllis quotes Jimmy Carter - "I've strayed in my minds eye many of times." Especially with this particular person and now that Bette's no longer Phyllis' employee she feels free to make her confession. Phyllis tells Bette she has always found her wildly and, exquisitely attractive; of course Bette is hit from left field from this piece of information and laughs it off. From the moment she saw Bette she noticed a tall, strong and brilliant woman; it was so difficult at act on it. Bette mentions Joyce and Phyllis says Joyce is wonderful listing her fiancée's qualities however if Bette gave her the smallest amount of encouragement, she would lose Jodi in a second. Bette tells Phyllis she just fired her; Phyllis thinks it could be the best thing to happen to both of them. Phyllis says Bette will always be the woman of her dreams; she leans in to kiss her but Bette gets up to leave. Phyllis will have her resignation in the morning.

It's a good day as always at The Planet and Kit let's Helena know she has flowers. Helena tells Kit the next time Dylan Moreland sends her flowers to not accept them; Kit offers to throw them away. Helena says it would be a waste and suggests putting them in the restroom; she sees and attractive woman and thinks of recycling the flowers. She takes a flower and goes over to the bar and sits with her. Kit reads Dylan's card to Helena - "You're beautiful when you're angry." She scoffs at the note and looks over at Helena having a shot with a beautiful stranger.

Alice talks to Tasha about what went down on the show; hate crimes aren't fun gay but depressing gay. She has to meet with the bosses at 7pm to which she feels involves her termination from the show. She plans on going to the meeting to apologize for what she did and beg for her job back. Tasha says Alice isn't sorry; she is if she loses her job - she doesn't like being broke. Tasha tells Alice she doesn't always get rewarded for doing the right thing. Some people get punished and Tasha gives her situation as an example; Alice asks if Tasha is gonna make this about her. She gets a call from the L.A. Gay &Lesbian Center; she asks Tasha to get rid of her; she donated a year ago. Tasha tries to take a message but her reaction shows it's bigger than a donation.

They arrive at the center and it turns out the center's director Jamie told Tasha there's a young lady on the ledge ready to jump. When they make it to the roof Jamie explains that Marie's been up there since Alice read her letter and doesn't believe Jamie's story of Alice reading her letter so she can come back in. Jamie thinks if Marie sees Alice and talk to her, she'll come back in. Alice thinks this is crazy and doesn't think she can talk her off the ledge. She's afraid Marie may jump while they're talking; Jamie's afraid she'll jump if Alice doesn't talk to her. Tasha doesn't think Alice is qualified; she's not a psychologist and Alice agrees. Jamie says Alice is Marie's hero, she gets excited everytime she sees Alice on the show because it gives her hope that someone could be out like Alice and still be successful. Jamie begs Alice for her help; Tasha doesn't think it will work. She feels Alice can't handle a situation like this and suggest Jamie call the police. Marie is terrified of the police because of an abusive incident involving her parents.

Alice makes her way to the edge of the building looking over to see Marie sitting at the ledge. She tries to talk to Marie and to get her to come up; Marie refuses saying Alice has to come to her if they're gonna talk. At first Marie has her guard up but that quickly changes when Alice tells her about being fired for reading her letter on the air. Marie apologizes but Alice isn't sorry. She tells Marie millions of people heard what she had to say and changed the world a little by writing the letter. If she sticks around Marie can change it a lot more. Marie asks if that's what Alice is doing; maybe she is in her own little way.

It's the official grand opening of Hit Club; Kit and Sunset Boulevard are outside having some small talk. Sunset's betting all the men want Kit; they did but they messed her up. She asks about women and Kit says women can mess each other up too; she can't begin to tell Sunset how much drama she's seen. She asks Kit if she's happy with Helena; Kit's happy with her partner - business partner but she didn't make things clear with Sunset. She tells Kit that Hit Club is the bomb, she and Helena are gonna tear it up and Sunset is gonna rock the caz bar. But first, Sunset's gonna fix her face because Kit Porter's in the house; she's got some serious competition. Kit sees Jenny and Shane in the parking lot and tells Sunset she'll meet her inside.

There is a grand turnout for the club and the girls are there to support their best friends. They all make a toast to Alice for successfully talking Marie off the ledge. Tasha says Alice surprised her and is proud of her. She's happy and proud to be Alice's girlfriend. Kit heads to where Shane and Jenny are and stops at the instant sight of them kissing in the car. The girls are talking about what went down between Bette and Phyllis when Kit rushes to the table to tell them she saw Jenny and Shane kissing. Alice tells her she needs to check her text messages; Kit realizes that's why her phone kept buzzing thus confirming what she was told by one of her employees. They quiet down about it when Shane arrives. Everyone is snickering and Shane asks why everyone is laughing; they're laughing at something they were talking about before she got there. Tina changes the subject with a toast to Kit and Helena on their successful grand opening and wishes them luck. Jenny enters and everyone speaks and laugh; especially with them coming in separately. Jenny compliments the look of the club. Kit says they wanted a look of Casablanca and Studio 54. She mentions a VIP room on the second level and Jenny asks if she can go up; they insist she check it out. Not even 30 seconds pass by and Shane asks about the second level and if she can go up; they're cool with that.

Now that the secretive couple has left the table, the girls burst with laughter at how awful those two were with being cool about their relationship. Sunset Boulevard calls Kit to the dance floor; she needs someone to shake it with. The girls cheer kit on as she and Sunset get their groove on with the crowd; Shane meets up with Jenny on the second level and they talk a little. Alice tells everyone to check them out and Tasha says they're only talking to each other. Jenny asks Shane if she's ok with lying to everyone; Shane doesn't care. She tells Jenny it's between them and they kiss. The girls have a clear view of the kiss and are astonished. So much so they laugh the night away.

Next on the L word

- Max deals with being pregnant

- Bette has a business proposition for Kelly

- Dylan continues to pursue Helena