I recently finished watching the second season of The L Word on DVD through my very favorite Netflix alternative—the Carnegie Library. Turns out this is one of the more popular selections within our local consortium of libraries (though no where near as impossible to get as Battlestar Galactica), but despite the odds, I've managed to watch the first two seasons within the last seven months.

The L Word Season 1

The L Word is an original production of the Showtime network in much the same way that Sex and the City, Rome and Deadwood are productions of HBO. I had only seen two other Showtime original series before checking out The L Word, that is, Stargate SG-1 and Queer as Folk. Aptly figuring that The L Word would bear little resemblance to Stargate SG-1, I presumed that it would fit into the same pattern of "love and life" ensemble dramas as Queer as Folk or Sex and the City. I was a tad disappointed by the first season in this respect. Instead of hanging out at chic bars, restaurants and clubs, the L Word gals seemed to meet primarily in chic coffee shops. Not such a terrible thing, but I was missing the glamour of those other shows—not that the gals themselves weren't glamorous, but the atmosphere of the show didn't scratch the "glamour itch." Apparently I was not alone in missing this aspect of the show because by Season 2, the coffee shop has been converted into a night club.

The L Word Season 2

On the whole, the L Word is exactly what I'm looking for when I pick up a new show on DVD. It's a solidly character-driven drama, though not without its humorous side. It is well-acted and well-written. It's sometimes a little soapy (i.e. break-ups, make-ups, will-they-or-won't-they), other times titillating and at times also political. The highlight of this show is far and away the character of Bette Porter, played by Jennifer Beals—yes, Pittsburghers, that would be Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame. In the L Word, Beals plays an ambitious career woman striving to "have it all" by having a child with her partner, Tina. But a competitive career has left Bette self-absorbed and at times insensitive and manipulative despite her underlying love for Tina and their family-to-be. Beals's Bette is amazing to watch for a number of reasons. First, it's difficult to imagine a more gorgeous forty-something woman than Beals. In fact, she would out-gorgeous most thirty- and twenty-something women. Seriously, how does she do it? On the less superficial side of things, Beals is also a luminous actress, and if you combine that with an excellently written role like Bette Porter, you come out with a covetable screen rarity. She is one of the very, very few female characters in fiction who are both powerful and complex. You get plenty of powerful and complex male characters (Christian Troy, Al Swerengen, Brian Kinney, to name a few...), but Bette Porter really stands alone in that category for female characters. Well, okay... I take that back. There's also Xena Warrior Princess.

While the L Word is not among my very favorite television shows, it's highly watchable, has complex and challenging characters, and really, Bette Porter is worth the price of admission. Or, you could get it from the Carnegie Library and have no price of admission—except maybe the five month wait.