There’s not much parenting going on in The L Word this season, so I’m going to cover two episodes at once here. In Episode Two, Tina spends most of a blind date talking about little Angelica (and by association, Bette), bad moves both. Yes, if you’re a dating single mom, it’s important to let any prospective love interest know you have kids, but unless she has one or more of her own, she probably doesn’t really want you going on about what a genius your child is. Talking about anything related to potty training is also out. If she does have kids of her own, she may have a little more tolerance for such things as long as you also let her relate the story of her own child who won a Pulitzer for her latest “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” essay.
In Episode Three, Helena’s mother comes swooping in to free her daughter—but most importantly, the family name—from the correctional system. Nice of her to show up at last—but Helena’s clearly not feeling the family love: “What I don’t want is for you to come swanning in here, throwing your money about. I know I made a mistake. I’m quite happy to finish my time and pay my debt to society.”
Peggy Peabody nevertheless pays Helena’s bail, forgetting that she cut Helena off from the family fortune in Season Three to teach her responsibility. Peggy then informs the women at the Planet that she’s spiriting her daughter off to Europe, where “any future rehabilitation of Helena’s character will be imposed under a more rigorous program than the Los Angeles lesbian lifestyle can provide.”
Helena herself reacts against her mother’s on-and-off micromanagement by forgetting all about her own children and running off to an island paradise with Dusty, her love from prison who was serving time for tax fraud. See, Peggy? There’s an important parenting message here: be consistent in your discipline, or your children will take advantage.
The other lesson, of course, is knowing when to let go. We may never find out if Peggy learns this one, however, for it looks like it may be farewell to Helena, and presumably Peggy as well, for good. Or will Peggy find herself in trouble with the IRS at some point and be forced to make amends to Helena and Dusty in return for their assistance in outwitting the authorities? We can only hope.
My personal pet peeve with this episode? The utter mangling of the legal procedures involved.
IF Helena is in jail, not prison, then she can be bailed out, but she is not paying her debt to society yet. Society hasn’t decided what that debt is by convicting her of any crime.
If Helena has already been convicted of a crime, she is in prison. You cannot get bailed out of prison. You have to finish paying your debt to society, even if you are a Peabody.
Also? Where was Angelica while Bette was miserable in the woods and Tina was getting it on with Dr Fake Boobs?
Thanks, Liza! I never realized there was a technical distinction between “prison” and “jail.”
And good point about the babysitting. Presumably Angelica wasn’t with Aunt Kit, either, who was the victim of an armed robbery at the same time.