Fans of The L Word know that characters Bette and Tina had a child together; it probably wasn’t surprising to learn that their daughter, now a teen, would be a regular character in The L Word: Generation Q sequel. It turns out, though, that we’re also getting a new parenting storyline—with another old favorite character.
Showtime tells us that in Episode 1, we find “Alice learning to balance co-parenting with her fiancee Nat and Nat’s ex-wife Gigi and the rising success of her talk show.” Nat, as happens, is played by Stephanie Allynne, a real-life mom who is raising twins with her spouse, actor and comedian Tig Notaro.
Catch Nat reading a story to the child at 1:16 in the first video below. In the next scene, Nat says to Alice (Leisha Hailey), “I want you to feel like you’re part of this family—because you are.” Then she, Alice, and Shane try frantically to deal with the child’s upset stomach. Sweet and tender moments followed by utter chaos. That’s a pretty accurate view of parenting. In the second video below, Alice and Nat try to fit in sex in the seven minutes they have to themselves. That also sounds like a pretty realistic view of parental life.
I’m looking forward to this storyline about co-parenting with an ex. We had a taste of this sort of thing on Freeform’s two-mom show The Fosters, where Stef’s former husband, Mike, was still involved in son Brandon’s life, even as Stef was raising Brandon and four other kids with her partner (then wife) Lena. Brandon was significantly older than the child on The L Word: Gen Q, though, so the parenting issues will be very different, if nothing else. (Bonus fact: Original L Word showrunner Ilene Chaiken was raising twins with her ex, Miggi Hood, when the two separated. Chaiken then began dating her now-wife, LouAnne Brickhouse, and so probably knows a thing or two herself about raising kids with a new partner and an ex. She’s not showrunning the sequel, but was involved in picking her successor, Marja-Lewis Ryan. Point is, this sort of thing happens in real life.)
Unfortunately (or not, depending on your aspirations for Alice), it looks like Nat is only guest starring in this one episode. It’s unclear if she’ll return or if this storyline and the relationship will come to a quick end. We’ll still have an ongoing parenting storyline, though, about the relationship between Bette and Angie. I’m still wondering what happened between Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman), Angie’s other mom, that led to their separation. (Here’s my speculation on all that.)
Chances are, too, that these won’t be the only two parenting storylines we’ll see on the show; the original L Word had at least 10. New showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan also just had a baby with her wife earlier this year, so parenting is likely on her mind. Having said that, I don’t expect this to be a show about parenting and kids in the same way that The Fosters was. It has a wider scope and that’s fine. But parenting is my beat, so that’s what I’m going to focus on. (I’m sure the fine folks over at Autostraddle will be offering a more general analysis of the show.)
On a personal note, my own son was not even a year old when The L Word premiered in 2004. He was six when it ended in 2009, and he’s now 16. (Marja-Lewis Ryan was 19 when the show first aired.) Where does the time go?
Stay tuned to Mombian for more Generation Q parenting speculation and analysis—and I’ll see you over at Twitter on December 8 at 10 p.m. ET for a live tweet of the premiere!