Welcome back to 'Off the Chart.'
We are here, we're queer,
and we are processing episode
two of 'Gen Q' season two, baby.
This season, we're once again
watching 'The L Word: Generation Q'
with you, bringing you our
unfiltered take on the new series
reboot every Tuesday, because we
still can't get enough of those L.A.
lesbians.
We really can't.
I'm Erica Lenti, and I wish that
Bette Porter would bring me some
tartine bread when I go through a
bad breakup.
And I'm Chelle Turingan, managing
producer of video at Xtra, and hell
hath no fury like a Danny scorned.
If I was Danny, I'd punch Finley in
the face too.
Oh, hard same, hard same.
Do you love her? You weren't happy?
Yes, I was.
My gut is telling me something's
going on with you. My editor, hi!
I like to think of myself as your
guru of texture.
OK Chelle, it was an action packed
episode. What did you notice this
time around?
So the theme in episode two seems
to be about standing your ground and
speaking your truth.
Danny leaves Sophie, period,
because cheating is an absolute deal
breaker for her. Sophie's sister
Maribel calls Micah the "Finley"
in his situationship, which
prompts Micah to then finally break
it off with Jose for good.
And Nat finally tells Alice that
she's polyamorous and reminds
us all that Alice is indeed
a bisexual.
Amazing, a bi representation.
Finally.
OK, shall we recap?
Let's do it.
OK, so let's start with our
love triangle, I guess.
Is it really a love triangle
anymore? I'm not sure.
So Danny is done with Sophie.
She gives Finley a righteous
smack in the face because of
everything.
And as we said earlier,
I think it was much deserved.
So Sophie's like, I got to keep
myself busy, goes back to work.
But Finley's there, because Alice
told her to come back.
It's real bad.
They fight a lot.
But at the end of the episode,
Sophie tells Finley not
to move out and to stay.
So Chelle, it seems like
Sinley might happen.
I don't know how I feel about it.
How are you feeling about it?
I mean, you know what a big fan
I was of that situationship
last season, and now I'm not so
sure, but I do think they're going
to follow up on it.
Or else why bring back Finley?
They have mutual friends and
they all kind of live in the same
house. And let's not forget
that Finley and Sophie are also
coworkers.
And so, like, that'll be fine
while they are still dating.
But if it goes left or goes
south, like, that can be a really
awkward situation in the workplace,
as we already saw in this
episode when they had that
huge blowout in one of the
conference rooms.
What do you think?
Yeah, I just find it really
fascinating how he went from, like,
oh, my God, we've got the feels for
Sinley, to like,
ugh, this doesn't feel
good anymore.
This feels really toxic and gross.
I wanted to tell you.
Nothing that you say will make this
okay, ever.
But my favorite scene, or
one of my favorite scenes from the
episode was Danny flushing
her either engagement or wedding
ring, I wasn't too sure, down the
toilet and then sending a video of
it to Sophie, I believe.
Would you ever flush an engagement
ring down the toilet?
Well, let's remember that that
engagement ring was a family
heirloom, like passed
down to Sophie from generation
to generation.
Like the least Danny could have done
was give it back to her.
But I mean, like, she's in
rampage mode.
She is livid AF, like,
I can understand why she would just
flush it. And I love that like,
her millennial self was like, I'm
going to film it and put it on
TikTok or Instagram or whatever,
because that's just the thing you
do. So, I don't know that I
would, but I thought it was really
funny that Danny did.
But what do you think is next for
Danny? Like what do we think is
going to happen now that she's out
of Sophie's orbit?
That's a really great question.
And it's followed by us
having confirmation that Danny
did indeed have a crush on
Bette Porter.
And of course, Mama Bette
Porter has just been so
supportive of Danny.
If you need anything, I am here for
you. Thank you, but I'm fine.
Bringing her tartine and telling her
she'll always be there for her.
So maybe they're going
to go down that path and they
explore what that might look
like.
I don't think that could last, but I
think it might make for some fun
scenes or fun episodes.
So that's my take.
What do you think Danny's going to
do?
Yeah, let's just rile up the Tibette
shippers. Let's get Bette
paired up with everybody
just to see what happened.
Gigi, Danny, who else?
Okay, so speaking of Bette, let's
talk about what's going on with her
this episode.
So she sold her soul back to
the art world.
Now that she's done with the mayoral
campaign and Los.
And she's trying to help find some
BIPOC artists
at this new gallery. The problem
is she has to work with the straight
white man buffoon type character.
And that kind of gets in the way of
her trying to figure out what to do.
And she's not sure if she can manage
it. But that's fine, because
at the end we get a steamy
sex scene with Bette and Gigi,
which was probably the highlight of
Bette's plot arc in this episode
for me.
How do we feel about
Bette and Gigi? I want to know if
you're shipping it, if you feel
weird about it, because I am
firmly a
Bette/Gigi shipper,
I'm the captain of that ship!
Or
I'm your skipper, at least, Lenti,
let's just say that.
I'm a huge fan.
I mean, we talked about it last
episode that
Gigi actually seems like a match
for Bette.
So, yeah,
I love it. And this sex scene was
hot!
Like if they're going to make more
scenes like that, like, yeah, I want
to see that relationship pan out.
Again, two beautiful women who
are also smart and fierce
and witty.
And I just can't I cannot get
enough of it.
But I think that Tibette
shippers are probably still holding
out for a Bette/Tina reunion
despite Carrie being in the picture
now.
Do you think that that is still in
love with Tina?
Do you think that Gigi's just like a
fling?
Thoughts?
I think you said it best
in season one of our recaps
of 'Off the Chart'
that like, Tibette never ends,
there's no end game.
And so, like, they'll always just
like be in other relationships
and be in each other's lives and
they'll always just kind of like,
their orbits will always just kind
of be around each other.
So I think right now, like,
this is just one of those times
where they're missing each other,
but like that door is
eternally open, I think.
Are you saying Tibette is eternal?
That's kind of nuts.
Okay, let's get to Shane.
But before we talk about this
episode, I have to formally
apologize to Shane McCutcheon.
Last episode, we
incorrectly said that Shane
slept with Lena Waithe's wife.
It turns out that she was just
trying to.
Our producer Lito was correct about
this and we didn't listen, and we're
sorry. So please take
our apology and we are very
sorry.
Then on to Shane,
who obviously completely messed
up the poker game with
Lena Waithe's people.
And so she's like, I'm Shane.
I'm just going to, you know,
start my own poker game, and I'm
gonna do it at Dana's. And she had,
of course, all of our favorite
lesbians attend.
And now Tess has a job, too, which
is great, it means they'll be
spending some more time together.
All right, thank you, everyone have
what they need? Yeah.
Yes. This is such a great idea.
You should do this often.
That's the plan.
Let's do this. I'm getting a
hormonal surge, I'm ready to take
all your money.
My question is, how bad can this go,
Chelle?
How badly can they mess all of us
up?
I mean, there's lots of options
here. Depends on
who else gets pulled into the game.
I mean, right now it's pretty
low-key. It's all their best days,
right? So I want to see
it succeed a little bit
before it falls flat on its face.
Which celesbian do want to see
play poker at Dana's is the big
question?
That is a good question.
I mean, we can be predictable
and pull the OG
lesbians. Tegan and Sara can show up
to that game. I don't know.
They seem to be,.
Oh I'd love that!
They're huge fans of the show as
we've seen in the original series.
I'm blanking right now.
Who would you want to see at that
poker game?
I'm picturing like Cara
Delevingne comes out of her like,
vagina tunnel in her house
and arrives at the poker game.
This is my vagina tunnel.
Shall I go through? I'm gonna go
through it.
Oh, God. And then you're inside.
Okay, but aside from all of those
hijinx, there was a really
interesting conversation at the
poker table regarding
cheating, of course, with
Finley, Sophie and Danny.
But Bette's past also comes up.
So what did you make of that,
Chelle?
Well, I think it's safe to say that
Bette was probably giving Sophie
the hardest time at that poker game.
And that makes sense because
Danny was her campaign manager.
You know, she spent a lot of time
with her. Danny means a lot to her.
So, of course, she's going to defend
her.
But I love that Shane
reminds Bette that, like, we are
all with fault, including
her. And then Bette
tells Sophie that she cheated on
Tina 17 years ago
and still lives to regret it like,
today.
I think it's interesting because
Sophie gets a glimpse
at her future, what that one
moment of
misjudgment can do to your whole
life.
And I love that Shane was the one
that called it out.
Mm hmm. Yeah, me too, I think,
like, we know how close
Shane and Bette are, and I think
that if it was anyone else but
Shane, it maybe wouldn't have worked
as well.
And I also like that there was this
callback, right?
Like Bette and Tina were probably
around the same age, maybe a little
bit older than Sophie and Danny
are right now.
So it's nice to see some
of that continuity.
Always love Shane calling people
out.
I think it worked really well.
And sometimes Bette needs it.
Yeah, totally.
Bette's not perfect.
Call her out.
On to Alice,
who, as we know, is writing this
memoir. We meet her editor,
Tom. He's hilarious.
He wants her to go deep.
We will see how that turns out.
But in her romantic life, we
see that Nat is actually
alluding to the
fact that she's not happy with
monogamy. We see her break down in
the bathroom.
And then finally, at the end of the
episode, she admits that she is
indeed polyamorous.
So we were right Chelle, we actually
predicted that the monogamy
thing wasn't going to work. What
do you think comes next for them?
Do you think it's going to work?
Like do you think that polyamory is
for Alice and Nat?
I mean, I think it's for
Nat.
I'm not as convinced that it's for
Alice.
And again, I have mixed feelings
about like, Nat using
Alice's bisexuality
against her
in saying that, like, I'm
polyamorous, it's just like you
being bisexual.
And it's a point of contention for
the two of them.
I mean, Alice already
went into a throuple with
her girlfriend's ex-wife to try
to please her, like that is love,
you know what I mean?
And so it's like, how much of Alice
is she going to give up
to make Nat happy?
And then it's almost like Nat gives
her a ultimatum.
She's kind of like, we have to
figure out a way around this or it's
not going to work out.
So, I
don't really know what's going to
happen there. They're probably going
to try it and it will probably
fail miserably.
What do you think is going to
happen?
Yeah, I agree.
I think in order
to make polyamory work, which is
like, you know, there's lots of
things that come up for folks who,
both of whom are, you know,
polyamorous and think that it's
going to work for them.
I think both people really have to
be in it and want to be in it.
And I just don't get that Alice
wants to be in it.
I think she wants to be monogamous
with Nat. And so it'll be
interesting to see what
happens. I don't
know that they can last,
but I am surprisingly rooting for
them. In the first season like, I
was like, oh Nat, like whatever.
But I'm actually, like I've grown
really keen of them.
So we'll see.
We'll see where this goes.
And speaking of interesting
characters, we have Micah,
who I am so desperately
rooting for.
He did the thing I wanted him to
do, which was remove himself
from the relationship with Jose.
He will not be the Finley of this
relationship.
He walked away.
And the thing that I'm seeing
brewing is Maribel,
Sophie's sister,
they seem to have a bit of a back
and forth going on.
So I'm predicting a little
something.
What do you think?
I picked up on those flirting
vibes as well.
And I kind of, I'm into it.
I think their their banter with
each other is really cute.
It seems like a natural step.
It doesn't seem out of place
if they wanted to explore that
as a relationship.
So I love it.
But more than anything else, I
just love that Micah has
finally displayed some, like
self dignity and competence
in this episode.
He's just like, fuck you, like
when when Jose is kind of
like, you remember my friend!
I was like, no, like, leave now.
And that's exactly what he did.
And like, thank God, let's get Micah
somebody that deserves him.
Okay, it's time for our favorite
segment of the podcast,
The Superlatives Round.
Each week, we crown our favorite
moments from the episode.
So Chelle, what was your favorite
this week?
So my honorable mention will go
to Alice, who had like, so
many wonderful one liners this
episode.
Right off the top after Finley
confesses her love and it's kind of
chaotic, Alice says, "She's
like a little kitten on the
highway," which
is so cute.
And then later in the episode, when
she catches Sophie
working late, she kind of walks
into Sophie's office and says,
"Ahh, you're hiding out at work.
A little young for that.
That usually comes later."
Relatable.
But my favorite part of this episode
is when Shane tells Finley, "You
spoke your truth.
It's not easy to do and not many
people can do it," which Tess finds
surprisingly sweet.
They reveal something deep, really
personal to each other and they're
flirting game is on point.
Are we witnessing a budding romance
here? Like, please, I hope so.
Damn, you are firmly a
Tess/Shane shipper! Like you're the
captain of that ship.
Yeah, I had to get off the Sinley ship
and now I'm on this one.
What was your favorite moment,
Erica?
I think my favorite moment,
surprisingly, was just the ensemble
moment at the poker game.
Like, it was just really nice to see
the OG cast interacting
with the new kids, because I feel
like we haven't had a lot of sort
of intermingling aside from, you
know, like Danny and Bette or
Finley and Alice, like, it's really
nice to see everyone together.
Is this everyone? Yeah, this is it.
Well, I invited Danny, but she's
still too shy to go out in public,
so.
Are you sure, I should be here? I
can go, it's fine. Yes, no, you're
here with me. You're here with me.
We're all going to get along.
And I think whenever we get Shane,
Alice and Bette at a table together,
it's always fantastic.
The acting is on point
and there are always laughs and
feels to be had.
So that was my fave this week.
That's it for this episode of 'Off
the Chart.' Tune in next week where
we will dissect episode three
and hopefully we can all get
together for a game of poker at
Dana's.
I'm Erica Lenti.
And I'm Chelle Turingan. 'Off the
Chart: Generation Q' is produced by
Chelle Turingan. Our technical producer
is Lito Howse.
Our executive producer is Rachel
Giese, and our music is by KidKulit.
If you like what you're hearing,
please like and subscribe.
Leave us a review wherever you get
your podcasts and follow us
on Twitter @XtraMagazine.
Until next time.
Sorry.
Your giggling threw me off.
I'm so sorry.
But it's true.