'The L Word' recap: Team Tina

My, my, my… what a horny little crew the girls were thisweek! Some people counterprogrammed their way through Super Bowl Sunday with atrip to go see Over My Dead Body (so that’s what happened to Lake Bell), or TheEye (a.k.a., the far superior Blink, which astute EW writer Tim Stack pointedout to me was the original blind-violinist-who-sees-things thriller on themarket way back in 1994), or maybe that Hannah Montana concert movie that Ican’t be bothered to ponder right now. And then there were the trusty L Wordfans. We got lots of gratuitous shots of Cindy and Shane and Jenny and Nikkiand, like I said: Oh, my.

So it looks like Cindy and her “lover��� (guess what typing thatreminded me of just now) Dawn Bimbo are out for Kit’s blood now that they’reselling foodstuffs and coffee at Shebar. Let’s be honest: It’s nice for theladies to have another gathering spot besides the Planet, and especially nicethat the owners have quickly proved themselves to be grade-A hardasses. What’dyou think of Cindy and Shane’s little romp in the hills? I’m amazed it was sohot given the atrocious pickup lines Cindy used on Shane (left) before they startedknocking boots. “Tarts, pies, muffins, ladyfingers…” Cindy, really. And thenthat tramp stamp! And those boobs! There was something verging on pornographic aboutthat entire look, which is the likely reason Shane gave in after roughly 48seconds of trying to resist.

addCredit(“The L Word: Paul Michaud”)

Alice (right) really stepped her foot into it this week, postingthat video of basketball star Daryl Baker at last week’s silly “down low party.”The show presents an intriguing dilemma to fans with this storyline, which isperhaps a little too obviously using Perez Hilton’s online war againstHollywood’s closeted gays and lesbians as its basis. Alice’s decision to outBaker on her podcast “Alice in Lesboland”came afterhe made anti-gay on-air remarks. But it was rash, and it couldn’thave come at a worse time for Tasha, who lashed into Alice. It’s hard to hateAlice because she’s just so damn cute, but I think she was very clearly in thewrong here: Putting aside the ethics of outing for a moment — we can save that foranother week — there’s the hypocrisy involved in calling Tasha for advice on howto handle having just outed someone. Why? If I may lapse into King James speak:Because outing Daryl Baker without his permission was the exact same unfair actionthat was done unto Tasha, and thou shalt not cross thy girlfriend withoutconsequence in the land of L. That’s why.

And that brings us to the delicious Jodi/Bette/Tinatriangle, which had been simmering nicely on the back burner and now threatensto boil over. It’s still not entirely clear how far Bette and Tina went afterlast week’s episode, but it sure is fun to watch Bette squirm as she tries tomake sense of it all. For once, Tina (center) is in the driver’s seat without actinglike a jerk — e.g., most of the last two seasons — and she’s making Bette face somehard facts about her own relationship with Jodi. I was eating up Tina’s annoyedreaction to that needy phone call from Bette, and especially giddy when Bettecalled the police department to complain about the noise from the Les Girlscast party next door just because she was pissy and tired and way too angryabout the actress who’d been hired to play her onscreen. (Full disclosure: I wouldtotally do the same thing if I were in her shoes, so don’t give me any lipabout joining Team Tina this week, huh?)

Back to that cast party: Thatwas, hands down, the most enjoyable, footloose L Word party in quite some time,and a good reminder of how endearing this show can be when it’s not, you know, sendingcharacters into unrealistic gambling-scheme story arcs or letting Crazy Jennyrun amok or — it’s really not personal, Pam Grier — trying to make us care aboutKit.