The L Word - Season 1 - Complete [DVD]

My god ... where can I start? OK, from the beginning. I'm 21, straight and I brought the box set from Amazon.com only to see what all the fuss was about (as the series was dubbed the new "Sex in the City" and being a fan I thought I would check it out).

When it arrived I sat down and in one night I watched 6 episodes ... yes 6 episodes. I could'nt stop. Never have I been so captivated by each episode since being introduced to the world of ALIAS.

The L Word centres on Bette and Tina a Lesbian couple living in LA. After 7 years together they believe they are ready to start a family. Bette is the career minded (stressed) one and Tina recently quit her job as an movie executive to have their baby. They have a relationship in which all their friends envy.

Shane is the heartbreaker of the group, sleeps with all the girls then leaves them. She does have a good heart, but is longing for the togetherness that Bette and Tina have.

Alice is the funky blonde writer for LA Magazine. She created 'the chart' in which Shane is the centre of the universe. She can link any person (including herself) back to Shane within 6 moves (sometimes less!).

Dana is the closeted pro-tennis player. Very smart, witty and very sexy but has no gay-dar. She develops a crush on Lara (an assistant chef at her Country Club) but will not act on her feelings. When she does she pushes Lara away. In my opinion, 'Showtime' needs to use Dana more - give her something to get her teeth into like ... Alice!. Use her, she's a really talented actress.

Tim and Jenny live next door to Bette and Tina. Jenny has just moved to LA to be with Tim. She saw Shane and 'her latest conquest' in Bette and Tina's pool and was intrigued. She later encounters Marina.

Marina owns 'The Planet' the hip, up and coming gay bar in West Hollywood - where everybody hangs out. She later starts a little somethin’ somethin’ with Jenny ... the seemingly straight Jenny.

Believe me - it’s compulsive viewing for anyone - gay, straight, bi or whatever ... its good.

'Get out ... and stay out'

The final episode is packed with more cliff hangers than the rest of the series put together. Early episodes set up storylines that take a painfully long time to develop with far too many episodes ending in more or less the same way. One or two characters started to irritate me after a while, seeming interesting at first but failing to develop. The character Jenny for example, is pretty one-dimensional being used to tell a story about self-discovery but unfortunately having little to discover other than lesbian tendencies which were hinted at in the first half an hour of the series.

Having said that, taking time to watch the storylines unfold makes you feel closer to the characters ...

... as does the screen nudity. There are a fair few sex scenes but they're quite tastefully done and without a whiff of the dreadful "we're just warming up ready for a man to finish us off" sentiment that steals credibility from so much lesbian-themed drama.

I'm very keen to see series 2 which will hopefully be a little sharper.

The DVD extras really aren't much to speak of, just a very short trailer for season 2 and some informative screens about costumes and cast biogs - I would have liked to see some interviews or commentary because this series marks an important step in lesbian entertainment.

In response to the comments another reviewer made, the show has by no means promoted an anti-Christian message. The art piece in question was clearly an expression of longing for God and not meant as blasphemous. If you'd paid attention to the show, you'd know this. As a matter of fact, the episodes dealing with that art collection had more to do with homophobia and closed-mindedness than anything else. The message conveyed was both powerful and very real.

Anyway, the only reason I've not given this 5 stars is that the region 2 version has one less disc than the region 1 version, missing out on some very interesting and funny bonus features. On the plus side, the cover (which is NOT the one displayed here - it is in fact in full colour and without the big pink L) looks much nicer.