From day one, The L Wordhas been a powder keg of sex and drama among a gorgeous group of Los Angeles dwelling lesbians. As season four opens, Shane McCutcheon (Katherine Moennig) has left her fiancée Carmen de la Pica Morales (Sarah Shahi) just minutes before their wedding in Canada. Shane is in the midst of an intense alcohol, sex and drug fueled bender with her lover from seasons past, Cherie Jaffe (Rosanna Arquette). When Shane finally does come home from the bender, she finds that her fathers’ scorned wife has left Shay (Aidan Jarrar), Shane’s nine year old brother in her care. Shane shows a much softer side of herself; taking a modeling job to earn money to pay the medical costs after Shay is hurt in a skateboarding accident and pleading with the principal of the local school to allow her brother to attend classes there. Katherine Moennig shows a fairly impressive range of emotions during the fourth season of The L Word. You can feel her heartbreak as she tries to numb the pain of losing Carmen, her happiness as she bonds with her little brother. As it happens, Shay becomes friends with another boy at school. While on a play date Shane meets the boy’s single mother Paige Sobel (Kristanna Loken) and eventually the two become lovers.
Meanwhile, Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals) is on the run after kidnapping her daughter from her former partner Tina Kennard (Laurel Holloman) who has full legal custody of the child. Since this is a television show, Bette returns to Los Angeles without police intervention and works out a visitation agreement with Tina in a mediation session. With that behind her, Bette begins her new job as Dean of the Arts at California University. 
Almost immediately, Bette engages in a passionate but brief affair with her teaching assistant, Nadia (Jessica Capshaw.) Predictably, that doesn’t last very long and Bette is soon captivated by a talented, young and deaf artist teaching at the University. Jodi Lerner (Marlee Matlin), free spirited but brutally driven and honest presents a whole new set of challenges for the uptight, hard charging Bette. Jodi is as successful and driven as Bette is, and can keep up with her punch for punch. When their relationship begins to fall apart, Tina is constantly giving advice to her former partner on how to woo Jodi. It is clear that both Tina and Bette still have feelings for each other, so that will be something to watch for next season.
Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey) is hands down my favorite character on The L Word. She is perky, hilarious and can always be counted on to liven up a scene if an episode is dragging a little bit. Alice’s radio show has become wildly popular in the gay and lesbian community. Her infamous ‘chart’ detailing the interrelationships between lesbians goes online and becomes a huge hit. It is through the ‘chart’ that we are introduced to a new character named Papi (Janina Gavankar) who has overtaken Shane as the ‘charts’ reigning player with over 1,000 lovers. Alice finds herself drawn into her own drama when she meets Bette’s new boss at the University, Phyllis Kroll (Cybill Shepherd). After over twenty years of being a wife and mother, Phyllis has decided to come out as lesbian and has her first affair with Alice and becomes smitten with her. Once Alice’s affair with Phyllis is over, Alice meets an African American army soldier named Tasha (Rose Rollins), who is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and is about to be rotated back to Iraq.
Then of course there’s Jenny Schecter (Mia Kirshner). She has been teetering on the edge of craziness for two seasons now and in season four, Jenny officially lost her marbles. Unfortunately for Tina, it is her job as a studio executive to move Jenny’s book Lez Girls to the silver screen. Despite the success of the book and the generally good reviews, Schecter becomes obsessed with one interviewer named Stacy Merkin when she writes negative things about her. Jenny also shows a mean streak when dealing with her former girlfriend Moria (Daniela Sea) begins hormone treatments for gender reassignment and is living as a man, Max Sweeney.
There are times when I’m tempted to refer to The L Word as a sexier Melrose Place for the twenty first century. At first blush that seems fitting, with all the bed hopping and hand ringing. However, at its core The L Word does tone things down to a level that are real for the viewer no matter what their sexual orientation. In season four the characters deal with custody issues, loss and family dynamics.
Showtime has brought The L Word: The Complete Fourth Season to DVD in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound audio which makes everything sound nice and full. The picture quality is also crisp and clear. There isn’t much here for special features. There are cast biographies and contest winners. Showtime has also included episode of both The Tudors and Californication in case you haven’t had a chance to catch those shows.
