Tibette’s fate in the mind of a showrunner

Clearly, the L Word story that inspires the most controversy in the largest number of galaxies is the one about Bette and Tina. There is no question that the more passionate respondents are those of you who would have liked them to remain together. You wanted them back together in season 2, you wished Bette had never cheated on Tina in the first place, you wanted them to stay together after they reconciled and all throughout season 3, and you were furious that Tina ditched Bette for that awful man. Wow. You really let us know about it. In letters. On fan sites. At Q&A’s. (Why aren’t they in therapy? When are they going to process? Why aren’t you in therapy?) On Sunset Boulevard. (Really, you shouldn’t have leapt out of your car and then crossed against the light and you deserved that jaywalking ticket.) In airports. (I hope you didn’t miss your plane, the girl who chased me to the departure gate in Dallas.) And you don’t give up.

Someone once told me, after a particularly bad break-up, that the usual lifespan of a broken heart is about nine months. At the nine-month juncture, you finally start to move on; you see the light and the edge of the abyss; you’re almost ready to begin your life anew. At which point – in typical lesbian fashion – the girl who ditched you comes crawling back and says that she made a terrible mistake and you really are the love of her life and she doesn’t know how she could have been so foolish. And for about half a second, you’re overjoyed. And then you realize, you don’t want to kiss her…

Is that what’s going to happen here? I’m not saying that Bette and Tina are getting back together – to be honest, I don’t know what’s going to happen – but if they do, are you sure it’s going to make you happy…? Or are you setting us up, just to see how hard we fall? You see, your raging and weeping and agitating seem to be getting through to us. There was a time when we really thought Bette and Tina were kaput. We couldn’t imagine they could ever recover from some of the acrimony you’ve only just witnessed in the first two episodes of season 4. But in fact, it’s less clear to us now. Although, as many of you know, Bette gets a thrilling new lover in season 4. And Tina – well, we thought she had retired into heterosexuality for good – but then she started showing signs of life. We weren’t expecting it. It took us by surprise. We were absolutely delighted!

Here’s the thing. It’s been way longer than nine months, and there’s no sign that you’re moving on. But, hey, we’re glad you’re still here – and we love that you have hope. We’re still here, too. And we’re just as curious as you are to see how this story plays out.