This installment of Gen Homo picks up right where the last episode ended— Finley is heartbroken and existentially unmoored after getting dumped by Sophie. She’s worried about relapsing and calls Tess, who doesn’t pick up because she’s a bad sponsor her mom just died. Fortunately, Finley is able to reach Shane, who tells her that she and Tess are on their way to Las Vegas. I guess Patty’s new nursing home was in Vegas? I’m not sure why Tess would send her so far away, but whatever. Maybe they’re having the funeral there.
Next, Micah and Mirabel are yucking it up and making smoothies in the Gen Q clubhouse kitchen. Dani swings by with some kind of cake and Sophie shows off her recently-pierced nipples. Nobody asks where Finley is or if she has a place to stay, not even Micah. I don’t think this is intentional but the tonal shift between this scene and the last is so sudden, it really reads like they’re throwing a party to celebrate the demise of Sophley. The timeline in this episode is a little blurry. I thought this was happening immediately after the breakup until Sophie said she got her nipples pierced the night before, meaning it’s been at least a day.
The day has come for Fletcher’s album release party, which Dani has been planning for the past few episodes. Fletcher, as readers of this newsletter may be aware, is a lesbian singer and NYU grad. I know about her from lesbian TikTok, where there is much speculation about her love life and Instagram activity. Anyways, some dyke drama is foreshadowed when Dani asks Sophie if it’s okay that Dre will be there. Sophie pretends like it’s fine, but is clearly a little bothered by the prospect.
Micah really wants to go to the party, but Mirabel wants to stay home and look at sperm donors online. It’s such a red flag that she doesn’t encourage Micah to go without her. This is such nightmare first queer relationship behavior. You don’t have to do everything with your partner, oh my god.
It turns out the person Finley was able to reach in her earlier moment of despair was Carrie, which we find out when Finley rolls up to her enormous, Colonial-style house. Carrie says they should do emotional eating and starts listing possible takeout options because she doesn’t have any groceries. Minutes later, Finley has a meltdown after burning lasagna. I guess instead of getting takeout, they went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients for lasagna and then Carrie put Finley in charge of making it? It’s such a simple sequence of plot events, but the logistics are so off-kilter that it makes me feel INSANE. Carrie tells her she needs to get out of the house and invites her to I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gutter, her lesbian bowling league.
As foretold in the previous episode, Angie and Hendrix are on a little getaway. They have sex (it’s Angie’s first time! Her roommate who she should date instead sends her off with a million condoms!! Angie gives him a chapbook of her work which seems to have a cover made of handmade paper!!) in the hotel and then Hendrix has a reading (the poem he reads is wacky af). Afterwards, he introduces Angie as his student to a literary agent who has approached him because he “really loves his work,” a real thing that frequently happens at small-town bookstore readings. When Angie confronts him about it, he kinda-sorta breaks up with her. He says they should puts things on hold until she’s no longer his student, and she hears rejection, and storms off, saying she can find her own way home. I hate this!! What is the endgame here?! All the options I can think of are terrible.
Last episode, Dana appeared in Alice’s ayahuasca trip and told her that “the one“ is still out there. It’s someone who, in a way, knew Dana. Alice takes this as a sign to put on the world’s wackiest shirt (like one shirt started eating another and just stopped) and invite Tom to stop by her office in the middle of the day. Alice tries to tell Tom that she wants another chance, but he thinks she wants to write another book. Just like Carrie, the schtick here is that Tom talks so much and makes so many assumptions that zany miscommunications arise. I really hate this development because Alice was barely into Tom when they were dating and was understandably disturbed when he proposed after 2 weeks. A major theme of this season is finding “the one“ and ending up with your ultimate beshert, which is deeply heterosexual ideology and not how anyone I know approaches dating. Like lots of my gay friends talk about wanting a partner or a committed relationship, but I never hear it framed as like, “there is only one person for me out there.“ Gen Q is a show about queer people, but it doesn’t have a very queer perspective or imagination. But I digress!! Alice and Tom notice a meowing noise coming from the wall. Tom gets up on a chair and starts taking down air vents, trying to rescue a trapped kitten.
At dyke bowling, Finley is knocking down pins like a pro and getting a much-needed self-esteem boost from a coterie of older, supportive lesbians. She’s desperate to text Sophie, but Carrie is valiantly deleting the texts and protecting Finley from finself. Finley learns that Carrie and Misty are not actually dating. Carrie has yet to make even made one single move (in Finley’s defense, part of the deal she made with Carrie was that Carrie would ask Misty out if Finley applied to college). Carrie explains that she’s really afraid of getting hurt and her bowling league friendship with Misty is “enough.” This moment is really heartfelt and says so much about Carrie. Unfortunately, Finley decides to take matters into her own hands. She tells Misty about Carrie’s big, fat lesbian crush on her. Misty is visibly uncomfortable and says that Carrie isn’t her type. Finley’s intentions are good, but ultimately her actions are super hurtful because Carrie overhears everything.
I was afraid Carrie and Finley were going to relapse together, but, blessings be, Carrie actually forgives Finley and is really understanding. They go home and Finley figures out how to make lasagna. Redemption!! Next, Misty shows up at the front door!! She says that when she said “not my type,“ she meant that she’s not used to being pursued (hearing that someone likes you through a mutual friend is like, the opposite of being pursued). This feels like a convenient cop-out—her “not my type“ comment implied she wasn’t into Carrie being butch and/or fat. There’s never been a butch-on-butch relationship on the L Word and Carrie is literally the only fat character, so I hate that the writers played with us like that. Ughhhhhhh.
At long last, it’s Fletcher’s release party!! Sophie shows up with the hair from her ayahuasca hallucination and a homecoming dress from the Deb (I love how Finley and Sophie are embodying two different forms of post-breakup mania: Finley is desperate to get back together, while Sophie is buying new clothes and trying so, so hard to be single and have fun). She gets really drunk and tries to kiss Dre, but Dre turns away and says they’re into someone else. It seems clear that person is Dani.
Fletcher arrives and is like, “I want a big margarita after my set“ and “messy is good sometimes“ and “I love sapphic chaos.“ She performs a song and makes a judgy face when Sophie drunkingly falls into the pool.
At the bar, Micah meets a man named Michael. They’re both awkward, Asian, and have names that start with “Mic.” They don’t particularly look alike, but Micah immediately identifies Michael as his dopplegänger (more proof that his entire personalty is a handful of surface-level attributes). He and Mirabel ask Michael to be their sperm donor and he says yes, he just has to ask his wife first. This is a huge decision and it’s pretty nuts that Michael would be so cavalier about it, but whatever. Michael goes to find his wife and discovers her making out with Sophie! Instead of jacking into a cup and giving 2 total strangers the gift of life, Michael ends the night heartbroken and yelling at his bisexual wife.
Alice finally tells Tom that she wants to try dating again, but he’s already met someone else and she’s PREGNANT. Alice is disappointed, but not for long. She falls in love with the kitten. She names it Pibbles 2 and refers to her as “the one.” Wait, how did Dana know this cat? What is the connection? This entire series, Alice has been longing for a partner and questioning if she’s common denominator in all her failed relationships. It feels so cheap/unsatisfying to stick her with a cat and call it a day, but I don’t write this show.
This episode ends with a flurry of activity. Dre and Dani are K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a pool. Finley texts Sophie “thinking of you“ and Sophie likes the message!! Sophie applies for some kind of grant. Finley ignores a call from her estranged mom. And that’s it! I’m going to BED. Talk to you next week.
Other Stuff That Came Up for Me:
Carrie lives in this giant house by herself? Also on a subsequent rewatch, I realized Finley is wearing a different shirt in the lasagna scene, so it’s possible a few days have passed since she first arrived at Carrie’s doorstep.
Misty looks like butch Tina.
Sophie is being so terrible in this episode.
I loved when Finley shows Carrie her text to Sophie and Carrie just deletes it. I have been the Carrie so many times in my friendships.
I’m so confused about the movies that Gen Q decides to reference. It always seems so deliberate, but they’re all super straight titles e.g. Newsies, Love and Basketball, The Wedding Planner. If you have theories about this, let me know.
Thank you so much to everyone who commented on last week’s recap of the Gen Q musical. You are all so smart, especially everyone who talked about how the masc lesbians, Shane and Finley, are rendered as shitty, oppressive men.
I have a STRONG feeling that reading this recap is much better than having to watch the episode
Can’t wait to hate watch this one. I do have to say, for me and most if not all of my black lesbian friends, Love and Basketball is a verrrry foundational movie. Lusting after basketball playing Sanaa Lathan >>>>>