Diva UK – September 2019

Bring back Jenny Schecter

THE L WORD

CHARACTER

EVERYONE

LOVED

TO HATE

DESERVES

A SECOND

CHANCE,

SAYS LAURA

KAY

Jenny Schecter is dead. Drowned in

a swimming pool. Murdered by her

friend. Jenny Schecter is dead and no

one cares. The tears shed so freely for

Dana are all dried up when it comes

to Jenny, because she got her come-

uppance, didn’t she? She paid the

price for being annoying and cocky,

self-centred and manipulative. For

adopting and murdering that dog.

Jenny Schecter is dead, but she

should be resurrected. Hear me out...

In 2009, after the series finale

aired, New York Magazine said, “Jenny

Schecter is The L Word, and the death

of her is the death of the show”, and I

am inclined to agree. She is the heart

and (admittedly, evil) soul of The L Word.

Ilene Chaiken, the creator of the show,

has recently given her blessing to Marja-

Lewis Ryan, The L Word: Generation Q’s

new showrunner, to “feel free to say it

was a dream” and has made clear she

isn’t “precious” about the final season, so

“anything could happen”.

Anything could happen. The

redemption of Jenny Schecter. Or

even the reckoning of Jenny Schecter

that doesn’t involve her untimely

death. Would it not be enough for her

to fall from grace? To be back in her

little shed typing out sad stories and

fainting all over the place like a sickly

Victorian child?

When recently re-watching the

first episodes of The L Word with a

friend who had never seen it (gay,

male, intrigued), I was shouted down

by friends for choosing Jenny over Ma-

rina in a “who’d you rather” situation.

It was an absurd decision. Preposter-

ous. Embarrassing.

But the thing is, I’m a writer and

a narcissist and Jenny Schecter is me,

was me. Is the me I could have been if

my boyfriend was a swim team coach

who built me a writing shed and let

me mope around the house writing

whimsical, macabre short stories

and pouting.

Jenny was high maintenance,

dreamy, impulsive, selfish. Yes please.

Not only are these characteristics

I can’t help but secretly fall for in

women, but they are all characteris-

tics I recognise in the deepest, darkest

parts of myself. And I don’t think I’m

the only one. This piece could be titled

“I am Jenny Schecter and so are you”,

because on some level isn’t that true?

Who among us can claim that we

wouldn’t create an exploitative, sala-

cious book about our closest friends

and turn that book into a movie, and

then emotionally abuse our personal

assistants, and then have an affair

with the woman we cast to play our-

selves in the movie about our life?

Ok. Possibly a bad example. Jenny

needed to be taken down a peg or

two. I will grant you that. But she

didn’t deserve such an anticlimactic,

unsatisfying end.

The show has a new cast of

characters to represent a more diverse

group of women, including trans

actors and actors of colour rectifying

the wrongs of the previous iteration of

the show (of which there were many).

Yet there is still no confirmation of

whether Jenny Schecter will be back.

Maybe there’ll be a new girl in

town with ludicrously long hair and

her own unique way of alienating

everybody. Maybe this girl also has a

boyfriend she loves, but who is not

enough. Maybe there’s a new girl in

town who discovers a part of herself

through meeting a Marina or a Shane.

But Jenny Schecter did it in 2004.

Before Twitter and Facebook and

Instagram were commonplace. Before

a community of out-and-proud queer

women were at our fingertips. For the

generation of millennials who grew

up on The L Word, Jenny Schecter

deserves a second chance.

For all the latest updates on The L Word:

Generation Q, visit divamag.co.uk

She didn’t deserve

such an anticlimactic,

unsatisfying end”

LAURA KAY

is a journalist

who works at the

Guardian. Follow

her on Twitter

@lauraelizakay

22 SEPTEMBER 2019

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