The L Word: Season 5

Unresolved romances and a long-simmering film project finally bear fruit in the fifth season of THE L WORDr. Dreams come true and new life paths are forged for many of the series' characters this year, but not without the The L Word's trademark provocative storylines, sizzling sexuality, and heart-rending emotion. In a clever move, the producers of The L Word use season five to revisit the origins of their own creation. After Jenny (Mia Kirshner) sets out to direct the silver-screen edition of her novel, Lez Girls, she enters a parallel world populated by actors playing thinly-veiled versions of the central cast (in a typical Jenny move, she sleeps with the star who portrays "Jesse"). This post-modern plotline brings newcomers up to speed, while offering early-adapters new perspectives on the past. Naturally, the shoot doesn't go smoothly. When the increasingly self-absorbed Jenny hires adoring fan Adele (ER's Malaya Rivera Drew) as her assistant, events take on All About Eve overtones. Since Jenny is turning her life into a movie, it only makes sense for the two to bleed into each other. In other developments, Tina (Laurel Holloman) and Bette (Jennifer Beals) consider reconciliation, Helena (Rachel Shelley) does time in prison, Alice (Leisha Hailey) takes her penchant for gossip too far, Tasha (Rose Rollins) fights to stay in the military, and Shane (Katherine Moennig), a dead ringer for Warren Beatty in Shampoo, rejoins the ranks of the single, only to fall for straight girl Molly (Cybill Shepherd's daughter, Clementine Ford).

In a more melodramatic, but equally entertaining move, Dawn Denbo (Elizabeth Keener), proprietor of new hotspot SheBar makes life hell for the Planet, but Kit (Pam Grier) and her loyal clientele refuse to go down without a fight--even if they don't offer "Lesbian Turkish Oil Wrestling." Aside from the fact that Max (Daniela Sea) continues to get short shrift, The L Word's fifth year proves the show has more than a little lusty and gutsy life left in it, and was renewed for a sixth season. Extras include cast biographies and episodes of Showtime's Dexter, Californication, and This American Life. --Kathleen C. Fennessy