My Weekend Crush

Oh the delicious idiosyncrasy that is Jenny Schecter. Jenny is both the most infuriating and infatuating character in Ilene Chaiken’s little lesboverse. She is crazy as all get out, yet you just can’t stop watching her. And you just can’t stop watching her because you just can’t stop watching Mia Kirshner. Sure almost everything Jenny does is either insane, destructive or megalomaniacal -- often all at the same time. But Mia makes even the most nonsensical stuff work. And, I swear, she gets more gorgeous with each passing season.

Outside of the L Word, Hollywood has tended to cast Mia as the doomed sexpot. But she is capable of so much more. I knew it the first time I saw her, some 14 years ago, in “Exotica.” To say she made an impression would be an understatement, and I’m not just talking about her Catholic school girl uniform. Not that it hurt, either. Mia is an actress who can smolder, but underneath all the sexiness is something more. Most beautiful women have an openness about them that invites and welcomes admiration. Mia is a beautiful woman whose enigmatic nature draws us to her like a puzzle, instead.

Without Mia, we could have never stomached Jenny for five seasons. She would have turned into a cardboard villainess or pointless nutjob. But with Mia we always feel that maybe, possibly, if Mama Chaiken will allow it, Jenny will one day be redeemed. Happy weekend, all.