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« The L Word
February 14, 2007: A Little "L" on Valentine's Day
I've noticed quite a few questions in the comments lately regarding Max's history, so I thought I'd devote a post that recaps the Moira/Max story. Now, this is purely from my memory of last season, which was a year ago, so if you remember more details or see anything I've posted in error, feel free to chime in!
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Meet Moira, Season 3
After Jenny is found self-mutilating in season 2, she admits herself into a psychiatric ward back home in Illinois. (Too bad the psychiatric treatment didn’t seem to help her beyond the cutting!  ) It's in Illinois that Jenny quickly falls in love with Moira, a soft-spoken, gentle-natured computer technician, who also happens to be pretty butch. Jenny convinces Moira to come back to LA with her, so they embark on a road trip back to Cali in Moira's truck.
On this road trip, they find themselves in a really scary situation when Moira becomes the object of a brewing hate crime. Since Moira looks androgynous and acts masculine, a group of kids at the rest stop think she's a guy, and not much else. I even seem to remember that Moira stirs up small talk with the kids and that they're nice to her at first... can anyone confirm this? The hate crime begins to unfold when the group sees Moira use the women's bathroom.
As the ugliness continues to flare up, Moira just wants to get the hell out of there. Of course, as Jenny is prone to do, she insists on confronting the group (because she knows and we know there's a taser in the glove box, but Moira isn't aware that Jenny found it.) As annoying as Jenny's constant quest for making a statement can be, the homophobic instigator deserved a good jolt, and we're left wondering if Jenny may have killed the guy by overdoing it with the taser.
When Moira and Jenny first arrive in LA, none of the L Girls click with Moira, because not only is she butch, she's also working class. She doesn't wear expensive clothes; she isn't a connoisseur of fine art, fashion and expensive food. Moira's just a drama-free Midwestern girl that wants a good job, a girlfriend and a pretty simple, yet stable life. This is of course, not quite the way our beloved L women live! She wants to leave LA at first because she feels so alien there, but Jenny convinces her to stay. (To me, it seemed more like a Midwestern girl's culture shock in LA than gender issues at first).
There's a very painful scene when Moira meets the whole group for the first time at a fancy dinner. She can't afford any of the food, orders a salad, and the group looks at her like she just turned into yellow polka-dotted elephant before their very eyes. With lobster as one of the main entrées, Moira tries to stir up conversation with an interesting tidbit about lobsters:
"You don't have to put a lid on a pot of female lobsters... because once they realize they're all in a pot of boiling water, they just start grabbing each other and holding each other down. They're like, 'If I'm gonna die, everyone's gonna die.'"
After that, the room falls uncomfortably silent, and many more of these moments happen throughout the season with Moira and the group. (To me, it felt like in season 3, Moira was "lost in translation." In season 4, Max is "lost in transition.")
A few episodes into season 2, the brilliant Alan Cumming guest-stars as a hotshot promotions manager (Billie), whom Kit hires to work at The Planet. When Billie meets Moira, he's instantly attracted to her as a man, and this is before she's voiced any feelings about becoming one. Billie even hits on her, and eventually consummates his attraction to her, which becomes the catalyst for Moira's transition into Max. Billie also introduces her to a group of his trans gender friends, and Moira finally fits in somewhere. Unfortunately, Billie's also the one that hooks her up with illegal testosterone. Of course, in typical delicious L Word drama, Jenny catches Billie and Moira together "in the act," and Moira confesses to Jenny that she slept with Billie because "he’s the first person that made her feel like a 'real' man."
Besides Billie, the only other person that Moira remotely connects with is Dana, because Moira/Max is a huge tennis fan. Of course, we lose Dana to breast cancer, so Moira really loses the only person she connects with in the L Group. Billie gets fired, so he's suddenly gone, and Jenny... well, we all know how Jenny can be, right? At one point, when Moira doesn't get hired (at the company that later hires Max), Jenny launches into how men are pigs, yada yada, and Moira says to Jenny, "If you've got a problem with men, then we've got a problem."
Jenny does try to support Moira's transition, but more as a friend than a girlfriend. As the testosterone makes Moira more aggressive, it totally turns Jenny off, because she realizes that Moira is now Max, and Max is different than the Moira that Jenny fell in love with. (In Jenny’s defense, the illegal testosterone was turning Max into a jerk, but luckily, that didn’t last for long.)
I also seem to recall that Shane always accepted Moira/Max and didn't care either way whether she's a lesbian or a trans gendered male. They didn't exactly become best buds or anything, but Max at least always felt comfortable with Shane. I also think that's why Max has really stepped up to be a big brother to Shay this season.
I wish that they'd bring back "Ivan" (Kelly Lynch), the trans gender that (I think) Kit was falling in love with, and I would also love to see Alan Cumming on a regular basis. (Not only because he's a great actor, but... I am strangely attracted to him)! I also feel like Max and Tasha could get along pretty well because Tasha's also "drama free," and more working class than high society. She's also pretty laid back, and I just think that they'd get along as friends.
So... that's the story of Moira and Max. I think I remembered everything important, but if I left anything out or got anything wrong, you know what to do!
Finally... Happy Valentine's Day, L Group!! 
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Feb 14, 2007 4:00 PM
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Thank you very much for the recap. I've asked b4 about why Max's storyline is so detached from everyone else's, and got some good info, but this recap clears it all up.
Since this is my first season watching, its kinda hard figuring out whether I like Max or not. I feel I haven't got to know him yet, his scene's with the boss' daughter are all I have to judge from but I need more.
The same goes for Tina, if I didn't know any better I'd be sure she wasn't a regular.
I can't believe I didn't watch this show B4, easily top 5.
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Feb 14, 2007 8:40 PM
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One quick question:
I assume Max is staying at Jenny's becuz she has nowhere else to go but is that Jenny's house or Shane's.
Have Jenny and Shane always lived 2gether? and why?
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Feb 14, 2007 8:44 PM
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It's Jenny's house that I think she's renting. It was given to her by her husband Tim, played by Eric Mabius aka Daniel Meade on Ugly Betty.
Jenny was a 'straight' girl who moved to LA to be with her boyfriend, but then she met the girls. More specifically Marina. They had an affair, Tim found out and he went a little crazed, demanding Jenny marry him, which she did and then on their way back from Vegas?Reno?Whereever, he dumped her. Literally and figuratively. Cause he put her out of the car and left her to hitch it back home. Where she ate mushrooms with weird teens and wrote about manatees. Or maybe her Carnival thing.
He eventually forgave her, but he didn't stay past the first season. He took a job as a swim coach in another city and moved, leaving the keys to the house with her.
Shane and Carmen moved in with her after that.
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Feb 14, 2007 11:17 PM
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About the house: Yep, what JyotiKai said!
[I actually did not catch Season 1. Need to get it on DVD]. 
Pretty much, once Carmen left, they [Jenny and Shane] let Moira/Max stay as a roommate.
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Feb 15, 2007 6:19 PM
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Oh you must get Season One. It was so good. It's hard for me to even remember that I once liked Tina.
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Feb 15, 2007 7:46 PM
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Jeannine, why did you have to mention Carmen? Sigh.... Why didn't the writers bring back Carmen?!
As for the Max situation, I'm surprised that he still feels detached from everyone else. Oh, I'm so glad the boss' daughter didn't say anything to her father about Max.
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Feb 16, 2007 10:04 AM
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>>Jeannine, why did you have to mention Carmen? Sigh.... Why didn't the writers bring back Carmen?!
Posted by Spider-Man
I know!! I feel the same way. *sigh*
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Feb 16, 2007 1:01 PM
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Nessarose -
Tina has been EXTREMELY difficult to like for the past two seasons... but, in Season 1 there were some pretty great scenes with her and Bette. You really should watch the first two seasons... a lot of important history there between characters.
As for Max, being that Daniela Sea isn't really the best actress didn't make it any easier to like Max. But I personally just never connected with the characer. Because I'm not transgender? Or because the character is poorly executed? Not quite sure.
Oh by the way... I'm pretty sure it was never really made clear that "Ivan" was transgender. I thought he was just into dressing the part, I never got the vibe that he was transgender or considering a transition.
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Feb 20, 2007 12:49 PM
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