MovieChat Forums > The L Word (2004) Discussion > Isn't it really fairly obvious who kille...

Isn't it really fairly obvious who killed Jenny?


I just watched TLW for the first time, binge viewing it over the last ten days or so. Obviously, there were many things I liked about the show, although most of the shortcomings I see discussed on the board here are readily apparent. However, the "mystery" of who killed Jenny doesn't seem that opaque to me. The last time we see Jenny alive, she's on the second story landing, the one without a finished railing. Bette is talking to her, telling Jenny very intensely that she, Bette, will do whatever is necessary to protect her family. She is clearly referring to Jenny spreading the story that Bette cheated with Kelly, which we know is not true. Just minutes later, Bette is coming down the interior stairs, alone, when she encounters a couple of the other women who are looking for Jenny. They ask Bette if she knows where Jenny is, and Bette replies that she doesn't know, and hasn't seen Jenny. The next time anyone sees Jenny is when Alice finds her floating in the pool, quite dead. I think that Bette did what was necessary to protect her family, and in the long run her friends, from Jenny's Machiavellian insanity.

This conclusion is reinforced by the "interrogation" scenes (as someone else remarked, they seem more like therapy sessions) at the police station. Only Bette's statement is shown twice, the second time in close up, as she remarks that Jenny is "complicated." I think this is a strong hint to us that something is up with Bette.

As a side note, was anyone else amused that Lucy "Xena" Lawless, star of the first popular show to appeal to a lesbian (among others) audience, was cast as the police captain investigating Jenny's death?



We provide ... Leverage.

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[deleted]

Sorry 'bout that. I also made the mistake of checking out the message board when I just started watching the show, and ran smack dab into several spoilers. I found it was fairly possible to put them out of mind as I watched. I hope you can too. This was a topic of discussion on at least a couple of threads, and I couldn't think of any way to create a title for my post that wasn't a spoiler.



We provide ... Leverage.

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The show ended 4 1/2 years ago so there's no reason for anyone to cry about spoilers. No one spoiled anything here.

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This was a topic of discussion on at least a couple of threads, and I couldn't think of any way to create a title for my post that wasn't a spoiler.


How stupid are you?

"Isn't it really fairly obvious who killed (Spoiler)?"

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Lmao you can't call spoilers when YOU just started watching a show that has been off the air for 5 year snow!

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Alice is also a good candidate. She asked "what does this have to do with who killed Jenny?". It looks like she knew someone killed her and that it wasn't an accident.

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Nah...the only real candidates are Bette or Nikki who killed her. Everyone else was in the viewing room watching that video. But in all honesty, I think she just killed herself. I mean she realized how much of a bitch she had become, admitted her own friends didn't want to be around her anymore (and why would they when she tried to destroy everyone one of their lives), etc.

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Meh, I don't buy that Jenny killed herself. She had completely deluded herself into believing she wasn't a sociopathic monster, and I don't see her having an epiphany about it after that conversation with Bette.

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I was always under the impression that it was Niki (Kate French) whom killed Jenny and that Alice was wrongfully tried and convicted for the murder and sent to prison. Bette or Tina (or possibly both) may have witnessed the event, but kept quiet about it since they both had a grudge against Jenny (who doesn't in the series?) Niki gets away with it while Alice unwittingly takes the fall. That is one speculation.

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From what I can remember reading I think that all we know from what Ilene has said is that it wasn't Alice but if they had continued with the spin-off Alice would be in jail having been wrongfully convicted. It seems like it is up to each viewer to decide for themselves. Personally I also think that it was Nikki. It seemed like when she came into the house after it happened, and she was rambling to Shane, it seemed like she was going to confess somewhat but Shane tells her to shut up. Like "You idiot you are gonna screw yourself over if you say anything else."

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I killed Jenny...

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Flimz...
"Oh my god. You killed Jenny."
"You bastard!"

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I think it was the manatees.

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I disagree, Jenny spent a lot of time and effort deliberately breaking up every relationship around her, trying to appear like none of it was her fault.
She also had the film negatives in her attic with Shane's letter where she knew where they would be eventually found.
She also told Shane she was leaving everything to her.
Most of the people on her "farewell" video were more associated with Jenny.

Jenny tied up all her loose ends and killed herself.

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Jenny didn't put the film negatives in the attic, Nikki did. It was revealed in a weekly series of character interrogation videos after the show ended.

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This may be so but I kinda do agree with the whole Jenny killed herself thing and tied up loose ends. I mean even if she didn't steal the negatives, she still hid Shane's jacket/Molly's note, stole Alice's idea, was trying to blackmail Bette for something she didn't even do, etc. She was self-destructive and made it seem like she purposely went out of her way to make her "friends" lives miserable.

What I don't agree with though is the video had people that were mainly connected to Jenny. Only Tim and Marina were the ones connected to her the most.

When I think about this idea though, it makes me want to say that the whole show was kinda indirectly centered around Jenny's demise then. She comes to town as new girl, gets turned lesbian (supposedly), becomes melodramatic/depressed/cuts herself, tries to destroy every friendship she made, etc.

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To be honest I don't think anyone killed Jenny - because I believe Ilene just wrote that crap with no solution in mind. To believe one of the gang murdered Jenny ruins the whole series for me, it's just so stupid and out of character and downright ridiculous. I also don't like to think Jenny killed herself. I think Ilene just wrote it to frustrate the hell out of fans and keep everybody guessing forever, there's really no ending that makes sense. What a slap in the face to fans.

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No one killed Jenny. She fell off the balcony herself



~Silence is Golden and duct tape is Silver~

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Hmm you know I never actually considered that possibility. I just went with the whole she killer herself in my head. But that could make sense since she was last seen on the balcony and I REALLY don't think Bette would actually kill her (or any of the others for that matter). I mean they kinda kept hinting in that episode about that balcony being unsafe. Maybe this was why....

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@shayneferry,

I totally agree with you about IC and the lack of planning with regard to who killed Jenny. This is something that really irritates me when producers end a show (or are told to end a show). They either write the characters into corners they (the producers) know they'll never have to get them out of, or they make the characters behave in ways that are completely OUT OF CHARACTER with respect to the way those characters have been written up to that point in the show. The 2 examples that come to mind for me are "Will and Grace" and "30 Rock."

IC knew she'd never have to answer the question of "Who Killed Jenny" so she gave us a bunch of SUSPECTS, but no actual culprit. But the end of the show, everyone wanted Jenny dead. But there's no real evidence against anyone. And I don't know how Alice would have been convicted of the crime. There was no more evidence against her than anyone else. I would have loved to see that spin-off series.

So, yes, it was a slap in the face. But as fans, we should have been used to it. :-(

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