MovieChat Forums > The L Word (2004) Discussion > Most likely murder suspects judging by p...

Most likely murder suspects judging by past seasons


I know this has been talked about to death (no pun intended) on IMDB and basically every other L word website/blog, but I wanted to post here because I've been re-watching some of the older seasons and I think there are a few suspects who stand out to me. The general consensus seems to be "bad writing killed Jenny"/Ilene Chaiken didn't even know herself, and I actually agree, but since it is so infuriating not having this resolved, I thought I would throw a few possibilities out there...

Kit
I know it's shocking to point fingers at the loving, caring mother hen who is equally kind and non-judgmental to a fault, but Kit's history is shady at best. She's extremely emotional and prone to acting in the heat of the moment, such as the incident where she flipped over the table at The Planet after finding out Dawn Denbo/Lover Cindy had scooped her business out from the under her, and when she aggressively confronted Angus while performing on stage with him after discovering his infidelity. Kit also bought a gun and snuck into She Bar ("Bette, I'm in trouble, I'm gonna do something bad"), evidently to confront Dawn and Lover Cindy. The fact that something like this would even cross someone's mind as a means of dealing with business rivals is extremely disturbing. In the final episode, it is more than implied through Bette and Tina's excessive mentioning of the balcony not being finished that Jenny was pushed to her death and that it happened spontaneously i.e. wasn't planned. Kit is not conniving and would never calculate Jenny's murder beforehand, but I can certainly see her getting into a physical confrontation and things getting out of hand.

Bette
From what I've read, a lot of people suspect Bette given her aggressive personality, i.e. she confronted Jenny, things got heated, Jenny fell. However, I think Bette would have been hyper-aware of the balcony situation (just because she and Tina mentioned it so many times) and I doubt she would have made the mistake of physically confronting Jenny and causing her to fall on accident. There is a possibility that it was deliberate, if Bette was in fact the one who pushed her. The reason why I think she is more likely to have been the killer than some of the other characters is because she's done extreme things in the past for the sake of "protecting" her family (i.e. kidnapping Angelica in a previous season). If Jenny's death was caused "accidentally on purpose" as oppose to a pure accident or suicide, I think Bette would be most likely responsible.

Max
I think Max is another likely candidate if Jenny's death was indeed an accident (i.e. not on purpose via Bette or suicide via Jenny) because in the past he has been excessively aggressive towards other characters. This likely has to do with his testosterone injunctions; in the past he has physically lashed out against Jenny (if I recall correctly, their relationship veered on abusive), Tom, even his boss' daughter who he was briefly dating when she tried to get him to remove his shirt at a pool party. It would not be out of character for Max to physically confront Jenny and accidentally cause her to fall.

Jenny
Of course, it's impossible to rule out Jenny herself as the killer. From what I've read, suicide victims can be happy, peaceful and filled with a sense of relief right before their death because they know that their suffering will soon be at an end. In the hours before the party, Jenny was in a better mood than usual. Due to her history of self-harm, depression and sexual abuse, Jenny could very well have killed herself. The self-inflicted injuries she caused at the end of season 1 before she went home to get treatment could even be classified as a suicide attempt, and the chances of success for completing a suicide increase with every attempt.

Although Jenny was not particularly close to Bette and Tina (even before she infuriated all of her friends), their departure in the final episode could have severely affected her. Before her death, Jenny lost her movie, she lost her friends and with Bette and Tina's departure, was about to lose her symbolic anchor in L.A. Bette and Tina leaving could have been seen by Jenny as the closing of her book which they first opened by inviting her to their party in the very first episode. For all Jenny knew, if she had never met them and attended their party, she could have still been straight and married to Tim. Suicide could have been a way for Jenny to "close the book" herself instead of letting someone else do it (even though in reality she could have gotten a new place, made new friends, found a new job, etc. like many people do when they're forced to move on.)

Also, Jenny mentions in her video that she and Shane are now going to fill Bette and Tina's shoes as the "perfect couple"; but Jenny may have felt that she was neither deserving nor capable of that role, and knew Shane would eventually leave her. Jenny also could have committed suicide as a way of leaving Shane before Shane left her. Because Jenny is excessively dramatic and narcissistic, it wouldn't surprise me that she would kill herself at Bette and Tina's farewell party instead of in private, i.e. "You think you're going to close the book? Well I just beat you to it." From Jenny's perspective, her death at their farewell party would make it impossible for them to subtract her from their circle of friends -- and by extension, the community they "invited" her into (via the party) -- as they would likely attempt to do moving forward.

My one reservation to this theory, however, is that jumping off a balcony into a pool seems a questionable way to kill yourself, especially if it's from a second story, i.e. not the far from the ground. If Jenny had planned her suicide ahead of time (the farewell tape has been interpreted by some as her form of a suicide note), she would likely have determined a way to do it with a higher chance of success than jumping into a pool. This leaves me to believe that if Jenny did, in fact, commit suicide, it wasn't planned ahead of time. She knew that her friends hated her, so perhaps the tribute video was not a suicide note, but a way for Jenny to collectively apologize to everyone. I think there's a possibility that the party triggered a depressive episode for Jenny and that she decided in the moment that this was it.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy post, but those are just some ideas I've had. I would be interested to hear what other people think.

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Suicide seems by far the most likely. It would be random to say the least if anyone actually killed her.

*Nyan Cat, LGBT Rainbow of Infinity!

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I don't think she jumped. I think she fell. She's too self-absorbed at that point to off herself. And none of the girls is capable of killing her.

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