Just because lesbian culture had been ignored by television for decades prior to the debut of The L Word should not mean that the show has a special obligation to serve as educational programming, or provide only positive role models. Showtime wouldn't want such a series and besides, lesbians desire and deserve escapism the same as anyone else. But it's still hard to avoid the thought that The L Word is a missed opportunity, and that the cast and rich vein of potential subject matter should add up to a great series and isn't doing so. It's probably best to look at it less as a "prestige" cable drama than as a soap opera with a really strong pedigree.

The L Word ends its fifth season Sunday, and Showtime recently announced that it will come back for a final year in 2009. That will give executive producer Ilene Chaiken a chance to bring storylines to a close in a seamless and logical way, although this is a show that hasn't necessarily paid a lot of attention to logic in the past. In the real world, you wouldn't see Jenny being permitted to direct her movie on the basis of simply having written a script, only to then see control of the film apparently pass to her conniving personal assistant.

Once again this season, there wasn't a lot of monogamy on The L Word. The only relationship to make it through the season intact was that of Alice and Tasha, and Alice's interest seems to be wavering heading into the finale. Some of this lack of stability is rooted in character, such as Phyllis's realization that it was a bad idea to jump right into a relationship so soon after coming out. But mostly, it's a function of television's belief that people are more interesting when they are searching for love than when in love.

And of course, the show wouldn't be half as much fun without Shane slicing her way through the gay and near-gay populations. Despite her moments of loneliness and self-criticism -- I fully expect the final season to find her settling down for good -- she's mostly pure wish fulfillment, the woman of unstoppable sexual magnetism that gets whatever she wants and suffers only temporary guilt pangs. Her assignment doing hair for a wedding party, which ended up with her doing two of the bride's sisters and their mother instead, epitomizes why the show can be both ridiculous and hilarious at the same time.

For many fans, the highlight of the season has been the apparent bringing together again of Tina and Bette, an outcome fervently wished for by writers of slash fiction and angry letter writers to Chaiken. Seriously, it's incredible how obsessed a certain segment of The L Word fan base gets with this topic. In a way it's understandable: their pairing was central to the show from the beginning; they are probably the easiest characters for the average woman to relate to; and Laurel Holloman and Jennifer Beals have excellent chemistry. What's more, Tina/Bette will likely mean the end of any reason for Jodi to still be on The L Word. Marlee Matlin has never seemed a good fit with the rest of the cast, and Jodi hasn't had much in the way of an independent storyline lately aside from being Bette's girlfriend.

The season's best "serious" plot line found Tasha being investigated for alleged homosexual conduct as she was about to head back to Iraq. Tasha was forced to balance her natural desire to be out with what she saw as her military duty, and hiding the true nature of her relationship was even tougher for the always outspoken Alice. In the end, Alice tried to lie on the witness stand for Tasha and ended up inadvertently blackmailing the deeply closeted prosecutor, only to have Tasha choose to come out anyway. It looks like storm clouds on the horizon for these two, however.

The L Word is like nothing else on television, and for that reason it will be missed once it's all over, especially as drama on pay cable is now in serious post-Wire/Sopranos doldrums. But hopefully the knowledge that the end is near will embolden the show to spend less time in fantasyland.

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