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What Happened to Dana on 'The L Word'? A Tragic, Much Needed Recap

Whatever happened to Dana Fairbanks within the unique, ‘The L Word’? A sad, unhappy recap awaits you. Don’t put out of your mind your tissues as we take into accout Dana.

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Before you keep reading, I encourage you to pull out some tissues, because the road ahead is a sad one. Well, I suppose, not fully! Now that Shane has come into a ton of money (and has truthfully impressed us to open our personal hair salon, given how hard she is balling), she's taken over a Silver Lake bar and turned it into a queer hangout house called Dana's, in honor of everyone's favorite semi-closeted tennis player. Which is to say, there is a satisfied ending.

But who was once this cherished Dana Fairbanks, who graced our displays for the primary 3 seasons of the original Ilene Chaiken "laughing loving fighting dreaming" staple? And more to the point, what happened to Dana on The L Word

As a self-proclaimed L Word historian, I'd be honored to debrief this with you, dear reader.

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What happened to Dana on 'The L Word'?

We meet Dana, like the remainder of the L Word fam, in the 2004 pilot. Remember, Jenny has just moved to LA with her boyfriend Tim and becomes fixated with their lesbian neighbors Tina and Bette after they invite her to a birthday celebration the place she meets extra lesbians than she's ever been exposed to earlier than. Oh, and there may be also the Marina thing, however I'm no longer going to get into that here. 

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Over the course of TiBette's birthday party, we meet our mainstays: everybody I've simply discussed above, plus Shane "You Ever Notice That Whenever Shane Walks Into a Room Someone Leaves Crying" McCutcheon, Alice Pieszecki, Kit Porter and Dana Fairbanks.

Dana makes fairly the influence on the predominantly queer space celebration for the reason that professional tennis player refuses to pop out and pretends she's courting her clearly homosexual beard, a narrative Tina and Bette refuse to be dragged into.

We be told over the course of the next few seasons that Dana's discomfort with her sexuality is deep-rooted, partly because of her conservative circle of relatives (we see how her mother's had to suppress her appeal to girls in the intro clip to Season 1 Episode 8)  and also because nobody she works with in tennis is supportive of her popping out.

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This all changes when Dana lands the Subaru sponsorship. Subaru is beaming with pleasure to have a lesbian tennis participant come out of their "Get out and stay out" marketing campaign, and Dana is in the end ready to fire her old manager, are living brazenly and honestly, and as an added bonus, cement Subaru in the zeitgeist because the lesbian-mobile.

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Dana dates her highest friend Alice (OK, now we're going to cry), which is among the briefest and maximum tough relationships of all of the collection. In Season 3, she receives a devastating competitive breast cancer analysis, and Alice remains through her side all over her remedy, even if they're no longer courting. In fact, it takes a long time for Alice to get better from their breakup.

Dana undergoes chemotherapy but loses her struggle to most cancers after an infection lands her again in the medical institution. To make matters one thousand occasions worse, her still-in-denial oldsters refuse to let Dana's then-partner, Lara Perkins, talk over with.

At the funeral, they add insult to damage, making all of Dana's lesbian buddies take a seat the entire way in the back of the church.

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Killing off Dana is considered one of Ilene Chaiken's greatest regrets.

Actress Erin Daniels, who plays Dana, unfolded concerning the surprise of studying that her personality would be killed off in Season 3. "We would all meet with Ilene before each season started, and she would take us to lunch," Erin instructed Entertainment Weekly. "So she took me to lunch, and we were talking and she was like, 'So your character gets breast cancer. And then she dies.' And I’m like, 'What?!'”

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"I’ve ceaselessly mentioned in retrospect that it’s the only thing that I be apologetic about," Ilene responded. "I mean, it used to be a excellent tale. I believe within the tale. I feel we advised it with nice sensitivity and verisimilitude, however the audience by no means forgave me for it. It’s simply the only thing that I possibly would trade if I may just return and alter anything."

While Dana's dying was certainly a shocking blow to lovers, I for one am comforted through the fact that Erin still hangs out with the L Word forged. In fact, I used to be ecstatic to see that Erin even visited the set and saw Shane's new bar, which is called after her.

New episodes of The L Word: Generation Q air Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime.

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