Alice Pieszecki

Infobox character | name = Alice Pieszecki


real_name = Alice Pieszecki
portrayer = Leisha Hailey
creator = Ilene Chaiken
species =
gender = Female
first = Pilot "(episode 1.01)"
last =
last_cause =
age =
occupation = Journalist
title =
alias =
family =
spouse =
children =
relatives = Lenore Pieszecki "(Mother)"
footnotes =

Alice Pieszecki is a fictional character on the Showtime television network series "The L Word", shown nationally in the United States. She is played by American actress Leisha Hailey. Alice lives in Los Angeles, California, and mostly hangs out in West Hollywood. During the first seasons, she is often seen with her best friends, Shane McCutcheon (Katherine Moennig) and Dana Fairbanks (Erin Daniels). Further into the show, Alice befriends Helena Peabody (Rachel Shelley).

Background

Alice is a journalist for " [http://www.lamag.com LA Magazine] ". Among her group of friends, she was the only self-proclaimed bisexual, but eventually identified as a lesbian. Her mother Lenore is an actress, and apparently the only one in the family who accepts Alice's sexuality. Alice is estranged from her two siblings, who disapprove of homosexuality, as well as her father, whom she simply describes as "distant".

Alice is obsessed with "The Chart", a recompilation of all the relationships and one-night stands which she knows of, and how this network of affairs is linked to her. Alice strongly believes everyone is sleeping with everyone else, and her chart is the most valuable evidence supporting her theory.

Character story

eason 1

Alice is openly bisexual. Her lifestyle bothers her close friend Dana, who believes she is just masquerading her uncertainty about her sexuality. However, Alice claims she simply is looking for the same qualities in men as in women. According to the story, she discovered it during the college years, when she started a three-month affair with Tayo, the bass player of her band Butter. Alice then started to indistinctly date men and women. One of her dates was her now close friend Bette Porter, who since then has been in a seven-year committed relationship with Tina Kennard.

After being introduced as single and in the search for a date (and missing a chance of seducing Jenny Schecter to her friend Marina Ferrer), Alice meets with her previous ex-girlfriend Gabby Deveaux while preparing an article on vaginal rejuvenation. She starts dating Gabby under the disapproval of her friends, as they already know Gabby's tendency to cheat on her and ignore her in public places. After Shane discovers Gabby with another girl at their frequented lounge-bar Milk, her friends bring up the discussion during a meeting and convince Alice to stop dating Gabby.

Heart-broken Alice then meets "Lisa", a man who identifies himself as a lesbian. Lisa's liberal speech appeals to Alice's beliefs, and a short affair between them begins. The conflicts between Lisa's birth gender and his chosen identity then starts to disturb Alice, causing her to dump him for Andrew, who was a proclaimed straight man and whom Dana's parents had arranged to be the date of their daughter (it is to note that Dana had just come out to her parents as a lesbian). Alice and Andrew didn't last very long, but a delay in her period caused her certain anguish since she could not determine who could be the father of her suspected pregnancy. This suspicion is later discarded.

Alice and her friends accompany Dana to receive a Human Rights Campaign award. After getting rid of her mother Lenore, Alice and the group go to the hotel where Dana meets Tonya. Alice claims to have received bad vibes from Tonya and distrusts Dana's ability to choose proper couples. The further announcement of Dana's engagement to Tonya makes Alice realize she loves her as more than a friend. She confronts Dana and reveals her feelings, but then withdraws to her home considering she has done something foolish. As she opens the door to her apartment, she finds her friend Tina lying on the couch. Tina asks Alice to let her stay in for a couple of days while she finds out a place to move to, since she has discovered Bette had been cheating on her with a carpenter named Candace.

eason 2

Unable to hide their feelings for each other, Alice and Dana arrange a meeting and discuss several rules of unattraction they are to follow, in order to prevent anything from happening between them. Her interest towards Dana induces Alice to corner Tonya upon every chance she has. Shane then notices what lies underneath Alice's attacks and proceeds to interrogate her.

Although Tina has been living with Alice for a couple of months now, she hasn't noticed her pregnancy. Alice has taken Tina's side and advised her to visit a lawyer who may be able to guide her through the regain of her independence. Bette, on the other hand, has become an emotional wreck and confronts Alice after discovering she's had something to do about Tina's visit to an attorney.

Meanwhile, the tension between Alice and Tonya rises. Tonya arranges her a blind date with a man -taking a chance on Alice's outspoken bisexuality- which leads to nothing. Her romance with Dana is finally consummated just before Dana's bachelorette party was held.

Dana pretends to keep a secret relationship with Alice, while she figures out how to break up with Tonya. Alice is not interested in sneaking out with her, and forces Dana to end the engagement before continuing to see her. Once together, the status of their relationship is kept secret from everyone but Shane, but they arrange to reveal it at The Planet.

While dating Dana, Alice receives a radio offer to do a cultural section on "KCRW". After an incident involving the discovery of the relationship between her former girlfriend Gabby and Dana's former girlfriend Lara Perkins, Alice reveals the existence of her chart to the radio producer. The producers become interested in the story and The Chart becomes a weekly broadcast.

The reappearance of Lara on the scene causes Alice to start feeling uneasy. She acknowledges Lara and Dana did not break up because they didn't love each other, but rather because of the pressure Lara placed on Dana to come out of the closet. Now that Dana is out and proud, the only thing that keeps them apart is their current relationships. Unfortunately for Alice, Lara and Gabby break up and Lara starts to look for her old girlfriend. They arrange a dinner, and a communication problem between Dana and Alice leads her to believe Lara has finally won her over. In a desperate move during Melvin Porter's funeral, Alice decides to go for the old 'moving-in' lesbian technique. Dana refuses the proposal, claiming she has recently come out of an engagement and she is not ready yet to begin a committed relationship.

eason 3

Six months have passed, and Dana is now back with Lara. Dana mentions to have ended her relationship with Alice because things between them were not working. Alice has developed an obsessive love addiction towards Dana, and the harsh breakup has caused her to become an antidepressants pill popper. Her obsession reaches very dramatic levels: she chases Dana around, has trouble in her work, and keeps a shrine that includes a stolen life-size cardboard image of her ex-girlfriend.

Alice has recently befriended Tina's transitional girlfriend Helena Peabody. Helena believes in tarot and one of the readings misleads her to think Alice is to be her new lover. Luckily for Alice, Helena then proceeds to help her come out of the depression. During the process Helena meets Dylan Moreland, with whom she starts an affair.

On the other hand, Alice eventually decides to start dating again. During a bisexual speed dating journey held at The Planet, Alice meets Uta Refson, a vampirologist who is part of the vampire goth subculture. She and Uta start seeing each other, and Alice eventually agrees to get rid of her shrine. But, after the discovery of Dana's breast cancer, Uta gives Alice a chance to deal with her emotions and asks her to call back once she is ready.

The announcement of this illness at the peak of her career causes Dana to become bitter and verbally abusive towards Lara. After Dana kicks her out of the house, Lara leaves her girlfriend under the care of Alice and gets on a plane to Paris to take a needed break along with some culinary lessons. In the few days after, Alice becomes Dana's rock to not breakdown due to sudden hair loss because of the chemotherapy and her image to other people. Unexplainably, even though Alice and Dana both said they like being best friends with each other, their relationship seems to show some kind of chemistry, but never mentioned. During this time, Dana's condition worsens, she develops pneumonia as a consequence of her chemotherapy causing immunosuppression and is sent to the hospital. Alice keeps a five day bedside vigil next to her bed at the hospital, but after taking the advice of a nurse Alice goes outside for some fresh air and is distracted by a chance encounter with Tonya (Dana's ex). Ironically, during her absence Dana's condition rapidly deteriorates and she dies alone of septic shock resulting in heart failure and cardiac arrest. Alice returns just as the medical staff have ceased in their resuscitation attempts. Upon seeing Dana in her deathbed, she breaks down completely devasted in tears.

During the funeral Alice steals part of Dana's ashes to arrange a proper ceremony. She and her friends travel to Dana's favorite waterfall and spread her ashes while remembering all the moments they spent with her.

The loss of her friend leaves Alice once again desolate, and her pill addiction worsens to include Dana's cancer medication. Lara and Alice begin to have a secret affiar which Alice believes it to be a masochist relationship (with which Lara disagrees). Dana's death has also induced Shane to propose marriage to her girlfriend Carmen, which she accepted at the waterfall. Alice is to be the best man of the wedding. Shane's change of plans later puts Alice on the awkward position of having to tell Carmen she is no longer getting married.

At the end of the season, and after a brief talk with the lay commissioner, Alice decides to let herself feel again and to talk to Lara about her feelings towards her. This moment is later interrupted by Tina, who now has plans to start a family with her new boyfriend Henry.

eason 4

After returning to Los Angeles, Alice informs Helena of her online Chart and provides some explanation on how it works. It is Helena who discovers that there is a bigger hub than Shane in the Chart, which prompts Alice to start a quest to find out who this mysterious Papi was. Alice successfully meets her in episode 4.02:"Livin la Vida Loca", gets an interview, and eventually has a one night stand with her. Helena, who has moved in with Alice after being financially cut off by her mother, also sleeps with Papi.

Further into the season, Bette introduces Alice to Phyllis Kroll, who happens to be her boss at the California University. Phyllis has just come out of the closet and perceived she had a connection with Alice. Bette tries to discourage Alice from seeing Phyllis, but she accepts to go out on a date and they develop a short affair during which Kroll develops strong feelings for Alice. But the affair is terminated when Alice is finally confronted with Phyllis' family, after meeting her husband Leonard at a fundraising party. Phyllis has a difficult time getting over the breakup, but Jodi and Bette help her in coping with the ended affair.

At almost the same time, Papi introduces Alice to her best friend Tasha, who is likely suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to her service in the Iraq War. Alice becomes involved in a relationship with Tasha, shortly after breaking up with Phyllis in episode 4.06:"Luck Be a Lady". Their relationship is complicated by their divergent views on the Iraq War and Tasha's fear of being outed in the Army.

eason 5

Alice begins video podcasting on OurChart and is drawn into Tasha's Army investigation for homosexual conduct.

Alice is invited to a party for closeted homosexual celebrities and, despite signing a non-disclosure agreement, captures a video of Daryl Brewer, an NBA player, in an intimate moment with another man. Later, Tasha and Alice watch Brewer make homophobic remarks on the news, and Tasha disapproves. Alice misinterprets her remarks and puts the incriminating video on her podcast. The video goes viral and Alice is the center of a media storm for outing Brewer. Alice defends her actions on a national news broadcast. This angers Tasha because it jeopardizes her Army investigation and opens another rift in her relationship with Alice.

Shortly after, Alice and Tasha decide they can no longer be together. During Tasha's Army trial for homosexual conduct, after Alice testifies, Tasha admits to the Army officials that she is indeed in love with Alice. After this, Alice and Tasha continue their relationship where it left off, though it's a little unsteady.

pin-Off

It has been announced that Alice will be in centre of The L Word Spin-Off. The project will be shot in December, while the sixth and final season of the Showtime drama series will premiere in January 2009. The producers say that the series finale episode will leave an open-ended component, which leaves Tasha's romantic situation with Alice unknown.

The Chart

External links

* [http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2005/12/thelword.html The L Word's Vanishing Bisexual] on AfterEllen.com