Shane McCutcheon, The L Word

Shane McCutcheon (Katherine Moennig)

Shane McCutcheon was the show’s resident womanizer, and had numerous one-night stands and love interests over the course of the series. In episode 4×01 “Legend in the Making”, Alice’s OurChart mentioned her having slept with 963 people. Although never shown on screen, Shane’s friend Clive mentioned that she gave hand-jobs to men for six months while living on the streets in Santa Monica, and could easily have become rich, had she only been willing to do more, but she always refused.

Shane often fell back into self-destructive patterns, self-medicating with sex and drugs, and ending up cheating due to her inability to commit. Her first serious relationship was with Carmen (seasons 2 and 3), although she cheated on her and eventually left Carmen on their wedding day in the season 3 finale.

After Carmen, she had a relationship with Paige, a single mom she met after her younger brother and Paige’s son became friends. When looking for an apartment to move in together, Shane slept with the realtor, and after Paige told her she was ok with Shane sleeping around, Shane broke up with her.

In season 5 Shane got tangled up in a turf war with Dawn Denbo after having a threesome with her and and her lover Cindi and then sleeping with Cindi without Dawn’s knowledge or permission. She then started a relationship with Molly, and then Jenny whose behavior got more and more erratic, alienating all her friends. Shane ignored their pleas to break up with Jenny because she felt an obligation to her, but started sleeping with Niki, Jenny’s ex. Although Jenny told her she didn’t care, she still made Shane feel guilty about it. Shane found a letter from Molly Jenny had hidden, along with many other objects taken from their friends, and at Bette and Tina’s party, Jenny was found dead in the pool.

Appearances:

• 70 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Jenny Schecter 💀 (Mia Kirshner, bisexual, regular)
• Carmen (Sarah Shahi, lesbian, recurring 26 episodes)
• Paige Sobel (Kristanna Loken, lesbian, recurring 10)
• Niki Stevens (Kate French, lesbian, recurring 15 episodes)
• Molly Kroll (Clementine Ford, bisexual, guest 9 episodes)
• Lacey Haraway ( Tammy Lynn Michaels, lesbian, guest 3 episodes)
• Cherie Jaffe (Rosanna Arquette, bisexual, recurring 5 episodes)
• Dawn Denbo (Elizabeth Keener, lesbian, recurring 7 episodes)
• Cindi Tucker (Alicia Leigh Willis, lesbian, recurring 8 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Female (Regular)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.