“ | First, last and forever. | ” |
–Tina about Bette, "Looking Back" |
The relationship between Bette Porter and Tina Kennard began when they met and started dating seven years before "Pilot". At the start of The L Word, they are in a committed relationship and are trying to start a family.
Over the course of the series, they break up and get back together several times, while also co-parenting their daughter Angelica Porter-Kennard. They eventually get married after The L Word, but are divorced by the start of Generation Q. Then get remarried
Summary[]
The L Word[]
Generation Q[]
Quotes[]
- Tina: "I think we should do some sort of combo thing, you know? Instead of the whole hyphenated thing."
- Bette: "What, like, 'Portard'?"
- Tina: "Bette...'Hey, Poor Tard, how's your two moms, you big gaymo?' Or whatever it's gonna be in 2015."
- Bette: "Okay, fine. What about 'Kenter', then?"
- Tina: "That has a nice sound to it, doesn't it?"
- -- in "Lawfully"
- Bette: "Dad, we're a couple. We are starting a family."
- Melvin: "If that makes you happy."
- Bette: "Well, doesn't it make you happy? I mean, you're going to have another grandchild."
- Melvin: "That is biologically impossible. Unless there's been a medical breakthrough that I don't know anything about, the possibility that this child will be my grandchild does not exist. Therefore, I am happy if that's what you want in your friendship with Miss Kennard. But, I cannot realistically be asked to participate in this fiction of your creation."
- -- in "Lawfully"
- Tina: "Bette and I have gone through so much to get here. We've talked about how our child could truly reflect who we are, when we're so limited by biology. That's why we decided to use an African-American donor. So when we look at our child, and you look at your grandchild, we'll all be looking into a familial face."
- Melvin: "A black man is the father of this child?"
- Bette: "The donor, dad. He's an African-American artist."
- Melvin: "An African-American. And because of that I'm supposed to feel closer to this child? Because all of us blacks are somehow connected? We can traced back to some tribe in Africa, where we were beating drums? That is absurd. You are an Ivy-League-educated woman. How is this logical?"
- -- in "Lawfully"
- Alice: "Hey, you guys, where are Bette and Tina? Boring."
- Dana: "Yeah, so boring."
- Shane: "I don't know. You know, when you think about it, what's more boring, right? (to Alice) You make endless lists, (to Dana) and you bawl your head off, and then puke over the side of the boat, or you get to go home and go to sleep with the same person you've been in love with for seven years."
- -- in "L'Ennui"
- Kit: "No, I mean, how do you keep it all together? I mean, you got it all down. Career, love. Look at you, now you're going to have a family! What? Is something wrong with Tina? Is everything okay? What, what?"
- Bette: "No, no, everything's fine. Tina's fine, everything's great."
- Kit: "You sure?"
- Bette: "Yeah, I just-- I, you know, I have some things on my mind, but it's nothing."
- Kit: "I know what it is. You're having the daddy blues. You are worrying about all the responsibilities coming down on you, the financial responsibilities, the 'I can't take anymore risk' responsibilities. Because now there are two other lives that are totally dependent on you keeping everything together. It's a monster. It's big."
- Bette: "Yeah, it is. I'm sure-- I'm sure that's all it is."
- Kit: "Sure it is. Because you and Tina are solid. You've got a marriage like God chose you two to find each other, and that's a love you never want to let go."
- -- in "L'Ennui"
- Jenny: "Tina, I didn't know that Bette was your first girlfriend."
- Tina: "Yeah. First, last and forever."
- -- in "Looking Back"
- Tina (to Bette): "That party was so crazy. God, it just made me want to go home and curl up in bed with you."
- -- in "Looking Back"
- Alice: "Did you fall in love?"
- Bette: "No. I love Tina. Tina is the only person that I'm in love with."
- Alice: "But you're still sitting on Candace's face."
- Bette: "Actually, I'm not. I told you, I ended it as soon as I could."
- Alice: "As soon as you could? What are you, like, a sex addict now?"
- Bette: "No, I'm not a sex addict. Jesus, Alice. You know, I think calling sex an addiction is just an excuse for bad behavior, and I know that I behaved badly, but I'm prepared to take responsibility for it."
- Alice: "No, you behaved really badly."
- Bette: "I know that it sounds like an excuse, but you know what? The fact is, she disappeared on me. She was depressed and she was completely wrapped up in herself, and I tried to talk to her about it, but she completely shut me out."
- Alice: "For how long?"
- Bette: "Two or three months."
- Alice: "Out of seven years? I think you could have waited."
- Bette: "She abandoned me as much as I abandoned her. We both did it."
- Alice: "Yeah, but only one of you was having an orgasm."
- Bette: "Fuck you, Alice."
- -- in "Life, Loss, Leaving"
- Tina: "It was Bette's house. She bought it before we met, but she put me on the title after I moved in."
- Joyce: "Did you contribute to the mortgage payments?"
- Tina: "I offered, but Bette never wanted me to. I made pretty good money as a Development Executive, but not as much as Bette, and she insisted on paying the mortgage."
- Joyce: "And you always did what Bette wanted?"
- Tina: "No."
- Joyce: "Did you pay for anything?"
- Tina: "I paid for utilities, and I paid for the food. Although most of the utilities are in Bette's name."
- Joyce: "Well, of course they are. That's the way she wanted it. Why should the little wife have to put her name on anything?"
- Tina: "That's absolutely not the case. I just never bothered to change it. Look, I don't even know why I'm here. I'm not going after Bette's money."
- Joyce: "If we wind up in court--"
- Tina: "Wind up in court? Whoa! I don't want to be here."
- -- in "Lap Dance"
- Joyce: "Do you want me to tell you why you need a lawyer?"
- Tina: "Okay."
- Joyce: "Because in the eyes of the world, especially the world as embodied by the courts, you are shit. You gave up your autonomy in a relationship that the law doesn't recognize. And your ex controls everything."
- Tina: "She always said what's hers is mine. Doesn't matter whose name it was in. If I needed money in my checking account, I just took it from savings. I was authorized on the account. I never had to ask her for anything."
- -- in "Lap Dance"
- Joyce: "Let's review the facts. Did you give up your career at her urging?"
- Tina: "Yes."
- Joyce: "Did you make a home for her, did you cook, decorate, entertain, fill the house with liveliness and warmth?"
- Tina: "Yes."
- Joyce: "Okay. Did you offer your womb to give birth to her child?"
- Tina: "Bette doesn't know about this. I mean, nobody knows about this."
- Joyce: "You're kidding."
- Tina: "I just started showing. I had a miscarriage about five months ago. Bette didn't handle it so well. I didn't want her to have to go through it again."
- Joyce: "So you went and got inseminated on your own, and you're protecting her until you're sure it's going to stick?"
- Tina: "Yeah."
- Joyce: "And then she cheated on you. She spread her legs for another woman."
- Tina: "Could you please not say that?"
- Joyce: "It's true! Deal with it. Doesn't it make you angry?"
- Tina: "Fuck, yes."
- Joyce: "So what do you want? Take responsibility for yourself. Get what you rightfully deserve, and don't let Bette decide that for you. Look, Tina, I am not a marriage wrecker. If you want to get back together with Bette...do you?"
- Tina: "I don't know."
- Joyce: "Well, either way, you have to come at this from a position of strength. Whether or not you and Bette eventually reconcile-- especially if you decide to get back together and rebuild trust in your relationship, first, you need to have your autonomy. Can you see why?"
- Tina: "Yes, I can see why. I want my autonomy."
- -- in "Lap Dance"
- Bert: "This wasn't a marriage."
- Joyce: "It wasn't? Well, let's see, we've got a house, cars, vacations, love, commitment, a promise to be true? A baby that was lost. A trust that was broken. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a marriage to me. Does that sound like a marriage to you?"
- Bette: "It was. It's a marriage that I don't want to have end."
- Joyce: "Yeah, well, it's a little late for that. So let's get back to the business at hand, the equitable division of funds."
- Bert: "I think we've got it--"
- Bette: "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"
- Joyce: "Here we go."
- Bette: "I am. Please don't do this to us. This is not who we are. Tina, we can fix this. Okay? We can fix this. Tina, do you still love me? Do you? Do you still love me? Don't do this. Don't destroy us."
- Joyce: "If I could just interject for a second here, um...it wasn't Tina who destroyed this relationship. That was you, and it's a good thing to remember, as you're dealing with the consequences."
- Bette: "I am dealing with the consequences."
- Joyce: "Well, good for you, but this moment isn't about you. This is about Tina and what she wants. Tina, is this what you want?"
- Tina: "I--I think things need to be different."
- Joyce: "Did you hear that?"
- Bette: "They will be. They will be different."
- Joyce: "So why don't you get off the floor and let her do what she wants for once, instead of you running the whole show? Come on. Why don't we reschedule this at a time when everyone is feeling a little less dramatic? Well, talk about a command performance. Meryl Streep couldn't have done it any better."
- -- in "Loneliest Number"
- Bette (to Tina): "I fucked up. I did not fuck off. I did not leave. I am still here."
- -- in "Lagrimas de Oro"
- Tina: "How could you do that? How could you make all those decisions without me?"
- Bette: "What do you mean? I didn't make this decision without you. We both decided, Tina."
- Tina: "No, we decided nothing of the sort. Angelica should go to Beverly Montessori. There is no way we are going to pay $18,000 for preschool."
- Bette: "We will pay whatever it takes to get her the best education available."
- Tina: "Beverly Montessori is a wonderful school, and it happens to be very close to my house."
- Bette: "That is not a factor."
- Tina: "So you're gonna make Angelica take a two-and-a-half-hour car ride every single day so she can go to preschool with Diane Keaton's kids?"
- Bette: "No! I will make sure that she goes to the best school, period. The best school! Period!"
- Tina: "You know what? Fuck it! I don't even know why I bother. You clearly decided all of this without me. And you know what, for the record, I am not going to let your overachieving, psycho dysfunction stress out our kid before she's three years old! It's just fucking preschool, for god's sake. Crayons and playdough."
- Bette: "No, it is not just crayons! It is a fucking Ivy League education. So naive! Jesus!"
- -- in "Luck Be a Lady"
- Bette: "I'm sitting here with Jenny's little fucking tome, wondering why you didn't give me a heads-up."
- Tina: "Well, you know what? It didn't even occur to me to talk about it. I don't know, you're the one that said it was, you said it was fluff, remember? You said it was frivolous entertainment."
- Bette: "Well, I hadn't read the whole book."
- Tina: "Look, look, it's not you. It's a character. All it is, is a character. It's not you. You're personalizing it way too much. ...No, no, look, no, you're not narcissistic. If anything, you're just a little bit of a control freak. But you know what? It's endearing. It's endearing. Everybody-- you know what? I have to go. I'm having lunch with my director."
- Bette: "Oh, you mean Kate Arden? You're having lunch with Kate Arden? Enjoy yourself."
- -- in "Literary License to Kill"
- Tina: "Look, it's okay to cry. You can cry with me."
- Bette: "What do I do wrong, T? What do I do wrong?"
- Tina: "You don't do anything wrong."
- Bette: "No, really, I mean it. Why is it so fucking hard to be in a relationship with me? Look, just tell me. Tell me everything that I did to make you run from me. I'm begging you. Please."
- Tina: "You're a control freak. You are!"
- Bette: "So? That's fucking ridiculous. Everybody's a control freak sometimes. That's what you have to do to get things done."
- Tina: "Yeah, but you think your things are more important than everyone else's, and that's really, really hard in a relationship. When your work, your needs, your ideas are always right, always on a higher plane. You're more enlightened, you're more informed, you're more intuitive--"
- Bette: "It must have been hideous. I'm sorry."
- -- in "Literary License to Kill"
- Bette: "What else are you afraid of, Tina?"
- Tina: "I'm afraid of, um... what everyone will think of us, how they'll judge us, how hurt Jodi will be."
- Bette: "She already knows there's something wrong."
- Tina: "Did you tell her about us?"
- Bette: "God, no. I've been such a fucking coward."
- -- in "Liquid Heat"
- Marci: "I mean, this is my body, and my baby, and my decision, and you're the family that I want my baby to go to."
- Tina: "Are you sure?"
- Marci: "Yeah."
- Tina: "Have you met the other two couples?"
- Marci: "Yeah, I met them. I mean, they're fine. I just...I don't like them as much as I like you guys. They're just not as interesting and this baby, he's gonna have an interesting life."
- Bette: "He?"
- Marci: "Yeah. It's a boy. Which is another reason why I want you to be his parents. 'Cause this world needs boys who are gonna do things different. And I really want my baby to have a chance at that. At making this world, you know, just a little better."
- -- in "Leaving Los Angeles"
- Bette: "You know, for as long as I can remember, I've been able to identify what I want and I've been willing to pursue it. Do you really think I should apologize for that?"
- Tina: "I'm not asking you to apologize. But I definitely put your career first, your feelings first--"
- Bette: "I never asked you to do that."
- Tina: "You didn't have to. Everything was on your timeline, on your terms."
- Bette: "I don't think that's fair."
- Tina: "Of course you don't. Because you're never wrong."
- Bette: "Look around. I am wrong all the fucking time."
- -- in "Loose Ends"