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The hell that is Jenny's brain — Jenny's writing a story called "Luminous." Is it a story? Or is the proper term "a horrific mess"? Anyway, the short film we get this time is still carnival-related, but a bit less precious. Barely.

The girl in the story wants to see the Fabulous Venus de Mylar. But the person in the Fabulous Venus de Mylar's trailer is a man, who quickly explains "I'm her, girlie," and puts on his wig and platform heels. So, thinking back to Sandra/Charlotte/Madelaine and her little mistake about the Brazilian prostitute, I suppose we have some sort of genderblur letimotif. But since this show hasn't figured out that presenting a thematic element is not the same as exploring it, I'm not going to get excited about it. Nor can I get excited about the Fabulous Venus de Mylar's wig. Pink can be divine, but at the moment it's just scary.

Oh, perhaps the gender stuff is not the focus, so much as difference and otherness in general:

Fabulous Venus: "What's your name, little girl?"
Girl: "Dee Dee. Dee Dee Steinberg."
Fabulous Venus: "Victor Bernstein! It wouldn't fly in Peoria."

So they talk. Dee Dee wants to join the circus because she doesn't belong anywhere and her family thinks she's a freak. This is nothing new to Venus/Victor, so he cuts to the chase: "Do you have any talent? Any special circus skills?" In reply, Dee Dee lifts her skirt.

Venus/Victor: "Holy bejeezus, that is special. But it'll never fly in Peoria."

And there (thankfully) the vignette (again, the better term is "horrific mess") ends, and we cut to Jenny's writing class, where she is reading the last line of her story. Not very well, I might add.

Charlotte asks for comments. Hunter says Jenny's story reminded him of Rick Moody, and that "Jenny is to the Midwest as Carson McCullers is to the South." Is your heart a-lonely, Hunter? Sorry. Charlotte would not approve of that pun. Nor does she (and nor do I) approve of the analogy:

Charlotte: "Well, that's very generous of you. It's not every day that a writer in the bloom of youth gets compared to Carson McCullers."

Jenny agrees that it's generous, and we all agree that Charlotte is gross when she flirts so openly with Hunter.

A spa — Veronica is getting some sort of peel or something (don't ask me, I'm not into that stuff) and asking the question we all knew was coming:

Veronica: "So why shouldn't I become a lesbian?"

Camryn Manheim, did you hear that? It was the sound of every lesbian in the world screaming "You SHOULD!!"

Shane's not so sure: she says that women are intense, and a lot of work, and can suck you dry. Veronica likes the sound of that, because when things aren't intense, she gets bored. Shane is just watching the peeling with a series of appalled and disgusted looks on her face — you know, sorta like what I go through whenever Jenny's writing.

I love the way Shane pulls her own fraggly hair and says "faaahhhhk."

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