DVD Verdict Review - The L Word: The Complete Third Season:
The creative team also does a really nice job with connection and symmetry this season, starting with the pre-credits snippets of 'The Chart' that trace sexual connections from a woman named Marilyn that we don't meet until the final episode through characters we know and love. These segments are far more interesting and well-organized than the random sex scenes that used to precede the credits, and give the writers a chance to explore past moments of the characters' lives. It's great fun to see Bette have sex with a guy when she is just coming out to herself or a scene from the brief relationship between her and Alice. And showing the actual Alice/Dana break-up in 'The Chart' segment months after we find out that it happened, when the two of them have gone through so much together since, is a rare stroke of genius from this writing team. They also establish a lovely visual motif in that scene to represent the several traumatic separations from Dana that Alice endures this season: a long shot of Alice standing at the left side of a long hallway, watching Dana leaving. The first time as they break up, the second time as Dana goes into unexpected surgery, and the third time when Dana has really left her in death.