Wide-Eyed :: How It Ends

How It Ends

Pairing: Alice/Dana
Show: The L Word
Song: How It Ends
Artist: DeVotchKa

Director: Alnisa Allgood
Year: 2004

Description
This video starts and ends with my favorite L Word character, Alice Pieszecki. What can I say, Leisha Hailey brings humor, caring, an odd grace, and startling touch of sadness to this character. Pretty damn amazing, when you consider how little the characters get from the writing of the show. That said, while this is actually an Alice/Dana video, since it does focus on "how their relationship, may or may not end". It ultimately can be considered a "break-up video". That said, if your prone to tears, this song may lead you there with no help from my video. But if you love Alice, you'll probably watch the video anyway.

Commentary

By Alnisa Allgood

Published: Monday, December 19, 2005

I was planning on my next video to be an Alias/L Word crossover piece based on the wonderful series, 'Nothing to Write Home About', by Misty Flores. But I was distracted on the way. First by Cyndi Lauper's "Boy Blue" (iTunes) which has me aching to do a Shane video; then by this song by DeVotchKa, "How It Ends" (iTunes). It's a long song, and pretty darn melodramatic, but boy is it good.

Take a hint of Interpol, throw in some Cuban salsa, and add, not a hint, but a fair amount of those old German polka records that show up at flea markets the world over, and you've got Devotchka's stunning release, How It Ends. Bathed in the soothing atmospherics that made the Smiths amazing, but filtered through polka songs and carnivalesque time frames, Devotchka has all the makings of a break out band (regardless that they've been around for years).

—Darren Susin for Glide Magazine

DeVotchKa is an indie-alternative rock band with a decided Eastern European influence. You'd think they'd be from Russia or some place in Eastern Europe, rather than from Boulder, Colorado. Lead singer, Nick Urata (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, theremin and piano) has a haunting voice. He can introduce heartache, then make you long for it. Which is what he does, splendidly, on "How It Ends". O' the longing, the hope, and disillusionment, all handled with such grace.

Did I mention this song is long? Over 6 minutes. When, my mind got trapped by the notion of Alice, wondering, waiting, and watching Dana break-up with her; while still loving Dana. I knew "How It Ends" (iTunes) had to be the song. But I forgotten, it's longevity. I was probably overwhelmed by the juxtaposition of bleak sparseness over layers of yearning hope. The lyrics:

For all of the loved ones gone.
Forever's not so long.

and that hurtful, echoing

And
You
Already know.
Yeah, you already know
How this will end.

beguiled me. So the Shane, "Boy Blue" video got delayed, and the Alias/L Word crossover video got waylaid, by an emergency stop. (Ignore the Smiths reference)

Anyway, this video took way more clips than prior videos, just due to the songs length. But the cool thing was that the long, intro clip to season three, made available by Showtime, proved privotal, it was so much better than their teasing mash-ups.

If your a Dana/Lara fan, there's definitely stuff in here for you. God love ya'. Now, now, I don't dislike the Dana/Lara pairing. In fact, I was quite the fan, until they hinted at an Alice/Dana pairing. And, sorry, but Alice rocks. So making her happy, is far more a priority than keeping Lara around.

Lyrics

Hold your grandmother's Bible to your breast.
Gonna put it to the test.
You want it to be blessed.
And in your heart,
You know it to be true,
You know what you gotta do.
They all depend on you.
And you already know.
Yeah, you already know how this will end.

There is no escape,
From the slave-catchers' songs.
For all of the loved ones gone.
Forever's not so long.
And in your soul,
They poked a million holes.
But you never lettem show.
C'mon it's time to go.

And
You
Already know.
Yeah, you already know
How this will end.

Now you've seen his face.
And you know that there's a place,
In the sun,
For all that you've done,
For you and your children.
No longer shall you need.
You always wanted to believe,
Just ask and you'll receive,
Beyond your wildest dreams.

And
You
Already know.
Yeah, you already know
How this will end.

You already know (You already know)
You already know (you already know)
You already love will end.

Technology

Hardware: Apple PowerBook G4, 15" 1.5GHz PPC.
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4.3 Tiger
Software: iMovie HD. iTunes 6. Snapz Pro. Quicktime 7
Additional: LaCie d2 FireWire External Hard Drive
Downloads: BitTorrent

Other Details

Categories: L Word, The •
Viewed: 4738
Comments: 2
Permalink: http://www.wide-eyed.org/videos/article/how_it_ends/

Comments

On 12/20/2005, says:
Great video...thanks for posting it! Alice is my favorite character, this makes me so sad. Alice/Dana torture. Season three looks like hard, but maybe there will be a happy ending for Alice/Dana.

On 03/02/2006, says:
Wow! I was looking for this song, and not only do I find it, but I find a video of my favorite show and favorite characters… you’ve made my day!! Thank you!