by Jennifer Matos

When we caught “Jenny Schecter” (played by Mia Kirshner), spying on a naked “Bette” and “Tina” in their swimming pool, we knew that she wouldn’t be sitting on the lesbian sidelines for long. This player wanted to be in on the game.

With a wide-eyed and naïve outlook on the world, Jenny moves in with her swim coach boyfriend Tim Haspel (Eric Mabius), into their leased home. At first, all is well with the couple. That is, of course, until Jenny is introduced by “The Planet” owner, “Marina Ferrer” (Karina Lombard) at a party thrown by Bette and Tina. A steamy kiss shared by the two in Bette and Tina’s bathroom sends Jenny’s head spinning and puts her safe relationship with Tim into a tailspin. She loves Tim and he is the most stable person that she has ever been with, but at the same time, she simply cannot resist Marina. Although Jenny is excited by Marina and can’t stay away from her, her attraction is a double-edged sword. As Jenny tells Marina “Every time I look at you I feel completely dismantled.”

As complicated as her alter ego “Sarah Schuster”, Jenny begins to lead a double life, going in between the arms and beds of Marina and Tim. When Tim discovers both women in the act, her life implodes and we see cracks in her foundation. Tracking Tim down prior to his leaving for a swim meet, she begs him to marry her and they do wed, even though he ends up leaving her in their hotel room. This prompts her to hitchhike her way back home.

Their relationship is clearly unsalvageable and Jenny moves out of the main house. He begins to sleep with other women, and to his dismay, she begins to see another man, a marine biologist by the name of Gene Feinberg (Tygh Runyan). Jenny seems to be all over the chart, in fact, even having a very brief and very awkward tryst with her friend, “Dana Fairbanks”. That fumbling and uncomfortable encounter is not over soon enough.

Tim is not quite finished with Jenny. Before he moves out to depart for a job in the Midwest, they have a drunken sexual encounter.

Jenny goes on to pursue “Robin” (Anne Ramsay), but Jenny’s inability to connect with her and commit to her ends their relationship.

During this time, Jenny is sharing the lease of the house with “Shane” (Kate Moennig), and their friendship is one that gives Jenny a strength and a confidence that we had not seen before. She is so confident, in fact, that she links up with “Carmen de la Pica Morals” (Sarah Shahi), a hot Latina DJ. It doesn’t take long for Jenny to realize that Carmen is actually interested in being with Shane and is using her to be closer to the object of her true desire. Valuing her friendship with Shane above all else, she lets go of Carmen so that the two can be together. It’s not her breakup with Carmen, but the duplicitous intentions of a third roommate, “Mark Wayland” (Eric Lively), that sends Jenny on a wild and dangerous ride that includes a stint as a pole dancer and a frightening self injury episode.

She returns to be with her family to recover and returns to her friends with a new love interest, “Moira/Max Sweeney”. We witness as Jenny tries to support Moira through her process of becoming a man. These changes prompt issues between the two, sending Jenny into the arms of Claude, (Elodie Bouches), a French writer who she becomes involved with. With nes of “Marina’s” return in season four, there’s no telling about what Jenny’s chart is about to look like.