REVIEW: ‘Ginny & Georgia’ fails to live up to its potential
The first ten minutes of Netflix’s new drama series “Ginny & Georgia” seem like a “Gilmore Girls” Freudian slip: a fun-loving young mom and her bookish, responsible best friend/daughter deal with boy trouble and family drama in a picturesque New England small town … but with a lot more sex and death.
“Ginny and Georgia” is a dark, unpredictable story that feels more like a crime series than a “Gilmore” reboot. If the simple charm of Stars Hollow was too good to be true, then the secretive, back-stabbing Wellsbury is too crazy to be true.
“Ginny and Georgia” follows 30-year-old single mom Georgia (Brianne Howey) as she moves her two kids, mature yet angsty teen Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and Harry Potter-loving Austin (Diesel La Torraca), to Wellsbury, Mass. after the death of her husband. Ginny gets caught up in modern teenage life, the previously shy 15-year-old suddenly thrust into the world of drugs, sex, partying and high school. Georgia has to balance being a mother and coming to terms with her broken, secretive past.
Netflix certainly didn’t do themselves any favors with the desperate attempt to modernize “Gilmore Girls,” especially when the show is already trying to do way too much. If they wanted to remake “Gilmore Girls,” why not just bring back the actual Gilmore girls? If they didn’t push the mother-daughter relationship so much, perhaps the show would be less disappointing.
Aside from a couple of cheeky moments and stereotypical fights, Ginny and Georgia are both wrapped up in way too many storylines for the show to actually be about them.
The show truly has potential, but so far, it’s just trying to do too much. Every important topic brought up gets buried beneath subplot after subplot, and no single storyline sticks as a new one is brought up in just about every scene.
Issues like racism, feminism, mental health, self-harm, body image, sexuality, bullying, drugs, cancer, class dynamics and financial struggle all come up just in the first three episodes, yet none play central roles in the story. While it’s great that the show tries to center issues teenagers are dealing with today, it does little more than scratch the surface on one before moving on to another. Nothing happens and everything happens at the same time.
The show is strongest when it’s focused on Ginny, a very dynamic, very relatable 15-year-old learning to manage everything from peer pressure to her biracial identity. In no small part due to Gentry’s compelling performance, Ginny shines among the scattered storylines. Her storylines are often a perfect blend of light-hearted comedy and powerful drama. The show could have been great if it committed to just being “Ginny” instead of trying to be “Ginny and Georgia” and 300 Other Things.
Georgia, the supposed irresistible, cool mom, is more of an Al Capone-type hiding under an Elle Woods exterior.
In the first three episodes, she seems to do little more than steal, cheat and lie. Instead of growing into a better person and a more complex character, Georgia becomes more shallow and deplorable as the show progresses. Despite Howey’s talent, the disconnect between loving mother and criminal mastermind is just awkward to watch. The character’s few moments of emotional truth are drowned in hypersexualization and scandal; at times it’s unclear whether we are supposed to sympathize with her or hate her.
The countless side characters are charming and dynamic, if not helpful to the story. Georgia’s nine-year-old son Austin is heartwarming and adorable; the show is honestly worth watching just for his few scenes. Ginny’s lesbian best friend Maxine (wittily played by Sara Waisglass) is funny and quirky. Flashbacks to teenage Georgia (a vulnerable Nikki Roumel) are interesting but seem like an excuse for grown-up Georgia’s lack of depth.
And then there are the boys.
In a show with two women leads and an all-women creative team, I had hoped they could manage to stay away from instant love triangles and will-they-won’t-they relationships. Of course, Ginny has to be caught between deep bad-boy Marcus and wholesome, respectful Hunter (sound familiar?). Georgia has her own triangle between local café owner Joe and her boss Mayor Paul Randolph. The double romances are forced and unnecessary. With so much already going on, I wish the focus was more on the women than their love lives.
“Ginny & Georgia” could be a sweet mother-daughter show, a captivating teenage drama, or a binge-worthy scandal series; it just needs to stop trying to be all of those.
It’s worth watching for the loveable characters and interesting ideas, even though they are diluted by half-developed storylines. If Netflix decides to make a second season, I’m sure “Ginny & Georgia” will find its footing, but, if it were up to me, I would really like to find out who the father of Rory’s baby on “Gilmore Girls” is instead.
Rating out of 5: 3.5