The limited series starring Lana Condor pulls from YA stories about mean girls and the supernatural.
When retrieve about the themes of teenager TV shows and motion picture , I ca n’t help oneself but think of the final speech that Drew Barrymore make inNever Been Kissed . Yes , the 1999 movie is problematic ( what with its plot about a new newsperson undercover as a in high spirits schooler who falls for her teacher ) , but when Josie await on the pitcher ’s hill to endeavor to make restitution with the military man she wronged , she talks about uprise up in a way that many of us know to be on-key . Of eminent shoal , she says , " There ’s still that one teacher who marches to her own drummer . Those girls are still there , the 1 that , even as you grow up , will remain the most beautiful girls you have ever project close up . … And there ’s still that one guy with his mystifying confidence , who seems so perfect in every means — the guy you get up and go to school for in the cockcrow . "
Ultimately , she says that gamy school never changes and that there ’s some universality to teenhood . Because we ’ve all been 16 and experienced varying degrees of 16 - twelvemonth - sometime emotion , that ’s partially why we still latch onto YA entertainment , even long after we ’ve graduated .
If you ’re confident that you could get an A+ in the history ofteen cinemaor are well - versed in the YA canyon , you might find that Netflix ’s up-to-the-minute outlet is like a passion missive to the writing style . Boo , Bitch , which hits cyclosis today and is showrun byteen TVveterans Erin Ehrlich ( Awkward . ,Crazy Ex - Girlfriend ) and Lauren Iungerich ( Awkward . ,On My Block ) , is a circumscribed series that pulls from many adolescent tropes — from mean girls to the supernatural — to create a delicious , bingeable sentinel .
Zoe Colletti and Lana Condor in ‘Boo, Bitch’|Kevin Estrada/Netflix
LikeNever Been Kissed , the eight - installment serial is a story of nerd - daughter - to - Queen - Bee transformation . Lana Condor of theTo All the Boys … movies superstar alongside Zoe Colletti as Erika and Gia ( Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ) , two loner BFFs who resolve that they should attempt to put themselves out there so they do n’t fine-tune with regrets . After summon up the bravery to go to a political party where Erika ends up being the MVP of the evening , their social butterfly stroke dream are quickly put to remainder when the two get in a car smash that kills Erika … or rather , turns her into a ghost with bare business ( aka more high schooltime milestones to check off her teenage pail list ) .
In many elbow room , Boo , Bitchfeels like a love callback to other iconic titles and themes . First and foremost , its intact premise of the heroine demise , only to terminate up stuck in a sort of in - between , has lately become somewhat of a classic YA plot . ( See Netflix ’s 2021 movieAfterlife of the Party , the book - turned - Zoey - Deutch - movieBefore I Fall , etc . ) But because of that , the show then lends itself to touch on reference point likeTeen WitchandSabrina the Teenage Witchsince ghosts , plain , have supernatural ability .
What ’s the most fun about the comedy , though , is its take on popularity . While the pop nestling in realness do n’t necessarily wear pinkish on Wednesdays , and mean girls can be anyone from your best acquaintance to the homecoming queen , Boo , Bitchpulls from the teenaged music genre figure of speech we ’ve realize before with a nasty playfulness . As a ghostwriter with nothing to miss , Erika becomes the regretful bitch she never was when she was alive . So by Gen - Z standards , she ’s not just the most popular girl in school , she’salsoan influencer — but like Josie Nelson and Cady Heron ofMean Girlsbefore her — a new position , boyfriend , and bestie , means fall back herself with every post to the ' gram . But perhaps most of all , Boo , Bitchinspires notes of the 1999 cult filmJawbreaker , about an in - crowd who by chance pour down their friend and an awkward bystander who tender to keep her mouth shut in telephone exchange for a makeover and a seat at the lunch tabular array . WhileBoo , Bitchis not nearly as dark asJawbreaker , there is a dark to it . After all , a young woman does fail ( ! ) and spends her soul ’s final bit on Earth strain to get other citizenry to think she ’s coolheaded , alternatively of with those who care about her before she had 100k followers .
Zoe Colletti and Lana Condor|Netflix
While the Netflix show for certain owe a tidy sum to its forerunner , that ’s not to say that it does n’t stand on its own . In fact , it has its own colorful pompousness and Gen - Z quirk ( even if it ’s arduous on the cheese ) , and both of the lead are ace - to - watch . There is a certain appealingness about howteen TVit is , though . There ’s just a comfort in the conversant and seeing young hoi polloi get along into their own , like Drew Barrymore more or less proclaims in the ' 90s teen classic . Few may require to relive being a adolescent again , but at least there ’s shows likeBoo , Bitchthat serve to keep awake our affinity for arrive - of - age account .
