Ginny and Georgia TV Show Review: New Age Soap Opera
Ginny and Georgia is a Netflix TV Show about a little family with a complicated past moving into a rich suburban neighborhood near Boston to start a new life. Georgia, the mother, comes off as a hot bimbo with her gorgeous physical attributes and Southern drawl. Ginny is a 15-year-old girl who looks racially ambiguous (her dad is black) and who comes off as very intellectually smart, but also naive as teenagers are. Georgia had Ginny at a very young age, when she was 15 or 16 years old herself. The third and final member of their little family is Austin (his father is different from Ginny’s father), a cute, blonde boy in elementary school who loves Harry Potter. I thought this show started off strong because while it gave off soapy vibes like Gossip Girl, it also seemed to address interesting issues and showcase very likable characters. However, the longer you watch, the more dramatic and absurd the characters become. About halfway through, I wasn’t very committed to this show anymore, so it took some effort to stick it out until the end.
The first episode of Ginny and Georgia was a whirlwind of plot and activity to get the audience acquainted with all of the characters in the show. I was really drawn in to both the characters of Ginny and Georgia because they both were strong female characters who weren’t afraid to use their voices and be strategic (somewhat?) with their actions. Georgia is probably what you would call “street-smart” and Ginny is more “book-smart.” Ginny and Georgia are also played by drop dead gorgeous actresses. The final few scenes of episode 1 started flashing some red flags to me that this show was about to get crazy dramatic.
I honestly found most (if not all) of the characters in this show to be extremely annoying. First of all, Ginny’s group of “friends” at the high school were so mean, cliquey, and horrible. Max seemed kind of cool in the beginning because she embraced Ginny as the new girl in school, but her mannerisms and over-the-top-ness really started grinding on me by the end. It’s a bit unfathomable to me that these 15-16 year old kids would be drinking alcohol, throwing parties, and doing drugs in high school, especially in this neighborhood where all the kids seem to be hyper-focused on getting into the ivy league colleges. But their studies and extracurricular activities aren’t being showcased because that stuff is not soap drama material. I was also really frustrated by the relationships in the show, because I really hate when a character enters a relationship with another character but the viewers know deep down that they’re really not meant to be together. I understand it’s a common occurrence in TV shows that happens in order to warrant more seasons and episodes to unravel the complex web of relationships, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.
In conclusion…
While this show accomplishes everything that a melodrama sets out to accomplish, with its mysterious characters and crazy relationships, I just felt like it was getting too soapy and trashy for my taste. Dramas also do this thing where all of the lies and deceit culminate into this big, horrible reveal at the end that causes people to hate each other. This drama does that in the very final episode and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. I’m not sure I’m that interested in watching the second season to see how everything fixes itself, but maybe if the reviews are good, I’ll give it a chance. At this point, I could honestly care less about all of the burnt bridges and messed up people.