It is a Friday night, and by some miracle, you have no homework to do and have nothing but time. You turn on Netflix and choose a seemingly interesting TV show called Ginny and Georgia, and you expect it to be captivating. But instead, you’re left with an appalled and confusing feeling at the end. This was my exact reaction to this show. Created by Sarah Lampert, Ginny and Georgia provides no realistic intuition into what high school is really like. Released on February 24, 2021, it contains only ten episodes in the first season that are an hour-long, and yet there is so much to talk about. This review does contain some spoilers, so I would caution you to read at your own discretion.

The show starts off quite calmly, and it shows the two main characters Ginny Miller (Antonia Gentry) and Georgia Miller (Brianne Howey), who are mother and daughter, move into their new home in Wellsbury, Massachusetts. Everything seems to be normal up until the point when Ginny meets her neighbors, Maxine, (Sara Waisglass) and Marcus (Felix Mallard). That is when things take a turn for the worse. 

Keep in mind, most of the characters in the show are around fifteen and sixteen years old, and they are sophomores in high school. At this young age, they are portrayed as if they are eighteen or twenty years old, as seen by their excessive amount of alcohol and drug use. With the amount of time they spend partying, it’s a wonder that they are passing their classes. I don’t think I have ever seen any of the main characters actually studying. By actually, I mean not while hanging out with other friends and goofing around, but actually studying. I just find it very hard to relate to the character’s lifestyles and the way they portray life as teenagers. 

In addition to the unrealistic partying that occurs within the episodes, the characters overall are dramatic, unrelatable, self-entitled, and just downright awful to each other. One specific example is Ginny, who constantly makes everything about her. In episode eight of the series “Check One, Check Other”, one of her other friends Abby, (Katie Douglas) had been going through a tough time as her parents were getting a divorce, yet all Ginny is able to talk about is herself and her troubles with her own family. She shows no sensitivity to her so-called friend’s situation. The lack of care the characters had for each other personally was quite enraging for me to watch.

In another scene in episode eight of the series, it is made apparent that Georgia Miller is not as kind and neighborly as she may seem. It is revealed that she has a history of killing off her husbands and taking their money after their death. Not only has this happened not once, but twice. This not-so-subtle twist within the plot definitely took me by surprise. Diving into the show, my mindset was that the show would focus more on romance, which it definitely did. I was not however expecting something as dark as murder. With a little bit of backstory into Georgia’s life, we find out that the first time she had done this was when she was just a teenager and that her childhood had not been so nice. This twist was a small piece of the show that definitely intrigued me into watching further, which unfortunately led to no avail. 

With a show categorized as ‘romantic TV’, you would at least expect the characters to have some sort of chemistry or connection with one another. Completely wrong. The main plot of the show, which is basically Ginny debating her feelings between two guys, was very dry and bland. Specifically, the forced chemistry between the two characters of Ginny and her boyfriend Hunter (Mason Temple) was so blatantly fake and obvious that it pained me whenever I saw a scene with them in it. As a romance show, I expected way better than the mediocre scenes that were given to us.

One specific event that disturbed me was the fact that the literal day Ginny moved to Wellsbury and met Maxine and Marcus, she ended up having sexual intercourse with Marcus without either of them knowing a single thing about each other. This whole entire scene screamed of lazy writing as to developing their relationship. It was very unrealistic and lacked any believable chemistry at all. In the grand scheme of things, they had probably known each other for about 2 seconds. There was no reason for Ginny and Marcus to do what they did. The writing in that scene lacked any creativity at all.

Another awful scene that completely shocked me was when Ginny and Hunter had an awfully insensitive argument about which one of them has been more oppressed in today’s society. They both targeted the other person by using stereotypes and examples that had been largely portrayed by the media all over the world, and they used characteristics that were not true at all. To quote, Ginny claims that Hunter is more white than she will ever be, and that since his favorite food is cheeseburgers and she knows more Mandarin than he does, he is barely even asian. To which he retorts with comments saying he has never seen her pound back jerk chicken, his other friend can twerk better than her, and that even though he liked her poem, her bars could use a little more work, and then he proceeds to question her about how black she really is. This inaccurate representation of people of color is harmful especially to people who already may have a hard time finding out who they are in their own skin. It only adds more pressure to them of being “perfect” while being compared to stereotypes such as the ones described in the scene.

Additionally, in the season finale of the series, “The Worst Betrayal Since Jordan and Kylie”, there was a misogynistic reference made to singer Taylor Swift. The scene containing the reference was about how Georgia had found out about Ginny sneaking around with Marcus, and decided to confront her about it. Ginny does not receive it well and reciprocates with the line, “You go through men faster than Taylor Swift”, inferring that Georgia’s own miserable love life was to blame for her inability to stay true to one person. When I heard Ginny say that to Georgia, all I could think of was why they would use someone as respectable as Taylor Swift to prove their feeble point. The fact that they needed to bring her down and compare her to somebody else did not sit right with me at all. If we’re putting it simply, it’s just downright mean and hurtful to say. It was at this point that I lost complete faith in the writing of the show.

All throughout this show, I felt myself needing to stab my eyes out just so I wouldn’t have to suffer through some scenes. It was pure agony. The whole entire show was not only a cringe-fest but an incredibly imprecise depiction of high school and life, and I can’t possibly imagine why people would think it is a good show. I remember watching the trailer of the show and the english teacher referring to his class as AP English. Now in reality, there is no such thing as AP English. It is either AP Literature or AP Language. This minor detail indicated to me that the people who wrote the show clearly went to high school a long time ago. It makes much more sense as to why the script was so out of touch with reality, and why the characters are so obnoxious and unrelatable.

I would not recommend this series to anyone at all. The show lacks real and accurate romantic chemistry, which is basically the whole entire plot of the show. There is absolutely no realistic portrayal of anything at all, and the characters lack any basic empathy that is human nature. The actors don’t know how to act, and the writers don’t know how to write. Ginny and Georgia is a failed mission at making people of color feel more appreciated in the modern-day and is utterly embarrassing to TV shows that accurately portray these very real-life situations and realities.

1/10.