Few shows are as clearly indebted to The Algorithm™ as by Netflix Ginny & Georgia, a teen drama that has been name-checking its main inspiration from the very beginning of its first season. “We are like Gilmore girl,” Georgia told her daughter, “but with bigger breasts.”
At each turn, Ginny & Georgia Season 1 revealed another inspiration. Raymond Ablack’s mere presence—known for Degrassi fans as Sav Bhandari—highlights the DNA of this new Netflix series that draws from the previous super-dramatic Canadian teen show. A carnival episode is back Happinessand sometimes, when Ginny’s soul goes especially bad, things get very”13 reasons why” very fast.
I’ll admit, I was ready to hate Season 2 after watching Season 2. Actually didn’t like Season 1. Still, it was clear that this wacky Franken show had grown in me—you know, like a rash, a fungus or something. Around Episode 4, I started to wonder if the last few years had melted my brain. (Ginny & Georgia Season 1 premiered in February 2021.) But after a few than episodes that I devoured in a marathon, it’s clear that many of the elements that didn’t work in Season 1 have actually improved in this new chapter. It’s a New Year’s miracle!
When we first meet moody teenage girl Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and her mother, Georgia (Brianne Howey), they’ve just picked up and moved to the posh Boston suburb of Wellsbury, Massachusetts. As we quickly found out, the constant moving was a constant theme for the family — including Ginny’s younger brother, Austin (Diesel La Torraca). Georgia had a rough start in life—her mother had a substance use problem and her stepfather sexually abused her—and her path out of that darkness involved some very dark actions. dark. Ginny went through Season 1 desperately searching for answers about her mother while also struggling with the usual school-related social dramas.
While the general story is easy enough to follow, a little different about Season 1 makes a lot of sense. in spite of Gilmore girl inspiration, Ginny and Georgia barely talk to each other in Season 1; instead, they mostly say around each other in intense monologues.
The reason for Austin’s existence on the show feels unclear, as he’s spent much of the proceedings in isolation from the rest of his family, making occasional appearances only to remind us that he exists. Ginny’s pain and trauma are obvious, but her reasons are puzzling: Why is she clinging to her precious friends who accuse her of shoplifting in the door? row and slap her while arguing? Why, as a hybrid girl, did she always push Bracia (Tameka Griffiths) – the only Black in her school, who tried to approach her? Without a clear sense of who Ginny is or who she wants to be, the drama surrounding her social life feels like it’s staged.
A lot of that changed in Season 2, helping to maintain the lead Degrassi/Euphoria/13 Reasons Why elements but add a dash (just a dash) logic inside.
Ginny spends more time with her father, Zion, and his family this season, and after starting therapy, she begins to test her identity — as a trauma survivor and was a young black woman — more thoroughly. This leads to some interesting conversations with her mother, who she painfully observes, both knows how to braid and also continues to be a fan of Scarlett O’Hara. Ginny is also starting to spend more time with Bracia, who is refreshingly getting an arc of her own when we discover that she, like Ginny’s best friend Maxine (Sara Waisglass), is in drama club and has a crush on one of her co-stars. .
And while I insist that “Marcus” isn’t a teenage hot boy name, and the film’s take on Shawn Hunter’s flowing hair is an insult to pomade fans everywhere. , I’ll admit that Ginny’s relationship with her designated crush on her heart feels a bit off-putting. More authentic than this goes around as well.
More important than any of this, however, is the variation between our genuine “Gs”. Midway through Season 2, Ginny and Georgia start talking—really talking. And it’s not just about Ginny’s therapy. Finally, there’s also a mother-daughter reciprocity: Ginny confides in her mother about some of the things she’s faced, both throughout her life and in Wellsbury, and Georgia responds to that honesty with her present. object. (Well, some of them.)
Both Ginny and Austin realize that in this season, even though their mother may share some parts of her story with them, they never get the full truth. In part, when they learn, it’s to protect them. Georgia, a teenage mom with no resources to rely on, has done some undeniably terrible things to keep them safe. In Georgia’s mind, all of these actions were necessary crimes. But that won’t matter if and when her actions catch up to hers, especially if it means being removed from her children’s lives before they fully join the loop. .
As we discover at the end of the season, it’s that fear—the thought that her past will inevitably spoil her present—that causes Georgia to sprint toward the future, no matter what. what could be. She and Ginny, like many trauma survivors, instinctively fear happiness—when fully embracing a sense of security and peace. The threat of disappointment is too unpleasant to contemplate.
But no one can run forever, and as we see at the end of the season, both Ginny and Georgia are pretty tired of running. In particular, Ginny began to understand what it cost her to get treatment, and she shares these insights with her mother.
What happens when this family finally starts to stand still? And what happens when Austin, who finally feels like a real part of the series at the end of this season, finally begins to discuss his own experiences — including one particularly gruesome crime? horror that he witnessed his mother commit? That question seems certain to find an answer in Part 3 — and unlike last time, I admit that I’m really curious to discover the answer, even though it’s meant to be ridiculous.
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