Teen Girl Squad - Two Teen Shows I've Enjoyed
Television in the age of streaming is a magical thing. Besides all of the original content being generated by Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu (to name only the biggest and least specific options), these purveyors are bringing us shows from all over the world. You can get in all of the K-dramas you can shake a tear-stained Kleenex at, watch Mexican dramedies about soccer, or oddly compelling Spanish heist shows.
Yet honestly, none of that quite speaks to me. Instead, I’ve been drawn to shows about teen girls from the UK - specifically supernatural thriller The A-List and coming-of-age comedy Derry Girls. Quite frankly, the two don’t have a lot in common besides being made in the UK and being about teen girls, but though one is of significantly higher quality than the other (A-List is fun but not exactly, well, A material, while Derry Girls is brilliant), I think they both do a great job, in very different genres and tones, of pointing out the myriad ways teen girls love and support and hate and destroy each other all at the same time.
The A-List puts a lot of emphasis on the latter part of that equation, but still manages to show some tender moments of feminine friendship. The plot centers around beautiful mean girl Mia, who comes to a remote island summer camp determined to rule the roost, as she usually does. Instead, she uncovers dark secrets, evil science experiments, and a fellow queen bee in the mysterious Amber. Amber’s determined that she’ll be the queen of summertime, and the ensuing battle for dominance may just send Mia over the edge. (Possibly literally).
On the one hand, it’s pretty typical teen-drama stuff - a love triangle with a hunky boy, backstabbing best friends, and even a game of spin-the-bottle (do teenagers, especially high-school age teenagers, actually play this?). On the other hand, it added a few elements that kept me interested and gave me a bit of hope for our future.
First, the cast is appropriately diverse for a modern story - I was particularly excited to see that Mia, as the protagonist, is played by a mixed-race actress. It’s nice to see the beautiful, popular main character be played by someone who is not a white actress - reflective of the world we live in. There are also queer characters, non-binary characters, ace characters. The story may be fluffy supernatural horror, but it’s set in a very real world.
Second, the story focuses around the power play between Mia and Amber in a way that, minus the freaky supernatural elements, feels incredibly realistic to real-life girl bullying and relationships. The small ways they each work to turn the other girl’s friends against her. The showy sweetness in front of the camp adults. The parties staged almost entirely to exclude each other - they all feel true to the teen girl experience. The supernatural elements are also pretty well done; creepy and understated, causing an unsettling vibe that is far more effective than more overt horror would cause.
Derry Girls, by contrast, has no horror - unless you count the humiliation of teen awkwardness as a horror. There are certainly moments that the show, set in the 1990s (just like my own teen years!). provides a visceral reminder of the angst and petty slights of that time of life.
My own teen years, however, were not spent at a Catholic girls school in Northern Ireland, which at the time was at the tail end of the “Troubles” - 30 years of civil unrest between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland that took the lives of nearly 4,000 people and and turned that part of the country into a military state. In 1998 a cease-fire was reached with the Good Friday Agreement, and while it hasn’t resolved the issue at all, it has reduced the overall violence levels. That is the setting of Derry Girls - true horror - and yet the show itself is a comedy. The tension of the geography juxtaposed with the lives of 4 girls (and one honorary male Derry Girl) who are just trying to navigate the typical strife of growing up - relationships, concerts, fights with friends - is what makes the show such a standout. You know that compared to what’s happening around them, the girls’ concerns are petty and absurd, but that’s also what makes them so necessary. Everything is is a distraction from the painful reality they can’t escape.
The cast is a study in comedic timing; from the seasoned veterans playing parents, grandparents and teachers to the the core group of girls, there isn’t a single bad performance. Some characters are nearly cartoonish in their characterization, yet manage to show greater emotional depth than many more serious shows. It captures the absurdity and heartbreak of being a teenage girl perfectly. One important thing to note is that the accents are quite difficult for many American ears. I personally can catch on, but many folks find closed captions to be helpful to getting all of the nuances of the show.