TV Review: The Hilarious “Sex Lives of College Girls”
Comedies about young women have the tendency to treat sex like a “damn if you do, damn if you don’t” situation. You are either a hoe, a nun, or a sexual Che Guevara; igniting body-positive revolutions and books against feminism. Yet, Mindy Kaling’s new HBO MAX series, premiering November 18 , shows that sex is just a side-note that, depending on who you sleep with, can either become bliss or a burden. The problem is when you are a college girl, those two feelings, blissful or burdensome, feel so heavily extreme and constant. Nothing in life is ever easy and you have yet the wisdom to realize that YOU are the uneasy part.
The spectacular cast totally embody the struggle to grapple with and eventually let go of believing 18 means you are an “adult” and being away from your parents, automatically, gives you the wit to be responsible. Sure, in this era, kids “grow up fast” but if there is one thing that will always be stagnant, no matter how much of an “old soul” you are, its figuring out people while figuring out yourself. Honestly! It’s rough! Hence why Kimberley (Pauline Chalamet) is totally gullible because she is a bleeding heart for anyone with a “story,” which is why her hilarious coworkers like, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, and Gavin Leatherwood’s Nico is starting to fall for her. Bela (Amrit Kaur) is so sweet and excited for life while entering worlds that only her as a “diversity” initiative and a potential “histrionic feminist.” Leighton (Reneé Rapp) will BITE your head off with her wit and determination, and you LOVE her for it. Meanwhile, Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) is totally me in my capacity to “pretend to be confident” and go in and out of the world of “confident people” to report to my fellow insecure friends and deal with the emotional backlash of my actions while under the influence of “confidence.” Frankly, in a way all these ladies are like me…. and you.
I think the magic of Mindy Kaling’s writing is that she finds humanity to be a singular, interconnecting thread, and our distinct “personalities” are just the fuzzies and strings that branch out of it. The Sex Lives of College Girls has echoes of Never Have I Ever, but, obviously, maturer and aged to not just display the highs and lows of university sex life, but also analyze why it can such a rush and also a dud. When you are a “girl,” pleasure not often seen as the main priority in a sex act, but these “girls” will be DAMNED if you they are not pleased.
