Netflix’s Untapped Bounty

By starrymag | October 5, 2020

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

These days in quarantine we are all looking for some top-quality TV recommendations that will be a mood boost and rabbit hole respite from all of the things hanging over our heads.  If you are amongst the masses on Twitter or Facebook putting out into the void that you need your next binge and you are searching for something that will clinch that kick, “Teenage Bounty Hunters” has the flex and fix for you.  Initially, I only saw posts about the series on Instagram, which didn’t really draw me in with whatever teasers were being used, let alone the show title.  It didn’t give me enough of the sense of the series, but I decided to take a chance and see if it had more to offer with what Netflix seemed to be holding back about it.  When I gave the “Teenage Bounty Hunters” a chance, it was the greatest surprise I could have ever treated myself to.  It ended up striking me hard with the smart interlaced social commentary coolly stirred with comedy in heartfelt harmony that offered up a roller coaster ride that I was least expecting.

 

Press play and we get a tight shot of Willingham Academy from the parking lot.  We get a sense of the school being religious based instantly from the sign that reads, “Our School Is Prayer Conditioned.”   We see two teenage girls parked separately outside of the almost castle like school setting with their respective boyfriends. The series starts developing the two unique sides of the teens we see from the jump, and it sets the tone letting the viewer pick up the breadcrumbs that these initial scenes are a perfectly paired extension of each of their personalities – the sexually charged twin Blair (Anjelica Bette Fellini) and the seemingly would be more chaste sister Sterling (Maddie Phillips). Except what Sterling was doing in the car with her boyfriend Luke (Spencer House) is anything but pure. On their way home from their trysts, the girls get into a fender bender with a guy who ends up being on the run from a bounty hunter, gruff but good guy Bowser (the sublime Kadeem Hardison). In the moment Sterling and Blair pretend that they are bounty hunters too and through a series of chaotic and hilarious turns, come under Bowser’s employ in order to pay off the damage to their dad’s truck which is damaged from the crash. This is where “Teenage Bounty Hunters” pins the mark and bounces feverishly into some of the most wonderous witty writing that amplifies a whole new level of entertaining satire that goes beyond the benchmarks.

 

Created by Kathleen Jordan (whose name should really become as synonymous as Sherman-Palladino) is in your head because she takes so much of what made the 2000s based teen series “Gilmore Girls” so beloved and gives “Teenage Bounty Hunters” the boundary pushing and infectious twist that “Gilmore Girls” failed to find in its stride.  So much of “Teenage Bounty Hunters” shares the same energy of “Gilmore Girls,” especially when it comes to Sterling and her former childhood friend turned sworn enemy April Stevens (Devon Hales). Sterling and April are constantly competing academically with one another – much like “Gilmore Girls” characters Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) and Paris Geller (Liza Weil).  Besides being academic rivals, April has been harboring disdain for Sterling ever since fifth grade when she “gave her away” to another circle of girls which caused a fracture in their friendship. April doesn’t miss a moment to knock Sterling or use her faith-based friend squad, the Holy Trinity (Ezekiel and Hannah B) as they are all known, to try and keep Sterling in check especially when it comes to being named Fellowship Leader.

 

Remember at Chilton where Paris had Madeline and Louise as her squad?  Hannah B and Ezekiel are their update. The actors who portray Ezekiel and Hannah B shouldn’t be overlooked either, as sadly both Madeline and Louise never really got their due.  Like the biting and flighty double dose that Madeline and Louise brought to their roles on “Gilmore Girls,” Eric Graise and Charity Cervantes are fantastic spotlight stealers whom you end up being drawn to quite often even when they aren’t necessarily meant to be part of the focus of the scene.  Cervantes has a panache for riding the comedic line by hitting the joke with flair while not making it seem like she is working for the funny.  Think about Phoebe Buffet from friends and how you never know what’s going on in her head, but you most definitely gravitate towards her good nature and spunky cock-eyed spirit.  Graise’s mannerisms and glares are not to be glossed over either.  With the drop of a hand or facial reaction to what’s going on, he shadily offers up so much without at times even having said a word.

 

As much as Paris and Rory pushed each other between in their roles at Chilton and outside in their friendship, these two really didn’t go enough beyond those bonds even though there was a looming palpable chemistry that was perpetually evident. What’s so refreshing about “Teenage Bounty Hunters” is that which the Sherman-Palladino’s in the early 2000s couldn’t or wouldn’t do with Rory and Paris.  It dares to capitalize on the delightful driving subtle subtext and tensions of the enemies to lovers trope which it constructs for Sterling and April.  “Teenage Bounty Hunters” gives this type of relationship a whole new blueprint in making this actually canon.  Paris and Rory only got a sloppy college spring break kiss because Paris thought that they had to live out some regurgitated teen-based stereotype to impress a guy. “Teenage Bounty Hunters” actually lays the groundwork with a continued awakening in Sterling as she begins to see that her sexuality isn’t as straight as she thought. Although there is some buzz and negativity that Sterling doesn’t actually put a label on liking both boys and girls by saying that she is bisexual, she does talk about her sexuality in the most succinct true to form for her character saying, “If sexuality was a color wheel, I’d be in the blue-pink-purple part.”  It should be mentioned that Sterling is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a suburban area in Georgia surrounded by a religious community where being gay is not accepted and is seen as a sin. Her bubble isn’t quite like my own living in Atlanta as a teen where I grew up having series like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “Undressed,” “Queer as Folk,” The L Word,” and “South of Nowhere” that actually put terms like gay, straight, and bisexual in my vocabulary.  Sterling bravely charts her own path by ditching her good souled amorphous boyfriend and give her budding feelings for April a shot in the dark and finds the payoff in doing so.  That alone is such a gift to get to see play out knowing that if Sterling can find that bravery within her, someone else who watches “Teenage Bounty Hunters” can look to her in their own struggles where they may personally be unable to vocalize or validate their own similar feelings.

 

For April, much like myself, she is someone who has her walls built up as high as they do in The Kingdom of The North.  April carries herself in a way that makes it seem as if she has been taking lessons from another Netflix series; “Cobra Kai.”  As the mantra states, “Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy.” She doesn’t just hold grudges, she clutches them like they were a weapon that she, as any task or project that she takes on, has mastered and finely honed.  As the season of “Teenage Bounty Hunters” progresses, we come to see that the edges that April keeps razor sharp are because so much of her life is about deceit. She has the persona of being the most righteous, virtuous, and put together person because her family has ingrained in her that she must be perfect. Yet everything in her life really centers on lies, including the one in particular that she keeps about herself; she is a lesbian. What’s so beautiful and deeply meaningful is that as much as April is harboring this secret about herself, she doesn’t feel guilt/shame for owning her sexuality when it comes to Christianity.  She doesn’t see her sexuality as this scarlet letter L. Yes, she is closeted whether for safety and/or self-preservation, but she knows her relationship with her religion and isn’t going to treat it like being gay is a stigma.  April provides one of the most powerful affirmations by saying, “In case you’re wondering, no, I do not believe that God is going to smite me for being a lesbian.  He made me, along with narwhals and those tiny, blue poison frogs.  So clearly he has a master plan.” To have someone express that and provide this form of representation is an important and empowering signifier which feels like giving one long overdue sustained and validating hug for the LGBTQ community.

 

Besides the substantial LGBTQ representation, we also see the glorious twin dynamic on display in its fullest most clever form. The Wesley twins aren’t your typical Parent Trap or Arnold/Danny type of twins that we tend to see on screen.  They are twins who have their own non-verbally needed language and second hand sensory, which as an actual identical twin myself, makes me feel as if Jordan took a page from my personal life and diary.  The accuracy and intricacy of the inner unspoken bonds and monologues that go on with twins is showcased to perfection. It’s extremely rare to see on screen such deeply rooted genuine connection as the portrayals we get between the two leads of “Teenage Bounty Hunters” that are the exact extensions which twins experience. Phillips and Fellini aren’t sisters in real life, but you would never know it from the chemistry and quickness in the rapport that you see which is evident instantaneously the moment that they interact and is interlaced phenomenally in every scene that they share.

 

What also superbly sets the bar high with “Teenage Bounty Hunters” is the dynamic balanced delivery of the highly well-crafted comedy, emotional engagement, and heartwarming charm by every single person’s acting down to the detailed layered multi-dimensional nuances of their performances. It may be set around the realm of religion, but the show subverts so much of what we usually see when it comes to this type of TV where there ends up being a well-intended emphasis on religion while bringing a deeper satirical element to the humor of it all.  The tone of the series feels like it plays to its own syncopated rhythmic beat where one minute you are laughing at a physical comedic scene or chuckle worthy quip and in the next beat you are finding that you have been holding your breath with your eyes wide at an unexpected twist or tense filled dramatic exchange.  It’s a feverish, angst-ridden roller-coaster ride that will play your heartstrings as if they were a finely tuned symphony.  The scene set ups are like chords that transition into the swell of tensions driving towards a crescendo of palpable poignancy.

 

Standouts of the series undoubtedly are Phillips and Fellini with their nonstop sensational rambunctious roundhouse kick knockout performances. But also, the magnificent talented range that Devon Hales brilliantly serves up in her role as April Stevens shouldn’t be slept on. Hales will cut you deeply in the beginning with her acerbic pointed mean girl venom where no matter the sting, you still find yourself drawn to and rooting for her in ways you kind of know you shouldn’t.  The next moment Hales has you flipping your view of April by bringing a longing and layered emotionally polarizing poignancy where you want to just reach out and wrap April up in the type of love she so assuredly deserves. It’s in the complex expressions from Hales through a creased brow, eye glint, head cock, or knowing savage smile where we see April’s wheels turning as she is shrewdly trying to figure out her next move that Hales brings her performances to a polarizing perfection.  The viewers time after time find themselves, much like Sterling, seeing beyond April’s façade and still falling hard for April Stevens’ icy exterior, and even further from her seldom seen secretive softness when Sterling is able to knock down some of April’s well-placed walls.

 

Add all of this up and toss in the kickass soundtrack of amazing artists that end up providing the perfect back drop and added dimensions to the dialogue and drama that unfold with featured artists like Dragonette, Buzzy Lee, OutKast, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Imperial Teen, and Danzig.  Kacey Musgraves is featured multiple times including her song “Rainbow” as well as the emblazoned single “Slow Burn” which actually plays twice aptly into some of the most electric and stirringly emotional hold your breath moments of the series.  You’ll find a brand new playlist that is a complimentary mix of throwback tracks and fresh artists that you’ll never want to turn off.

 

Netflix has failed to give “Teenage Bounty Hunters” the signal boost it is due when it comes to promo, along with doing it a disservice by not including it in the network’s LGBTQ category.  Thankfully fans have picked up the torch and turned it into a full-blown campaign for a season two.   They have organized trending topic tweeting initiatives, set up weekly weekend watch parties, created the most stunning fan art, Instagram filters, passionate and ingenious videos, fandom challenges to support renewal efforts, and more which have really kept the charge of spirit blazing.  Make sure that you are following @renew_TBH on Twitter for updates on how to get involved in the renewal campaign and fan happenings! Tweet at Netflix and use the show’s hashtag #TeenageBountyHunters and #RenewTBH when you do so.  The cast themselves have been really active and vocal as well by engaging with Twitter users sharing comments and support for the series, posting behind the scenes content, answering questions, doing Instagram lives to chat with fans and even on occasion doing reactions of fan reactions!  Seeing this outpouring of interaction and promotion from the exceptional people behind the series makes every ounce of energy amplifying why you should tune in and check “Teenage Bounty Hunters” out worth the extensive campaign efforts. Don’t lose hope, keep the noise going by letting Netflix know we need season two.

 

“Teenage Bounty Hunters” may have the word teen in the title, but it’s flair for the dramatics, adult themed hijinks and empowering energy will have you hooked once you let the series find its footing.  “Teenage Bounty Hunters” has become one of the brightest glimmers amongst 2020s downward darkness.  It’s received 91% on Rotten Tomatoes for the Tomatometer and a 93% audience score.  ScreenRant.com recently posted an article wherein they outlined the ten best shows that premiered in 2020 according to IMDB, and “Teenage Bounty Hunters” weighed in at the fourth highest rated show for Netflix, and the eighth highest rated show overall on the list.   “Teenage Bounty Hunters” continues to build a devoted fan base almost two months after Netflix released it in August.

 

Stream “Teenage Bounty Hunters” on Netflix, tell your friends and family why they should watch, and don’t forget to flood Netflix with emails too to let them know how much this series means to you.  This show has already proven with a solid fan base and source of support that it deserves a second season.  Now it’s up to Netflix to make the move to not squander another standout series by alienating their audiences who have found a show that makes them feel seen.