Isobel Grieve
The following contains spoilers for The Sex Lives of College Girls S2E1, “Winter Is Coming” (written by Caroline Goldfarb and directed by Daniella Eisman), and S2E2, “Frat Problems” (written by Rupinder Gill and directed by Daniella Eisman)
Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble’s The Sex Lives of College Girls’ first season was a fantastic success. It hit a perfect tone between funny, goofy and sexy. The main cast is phenomenal; the girls have so much charisma and chemistry that they shine on and off the screen.
Season 2 is no different so far. There was some clunky filler at the top of Episode 1 (“Winter is Coming”), explaining the disappearance of Nico (Gavin Leatherwood) and kind of reminding the audience of what’s at stake for each character. However, after that’s taken care of, the rest of the Season 2 opener is a total joy ride!
Some of the dramedy undertones of Season 1 seem to have died down. Last season, we dealt with some messier subjects, like Whitney’s (Alyah Chanelle Scott) affair with her coach, the sexual assault of Bela (Amrit Kaur), and Leighton (Renee Rapp) being in the closet. So far, Season 2 is much lighter, taking on a similar rhythm to Kaling’s other sitcoms, Never Have I Ever and The Mindy Project.
It should be interesting to see if Season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls gets darker as we progress each week.
Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) has undoubtedly hit trying times after her cheating scandal and losing her scholarship; she suddenly has to come up with the gross amount of her tuition and expenses without telling her parents. The show has mainly used her unfortunate circumstances to sarcastically explain the student loan trap in the United States. This is a valid critique, but not given the weight of other challenging topics in Season 1.
Leighton comes out to Bela and Whitney at the end of S2E1 (Kimberly already knew), which shifts her narrative a little. She doesn’t appear to be fully out, not to her family, but by S2E2, she is openly behaving queer on campus. I like that they’ve lifted some of Leighton’s shame; however, I think they’ll likely be exploring her fears about coming out to her parents later this season, and I look forward to that.
Being out of soccer season, Whitney has to find something else to fill her free time. I love this angle. After her struggles to keep soccer in Season 1, watching Whitney discover new passions and learn a little more about herself will be a great character arc for her. I like her relationship with Canaan (Christopher Meyer). Still, since they’ve introduced a cute new co-worker for him, I’m worried Whitney’s storyline will dissolve into constantly worrying about her relationship. I would rather they break them up than watch that, but we’ll have to wait and see; they seem to have patched things up at the end of Episode 2.
Bela (Amrit Kaur) is rolling with her Season 1 cliffhanger: she is now hooking up with Eric (Mekki Leeper), the editor, with hot and soft vibes from Catullan Humor Magazine. I thought they had charming romantic potential last season. However, these characters seem to be treating their chemistry much more casually than I would have liked; we’ll have to see how they play out. And then there is the all-female humour magazine that Bela and a few female Catullan alums are starting. I wonder if one of her season’s arcs will have to do with making her magazine a space for other marginalised gender-identifying people. So far, tossing around “female only” seems quite limiting for their scope; definitely a possible storyline parallel to what Bela was on the other side of last season.
Overall, I am VERY HAPPY Sex Lives of College Girls is back!
The humour, character quirks, struggles, etc., are so up my wheelhouse! “Winter Is Coming” lagged a little because it had to pick up from last season and pull us into what’s to come, but “Frat Problems” was awesome! Having storylines unfold with a Magic Mike Fundraiser going on in the background was delightful. Mindy Kaling gets me.
The Sex Lives of College Girls is one of the best sitcoms streaming right now, especially now that Derry Girls has ended; I needed more horny, funny women on my screen. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the season and gush about how much I love it here each week!
