Teenage Bounty Hunters - General Discussion

[paulvdb]

Premiered today on Netflix.

Quote

Twin sisters Sterling and Blair balance teen life at an elite Southern high school with an unlikely new career as butt-kicking bounty hunters.

Trailer:

 

[meatball77]

I'm on the second episode.  This is fun.

[Stiggs]

14 hours ago, meatball77 said:

I'm on the second episode.  This is fun.

Same for me. I keep giggling - it’s offbeat and clever. Plus, Kadeem Hardison and Makenzie Astin! A Different World and Facts of Life royalty, man.

[kieyra]

Ten minutes into the pilot and I’m in ...

[publius]

I rarely post but read the site daily and I have to say I binged the whole 10 episodes of this show and love it!  I laughed so many time in each episode, cringed a little as well, but I thought this is one awesome show.  I was so impressed by the two leads, how well matched they were, this was great casting and acting.  It sucks that we will probably have to wait a year or so to see how they resolve the cliffhanger! 

[Prairie Fire]

Thumbs up, this is way better than I expected. Though most of the credit goes to Blair (AKA Anjelica Fellini). The other characters - and the writing - are funny enough, but Blair is hilarious and steals every scene.

[Stiggs]

1 hour ago, Prairie Fire said:

Thumbs up, this is way better than I expected. Though most of the credit goes to Blair (AKA Anjelica Fellini). The other characters - and the writing - are funny enough, but Blair is hilarious and steals every scene.

I agree! She was so much fun to watch. Both the leads are great, but she was my favorite. 

[Cranberry]

I've only watched the first episode so far, but I loved it. I was immediately hooked and I laughed out loud a bunch of times. It has a similar tone to the movie Saved!, which is one of my faves.

[ybrik]

Really enjoyed this show. I agree both lead actresses really were good. Of course, Kadeem Hardison was also good. 

Not sure what to think about the last episode. The show had been silly at times but that last episode it went insane. Just as long as Netflix gives this a second season it should be fine but would really be disappointed if that was the final episode. 

Really interested to see what happens with Sterling and April next season especially since April's father is out. 

Disappointed how things turned out with Blair and Miles though it seemed inevitable because she could never tell him the whole truth. 

[dubbel zout]

Originally this was called "Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters," and I'm glad Netflix got rid of "Slutty." Neither twin is remotely a slut, and that word needs to be retired anyway. Way too sex-shaming and misogynist. 

Slight rant over (heh), I'm loving this. It's respectful toward a number of hot-button issues while still being a bit tongue-in-cheek. The tone is really a high-wire walk the writers are nailing.

Luke's terrible music will never not crack me up.

[PinkRibbons]

I binged the whole season yesterday, so spoilers ahead.

I really love how the show kept subverting my expectations; April locking the door, Sterling and Luke decidedly not getting away with having sex after everyone thought they were joking. I think my favorite was Miles, he was veering kind of into overly perfect dream man, so the reveal that while Blair was working herself into a schvitz trying not to make him feel out of place in her life while he was was doing exactly that? *chef's kiss* So many plots we've seen on TV before but with a different outcome.

I would have liked to see more bounty-hunting, but my only real complaint about the season is the final shocking reveal. I think any trope, no matter how tired, can be pulled off with good enough writing. And I have to say, "secret evil twin" is probably one of the hardest ones, and while watching I was thinking that it was kind of genius, because the revelation that the mother has a twin goes down a lot easier for me since the girls are twins, which do run in families. Then we see a moment of Sterling and Blair having a twin moment that goes beyond their more regular just being able to read each other quickly; Sterling manages to communicate where her captors are waiting to Blair. That goes into twin superpower area. So the reveal that they're not twins at all is just plain confusing to me.

Otherwise spot-on writing, casting, plotting, just-the-right-amount-absurdity and not taking itself too seriously. Will definitely be back if it gets renewed. *fingers crossed*

[Chaos Theory]

Two episodes in and this looks like the show I am going to watch while I work from home tomorrow.   It’s fun and subversive enough to be interesting.   But it is also exactly the kind of show Netflix is gonna cancel after a season or two.

[Cranberry]

14 hours ago, PinkRibbons said:

I really love how the show kept subverting my expectations; April locking the door, Sterling and Luke decidedly not getting away with having sex after everyone thought they were joking. I think my favorite was Miles, he was veering kind of into overly perfect dream man, so the reveal that while Blair was working herself into a schvitz trying not to make him feel out of place in her life while he was was doing exactly that? *chef's kiss* So many plots we've seen on TV before but with a different outcome.

Yes! I also loved that April wasn't struggling with internalized homophobia or an inability to reconcile her sexuality with her religion -- she had the attitude that, "God made me this way so he can't smite me for it," basically. It was clear that she wasn't ashamed of being gay, but (rightly) afraid of how she'd be treated by her parents and school if she came out. That's a different spin on the closeted Christian kid story.

The finale was definitely my least favorite of the episodes, but I don't think it was bad, just a little too dramatic compared to the rest of the show. I am interested in how the reveal will change Blair and Sterling's relationship in season two... assuming (hoping!) we get one.

[dubbel zout]

On 8/16/2020 at 12:30 PM, PinkRibbons said:

Sterling manages to communicate where her captors are waiting to Blair. That goes into twin superpower area. So the reveal that they're not twins at all is just plain confusing to me.

April did say she found the twins weirdly and at times uncomfortably close. And since they thought of themselves as twins, I can buy that the twin communication works.

I hope this gets a second season. Netflix can be pretty ruthless when it comes to renewals.

[Chaos Theory]

5 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

April did say she found the twins weirdly and at times uncomfortably close. And since they thought of themselves as twins, I can buy that the twin communication works.

I hope this gets a second season. Netflix can be pretty ruthless when it comes to renewals.

I buy it as something that works because they believed it to be true.   And if there is a second season both their doubts will make their twin communication falter.    And yeah this is exactly the kind of show that Netflix cuts.  Which is a shame.  It is unexpectedly good.  I haven’t been this surprised by a Netflix show since Insatiable.   
 

[Keywestclubkid]

watching the first episode its like if the movie saved and the show dog the bounty hunter had a baby ..it would be this 🙂

[ybrik]

Maybe it's just me but after binging the show, I have had 'The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia' playing on a constant loop in my head.

[tennisgurl]

"What are amphetamines? 

"Drugs that can go on land and water." 

This show is great. 

[dubbel zout]

11 hours ago, ybrik said:

Maybe it's just me but after binging the show, I have had 'The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia' playing on a constant loop in my head.

I was very tempted to buy it on iTunes. It's one of those great pop songs you forget about until you hear it after forever, and then it's an earworm.

[Cranberry]

This show is #5 in Canada's top 10 on Netflix today! I hope that means word is spreading and it'll be considered enough of a success to get a second season. How's it doing in the US?

[tennisgurl]

This show was a blast, it was fun and exciting and the actors really made even the silliest aspects of the show work. I mean, the very premise is pretty nuts, and while the show is definitely a comedy, there was also a sincerity to it that kept it from becoming a total farce. The sisterly relationship between Sterling and Blair was really sweet, and their bonding with Bowser was really genuine. 

The plot with Sterling and April was unexpected but I like what they did with it, and instead of going with the "god must hate me because of my sexuality" like a more cliche story would do, they went with both Sterling and April being cool with both their sexuality and their faith, but worried about how people in their conservative Christian community would take it. 

I am not sure what I think about the ending and the sort of drama bomb that they dropped on us. Most of the show was mostly light hearted fun adventures, even when they dealt with tougher issues like heartbreak, racism, and sexuality, but the whole thing with their moms evil twin arriving and kidnapping Sterling and her being Sterlings bio mom, thats just a whole lot. At first I thought that the evil (sketchy?) twin was actually pretty clever, as twins run in families so it would kind of make sense that the twins mom was a twin, but now the twins arent actually twins? I guess they have their twin powers because they think they're twins and thats enough, but this just seems to add a lot of unneeded drama. 

But for the most part, I loved this show, and I am crossing my fingers are a second season!

[Cranberry]

Interestingly, the children of identical twins share 25% of their DNA/genes, so the girls are genetically half-siblings as opposed to first cousins (which share 12.5%). Because the girls essentially share a mom and grew up thinking they were twins, they could probably still have their near-telepathic twin bond if they wanted to... although it might take them most of next season to work that out.

[peachmangosteen]

18 hours ago, Cranberry said:

This show is #5 in Canada's top 10 on Netflix today! I hope that means word is spreading and it'll be considered enough of a success to get a second season. How's it doing in the US?

Right now it’s #4 overall and #3 in TV shows.

[dubbel zout]

It's gotten pretty good reviews and decent exposure.

[TrininisaScorp]

My husband and I are a few episodes in. Kadeem Hardison & Method Man (!) have been the most pleasant throwback surprise!

This is surprisingly deep even with how fun it is. Lots of "hey, it's that guy" ppl. 

Sterling & Blair can be irritating, but they are loveable. 

[AllyB]

On 8/16/2020 at 5:30 PM, PinkRibbons said:

And I have to say, "secret evil twin" is probably one of the hardest ones, and while watching I was thinking that it was kind of genius, because the revelation that the mother has a twin goes down a lot easier for me since the girls are twins, which do run in families.

See this is where the final reveal actually worked better for me. Identical twins, like Deb and Dana, and fraternal twins are completely different things. Fraternal twins run in families due to a hyper-ovulation gene. Identical twins are a seemingly random occurrence with no apparent inherited link. So while it's not impossible for a family to have both kinds of twins, it would be extremely rare. (Unless someone from a family with identical twins has fertility treatment, increasing the odds of having fraternal twins.) So the last reveal makes so much more sense than the family circumstances would have as they initially appeared.

[ladle]

Just finished bingeing this great little sleeper of a show! One thing that still kind of bugs me: did they ever address what Miles was doing working as a valet when he’s so wealthy? 

[ladle]

(Also agree that I would have liked to see more actual bounty hunting. I didn’t end up all that convinced that Blair and Sterling were actually good at it— good enough that Bowser would be willing to split his earnings with these two random underaged girls.)

[PinkRibbons]

Some wealthy parents have their children get jobs to show them what it's like to have to work for their own pay. Plus with Miles's mother being a senator, it's good optics for her son to be seen outside of the ultra-privileged life he presumably leads.

[dubbel zout]

12 hours ago, ladle said:

(Also agree that I would have liked to see more actual bounty hunting. I didn’t end up all that convinced that Blair and Sterling were actually good at it— good enough that Bowser would be willing to split his earnings with these two random underaged girls.)

The twins are able to get into places Bowser can't, and they have physically captured some suspects, so I think they are pretty good at bounty hunting. Grading on a scale, of course, seeing as they're teenagers and untrained amateurs.

[ladle]

32 minutes ago, PinkRibbons said:

Some wealthy parents have their children get jobs to show them what it's like to have to work for their own pay. Plus with Miles's mother being a senator, it's good optics for her son to be seen outside of the ultra-privileged life he presumably leads.

I think this is a valid explanation, but I wish it had been addressed on the show - even in a throwaway line or two - since it did seem a bit incongruous.  

[Thomas Crown]

Another fan here!  The show is fantastic and crossing fingers for a season # 2.  I did get a Buffy vibe from a lot of the dialogue on the show. The cliffhanger wasn't too bad IMO as from reading the comments above, I was expecting something much more dramatic such as the final scene showing Bowser getting shot or one of the girls getting kidnapped.

[Angeleyes]

Netflix has decided against a season 2. I’m sad because this show was fun and I liked the characters. 
 

https://deadline.com/2020/10/teenage-bounty-hunters-canceled-netflix-one-season-1234591514/

[Cementhead]

Aw Man, that sucks!  I highly enjoyed this show.  ☹️  I am still mad at Netflix for cancelling Santa Clarita Diet and now this.  They make really shitty decisions often. 

[dubbel zout]

I really liked this show, too. It was breezy fun. Netflix is pretty ruthless when it comes to cancellation. I guess something has to give so that Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes, et al., can get paid.

[Cranberry]

Damnit. This has been my favorite new show in quite some time. I hope someone else can pick it up, although I can't see it getting a second season anytime soon considering it films in Atlanta, which is not doing so well with the Covid situation.

[Carl Schamberge]

A bit of speculation...  What could have topped the plot twist of the last episode.  Think about it folks.  We know who Sterlings real mother is.  So, what was not included in the dialogue?  Think real hard about another small detail.

[shapeshifter]

Just binged the show over a few days.
Given its popularity, I wonder if Covid was part of why it was canceled. 
Or maybe if they hadn't had the Mom's Evil Twin plot it would have been renewed? 

I thought the way modern Christian culture and beliefs were written was spot on. There was the good, the bad, and the ugly. Heh. 
And the same with the family relationships. 
The concept that Bowser and the girls would bond as family was pretty farfetched, but having just one farfetched element was okay.
But they seemingly planned the Evil Twin at least when they were editing an early episode (maybe 3 or 4?) when they flashed the picture of Not-Mom/Mom.

It's kind of funny that Virginia Williams (the mom) did a lot of soap opera work given the weird Evil Twin plot that got tacked on.
Maybe that was done after they knew they were unlikely to get a second season? 
I can think of examples from literature and painting where authors and artists slapped on something that didn't quite fit when they learned they weren't going to be permitted to finish the work they had planned. 

[Anela]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:43 PM, Stiggs said:

Same for me. I keep giggling - it’s offbeat and clever. Plus, Kadeem Hardison and Makenzie Astin! A Different World and Facts of Life royalty, man.

I knew that I knew the bounty hunter from somewhere!

This popped up as a recommendation, so I started to watch it a little while ago.  

[CaliforniaLove]

On 4/1/2021 at 10:08 PM, Anela said:

I knew that I knew the bounty hunter from somewhere!

This popped up as a recommendation, so I started to watch it a little while ago.  

I saw Kadeem Hardison was in it & thought "Dwayne Wayne, alright!!"...I was about five episodes in when I caught the credits & thought "oh yeah, Kareem Hardison is supposed to be in this, when is he going to pop up??". Then it dawned on me. Bowser!!! 

[Cranberry]

Every time this topic has new replies I hope that Netflix or someone else has resurrected the show. This is the cancellation I've been saddest about in a long time.

[Aliconehead]

12 hours ago, Cranberry said:

Every time this topic has new replies I hope that Netflix or someone else has resurrected the show. This is the cancellation I've been saddest about in a long time.

Me too.  It was a unique show in many ways and I will miss it. 

[kieyra]

Is it just me or did all Jenji Kohan-adjacent scripted shows get cancelled on Netflix? GLOW, Teenage Bounty Hunters? What else has she got going on in the scripted space at the moment? 

[Nellise]

I'm not sure how I missed this show. It popped up in a recommended after I watched something else and I went through all 10 episodes in a few days. I thought the first few episodes were really great and all the people in it were really fun.

Before I finished it I found out it was cancelled and I didn't understand why, then I saw the last couple episodes. It feels like they forgot the premise of the show that worked so well in the beginning. It could have been a fun bounty of the week show with the girls dealing with school stuff on the side, but for some reason they went with weird family drama and secrets and it felt like a bad Veronica Mars imitation for the last 2-3 episodes. There were still a few fun bits in every episode but I'm fine with it ending since it seemed like it lost what it was trying to do and there would be no way to write a solution that wouldn't be ridiculous.

I am glad I watched it though just for how good the first few episodes are.