S01.E07: Happy Sweet Sixteen, Jerk

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

On Ginny's 16th birthday, Georgia tries to smooth things over by organizing a surprise party for her — but Ginny and her friends have other big plans.

 

[Aulty]

Nick starting out as the tough campaign manager, migrating to gay friend and going full Avril drag for Ginny's birthday? Andrew from The Bold Type anyone?

The tap dancing? The serenading a few episodes back. They packed a lot into this show and its getting a bit much for me. At least Georga came clear to Ginny.

[Anela]

On 2/25/2021 at 8:45 AM, Aulty said:

Nick starting out as the tough campaign manager, migrating to gay friend and going full Avril drag for Ginny's birthday? Andrew from The Bold Type anyone?

The tap dancing? The serenading a few episodes back. They packed a lot into this show and its getting a bit much for me. At least Georga came clear to Ginny.

Yeah, that was a lot, in a short time. I haven't finished this episode yet. 

[Caseysgirl]

The birthday tap dance lost me. I’m also kind of over all of Ginny’s totally cool friends and especially Maxie. I would much rather see realistic not such wise ass TV kids and every episode seems like an after school special. I’m told that this will get better towards the end of the season so I’m sticking with it.

[tennisgurl]

Ginny and Hunter's talk about being biracial was a really nice moment between them. The show seems to be leaning towards her getting with Marcus, but he annoys me too much to want him with Ginny. He's basically a cheap Jess from Gilmore Girls knock off, way more than any of the other characters are obvious counterparts for GG characters. He's that brooding quasi intellectual jerk who thinks he's too cool and smart to do anything but lean on things who has nothing but disdain for pretty much anyone and is only nice to the lead female character, and even then only sometimes. He's also a jerk to his kind of girlfriend Padma, who seems perfectly nice, who doesn't say much for how he would treat Ginny. 

This show is so, SO much. 

[dubbel zout]

On 2/27/2021 at 4:45 PM, Caseysgirl said:

The birthday tap dance lost me.

That cracked me up. It was such a TV thing. And it's yet another thing Hunter can do. What's next, we learn he rescues animals from disaster areas?

[mytmo]

Starting to hate Ginny and her sanctimonious attitude

[kieyra]

41 minutes ago, mytmo said:

Starting to hate Ginny and her sanctimonious attitude

This didn't bother me as much on my first viewing, because the show had so much going on, and it had been so long since I'd watched any kind of soapy multi-generational thing. 

On second viewing, Ginny already has a bad attitude towards her mom from the pilot onwards, and they rarely share any scenes without Ginny having a major case of stinkface. 

NOW, there's the possibility that Ginny's attitude is earned because Georgia has been so flaky, jumping from man to man, failing to provide any sense of stability, etc. But they really can't do the 'Gilmore Girls' shoutout if we get almost ZERO scenes of Ginny and Georgia actually enjoying each other's company because Ginny is perpetually pissy. 

[Adeejay]

For a moment there, I thought I was the only one who can't stand Ginny.  I find her rude and disrespectful to her mother.  She acts as though they are on the same level.  Ingrate!

[dubbel zout]

23 minutes ago, Adeejay said:

She acts as though they are on the same level. 

That goes both ways, IMO. Georgia definitely revels in being the "cool" mom.

[Ms Blue Jay]

So are the Hunter haters won over yet?  I smiled through that whole tap dance routine.

The Mayor and Hunter are too perfect.  They're like Manic Pixie Dream Boys.  Not that I mind.

It was funny when the Mayor said "Both Millennials AND Boomer want walkable communities".  LOL.  Poor Gen X.  

God, Ginny really thinks she's the shit now and it's wearing thin for me.  

Why does Hunter hang out with the worst guys alive?  It suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Well after reading the thread, people hate Hunter more than ever. LOL.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

I hated, hated hated hated hated hated Scott Porter on The Good Wife so it's nice for me to kind of like him here now.

[kieyra]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Well after reading the thread, people hate Hunter more than ever. LOL.  

Aw, I don't think there's much actual Hunter hate. I think the tap-dancing just put some of us into an unwanted Glee flashback. Maybe just me. :)

I don't think the writers served the Hunter character particularly well (honestly, they kind of f'd up the whole love triangle). I like the actor, though. And I like some stuff we see from Hunter in later episodes. 

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Poor Gen X.  

I feel this. 

[scarynikki12]

I like Hunter but I hate big displays like the routine so it was a major cringe from me.

[JLaw]

17 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I hated, hated hated hated hated hated Scott Porter on The Good Wife so it's nice for me to kind of like him here now.

I kind of liked his edge on The Good Wife... he typically plays do gooders... 

[charmed1]

20 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

It was funny when the Mayor said "Both Millennials AND Boomer want walkable communities".  LOL.  Poor Gen X.

Right. I get so annoyed by this. It’s like do people not realize there’s a whole group of people born in between you? I watched “My So Called Life” (which I find this show to be a poor man’s version of) while in my senior year of high school. Angela Chase, Ricky and Jordan Catalano are fellow Gen-Xers. 

[dubbel zout]

Then there are those of us like me who were born at the very tail end of the boomer era but are considered too old for Gen X. It's rough being on the cusp!

[charmed1]

16 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Then there are those of us like me who were born at the very tail end of the boomer era but are considered too old for Gen X. It's rough being on the cusp!

I totally agree. I’m a tail-end Gen-Xer. Took them years to even decide what we were. Someone wrote a piece about us “Carter Babies” about 10 years ago and decided to name us, what else of course, Generation Catalano lol.

[ShellsandCheese]

On 3/20/2021 at 1:04 PM, Adeejay said:

For a moment there, I thought I was the only one who can't stand Ginny.  I find her rude and disrespectful to her mother.  She acts as though they are on the same level.  Ingrate!

Ginny is a very unlikeable character, and Antonia doesn't have the acting chops to go toe to toe with Georgia/Brianne. I also despise the tortured biracial (mulatto) plot points, especially since the show refuses to go deeper and examine why Ginny is having issues. It's partly her parents fault - people having children with people of different races and cultures and not equipping their children to navigate that and have pride in all of their heritage - and it's part Ginny's fault. She seems to be mostly disconnected from her black father, and completely disconnected from her black grandparents, and has made little to no effort to expand her friendship circle to include black people her age (and there's a few in town) nor does she seem to be trying to educate herself. 

[mansonlamps]

On 2/27/2021 at 3:45 PM, Caseysgirl said:

The birthday tap dance lost me. I’m also kind of over all of Ginny’s totally cool friends and especially Maxie. I would much rather see realistic not such wise ass TV kids and every episode seems like an after school special. I’m told that this will get better towards the end of the season so I’m sticking with it.

I'm far from this age group and I'm sure they are more evolved than we were, but if anyone's boyfriend would have done that tap dancing routine in my high school, everybody would have just died from second hand embarrassment, especially the recipient. 

[mansonlamps]

On 4/21/2021 at 12:53 PM, charmed1 said:

I totally agree. I’m a tail-end Gen-Xer. Took them years to even decide what we were. Someone wrote a piece about us “Carter Babies” about 10 years ago and decided to name us, what else of course, Generation Catalano lol.

We weren't even in the Boomer demographic years ago, but they kept extending it. My oldest cousin is only 12 years older than me, but the difference between being born and raised in the 40s/50s vs the 60s/70s is HUGE. I know I'm considered a Boomer,  but I identify way more with Gen X.

[ProudMary]

On 4/21/2021 at 1:26 PM, dubbel zout said:

Then there are those of us like me who were born at the very tail end of the boomer era but are considered too old for Gen X. It's rough being on the cusp!

 

On 1/16/2023 at 7:10 PM, mansonlamps said:

We weren't even in the Boomer demographic years ago, but they kept extending it. My oldest cousin is only 12 years older than me, but the difference between being born and raised in the 40s/50s vs the 60s/70s is HUGE. I know I'm considered a Boomer,  but I identify way more with Gen X.

Right there with you. We are actually now considered a Boomer subgroup, Generation Jones. Early Boomers grew up in a very different world than we did.

Early Boomers + Generation Jones: Meet the Two Boomer Subgroups

 

I've joined the Ginny & Georgia party very late, having only learned of the show's existence last week, yet suddenly it was everywhere I looked! I'm really enjoying the show.

 

[Shermie]

I didn’t know there was a subgroup, glad this is finally being acknowledged.

I’m born in the early ‘60s, so when the typical Boomer questions came up, like where were you when Kennedy was shot, my answer was always, “In the playpen.” The Beatles are a good band, but they don’t resonate with me as the be-all and end-all of music. 

[lucindabelle]

And this is where the show turned into pretty little liars or bad Gilmore girls. Hunter was interesting when he was a hot nerd. The battle of the bands was plausible the tap dancing but was not. The OTT costumes not- most teens are waaaaaay too cool to show so much effort and wouldn’t know how anyway. Also what happened to the play max was supposedly starring in?I directed school show last year it had 3 performances and one student was so sad it was ending he cried and called for me. The show is a huge community. And it was used here as what? Just a bit of flirtation?

 

 

I can no longer stand Ginny. I loved her when she was flannel wearing and awkward. Mean girl pretty Ginny is boring and the actress also seemed out of it just laughing inappropriately because she didn’t know what to do. 

 

I loved this show so much but I had to force myself to even finish this episode.

 

Wellsbiry WAS a town but now it’s another stars hollow- it will soon be clear that it has its own museum and college and all the teachers live in the town where they work and nobody interacts with other towns which is just not how it works in New England. Also there’s apparently just one restaurant cafe in town. 

 

marcus is now a brooding romantic. He was way more fun as a jerk. 

I feel like I’m done.

Edited February 10, 2023 by lucindabelle

[SoWindsor]

On 4/21/2021 at 1:53 PM, charmed1 said:

I totally agree. I’m a tail-end Gen-Xer. Took them years to even decide what we were. Someone wrote a piece about us “Carter Babies” about 10 years ago and decided to name us, what else of course, Generation Catalano lol.

We’re Xennials! There’s a nice group of us on Reddit! ‘77-‘83 I believe. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xennials

Edited March 5, 2023 by SoWindsor