S01.E01: Happy Birthday, Jeanette Turner

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

Taking place over 3 summers in the 90s when a popular teen goes missing, and a seemingly unrelated girl transforms from a sweet and awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town, eventually becoming the most despised person in America.

Airs April 20th on Freeform.

[LittleIggy]

This looks good! The jumping around in time takes a bit of getting used to, but that’s okay. The actress playing Jeanette is excellent.

[Anela]

I was only half paying attention as this played on my iPad (I've been cooking), so I'll have to watch again. 

They're around my age - the music is taking me back. 

[absnow54]

6 hours ago, Anela said:

They're around my age - the music is taking me back. 

The music is great! Nothing else feels very 90s to me. I mean they did the spaghetti straps over a white t-shirt thing, but this feels like a show that should have just been made in “modern” times (calling something from the 90’s a period show makes me shudder.)

Edited April 21, 2021 by absnow54

[tennisgurl]

I had no idea this was going to be a 90s period piece, which is a bit early to hit my nostalgia button as hard as the late 90s (I was three in 1993 so no Jurassic Park allowed) but it is still giving me that buzz. The music is especially making me smile. I also have a sound soft for these soapy teen thrillers, so I am in. 

I like this so far, I am very intrigued about what all has gone down between summers. The time jumps are a bit confusing but the girl playing Jeanette is doing a good job at being really different in the three timelines, even without her different haircuts. 

[absnow54]

I’m wondering if they cast Harley Quinn Smith only for the inevitable Clerks/Mallrats punchline. 

[Guest]

Jeanette's actress looks like Joey King. She seems to be the strongest thus far. Olivia Holt is also doing a great job, although her weaving in and out of a Texas accent every third line is a bit distracting.

Thought this would be a murder mystery and I'm much more intrigued by the actual premise. The constant time jumping makes it hard to keep storyline details straight, but it's very artistically engaging.  

[LittleIggy]

6 hours ago, absnow54 said:

The music is great! Nothing else feels very 90s to me. I mean they did the spaghetti straps over a white t-shirt thing, but this feels like a show that should have just been made in “modern” times (calling something from the 90’s a period show makes me shudder.)

But they didn’t want to have smartphones and other current technology in the mix.

[Jx223]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I had no idea this was going to be a 90s period piece, which is a bit early to hit my nostalgia button as hard as the late 90s (I was three in 1993 so no Jurassic Park allowed) but it is still giving me that buzz. The music is especially making me smile. I also have a sound soft for these soapy teen thrillers, so I am in. 

I like this so far, I am very intrigued about what all has gone down between summers. The time jumps are a bit confusing but the girl playing Jeanette is doing a good job at being really different in the three timelines, even without her different haircuts. 

She is a doing a very good job with the different portrayals of her character. I am very interested in seeing what caused the different transformations with Jeanette in the different years. 

I wonder when and why exactly did she decide to change her appearance. Also, why did she completely drift apart from her old friends. She mentioned how Mallory pulled away from her, but Vincent seems like he's a bit of peacemaker, she could at least have maintained more of a friendship with him. Though it does look like their neighbors and that he seems to still be looking out for her.  I wonder when she picked up with Kate's friends, who seem a bit snobby. (Though Kate is nice.)  I also wonder what happened to her family and what exactly she knew or didn't know regarding Kate's disappearance.

I am looking forward of learning more about her transformation and her story this season.

[mamadrama]

18 hours ago, Anela said:

I was only half paying attention as this played on my iPad (I've been cooking), so I'll have to watch again. 

They're around my age - the music is taking me back. 

Same. I was 13 in 1995. They've done a great job with the pop culture references (loved the nod to Untamed Heart) and clothing. I had that slip dress Kate was wearing in the mall. 

[LittleIggy]

It’s not too soon for something set in the nineties to be considered a “period piece.” Happy Days was on in the seventies and set in the fifties.

[Ambrosefolly]

Chiara Aurelia really nailed the ugly duckling turned beautiful swan, and it wasn't just the glasses, braces and un-styled hair, unlike Rachel Leigh Cook in She's All That. The awkward way she held herself, her glee at her and her friends somewhat childish list of summer activities, and managed to not go overboard with playing the nerd, which is what many actors tend to do. On the same note, in her swan summer, there was something that was a bit guarded about her, despite having everything she thinks she wanted. Jeanette '93 might have been a nerd, but there was something uninhibited and joyful (except when she was leaving that step class with her mom). Seeing the summer Jeanette turned 15, it made me sad and wistful, compared to her getting her dream summer being good looking and having the hot boyfriend. That last summer of real childhood with your friends. 

My other thing, I wonder if Sarah Drew's Cindy Turner, like if there isn't something darker to her desperate wannabe. Why cast an actress that successful and that skilled for just a "mom" role?

[starri]

I think these people are the same age as me, so that took me back.

It's funny, without even knowing who Harley Quinn Smith is before the episode, I turned to my husband in the middle of the scene where she confronts Jeannette in the clothing store and said "She's the nepotism hire."  I think part of it was that I clocked a resemblance to her dad without realizing it, but there was something about her performance that said "I'm here because of my last name."

[LittleIggy]

6 hours ago, starri said:

I think these people are the same age as me, so that took me back.

It's funny, without even knowing who Harley Quinn Smith is before the episode, I turned to my husband in the middle of the scene where she confronts Jeannette in the clothing store and said "She's the nepotism hire."  I think part of it was that I clocked a resemblance to her dad without realizing it, but there was something about her performance that said "I'm here because of my last name."

Smith is a very common name. Whose kid is she?

[starri]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Smith is a very common name. Whose kid is she?

She's Kevin Smith's daughter.  Most of her resume is her father's movies.

[JenE4]

Some scenes that are more evident upon rewatch...since the first time through I didn’t really know who everyone was and couldn’t keep the years straight, lol.

1993: When Jeanette watches Kate through the mall kiosk, the kiosk frames Kate like a window or a mirror. When Kate starts kissing Jamie, Jaenette goes from nervous and giggly about talking to Kate to suddenly upset about seeing them kissing. She goes and hugs Vince and Mallory, but still watches them kissing.

1994: Jamie says he never thinks about Kate and assumes she ran away.

1995: Jamie has a gun watching Jeanette’s house, along with the pictures of Jeanette they took at her 16th birthday. Vincent calls, worried he’s going to hurt Jeanette and wants to call the police. Jeanette is resigned that he probably will and isn’t inclined to try to stop him. Vince takes pictures of Jamie’s car.

1995: Jeanette’s dad worries to his bartender girlfriend that Jeanette might be a sociopath, but she says Jeannette is just a teenager.

1994: Jeanette and Jamie are saying goodbye after her roller-skating party. They hear a single gunshot in the distance. Vincent also hears it and runs outside from his house on the cul-de-sac. Jeanette and Vincent are panicked, but Jamie isn’t the slightest bit worried, “Welcome to Texas.”

1993: When Jeanette goes into Martin’s basement, the windows don’t have the grates on the inside yet. But when she looks out, there’s a quick view of white bars above and perpendicular outside, like it’s a cut-out area in the earth, with a grate to keep people from breaking in. Otherwise, you can’t see anything else outside but straight up to the sky. When she steps downstairs and stands directly in the middle across from where the two mirrors meet, she disappears from both mirrors for a brief moment.

1995: Jeanette watches the 1993 news tape, angry to see Jamie and the two popular girls worried about Kate missing and saying great things about her. Then she watches a 1994 news tape, and Mallory is on the news trash-talking Jeanette.

1994: Jeanette’s friend gets a phone call that Kate was found. They immediately run to Jamie’s house, and he punches Jeanette because presumably Kate immediately told him that Jeanette saw him—so, before she would have known he was dating her now. Jeanette doesn’t tell her family, though could tell it was coming on the news, and they all “found out” from the news report.

1993: Jeanette comes home from breaking in (same outfit) and puts the key and necklace in her jewelry box.

1995: watching a TV interview from 1994, 3 months after Kate was rescued, where Kate says Jeanette saw her a few months after she was kidnapped and help didn’t come for months because while she was as being held captive, she took over her life.

[methodwriter85]

On 4/24/2021 at 5:49 PM, starri said:

It's funny, without even knowing who Harley Quinn Smith is before the episode, I turned to my husband in the middle of the scene where she confronts Jeannette in the clothing store and said "She's the nepotism hire."  I think part of it was that I clocked a resemblance to her dad without realizing it, but there was something about her performance that said "I'm here because of my last name.

The best way to put it is that she seems like she's trying too hard, like she cribbed notes from Janice Ian in Mean Girls and is doing her best to imitate her without really succeeding. 

Edited May 7, 2021 by methodwriter85

[JohnHughes]

Here’s why I am mad. This is the most marginalized character development I have ever seen. John Hughes would be disappointed. Are we going to address WHY Jeanette is the way she is? Manipulation is a sign of mental illness? She had a duo household. Her mom was overbearing but we only focus on the popular girls struggles. It’s one sided psychological damaging garbage. Season two better be ALL ABOUT WHY Jeanette is this way, just saying 

[Zima]

Late to the party, but I just started watching this, and I love it so far! I agree that the actress playing Jeannette is super good. I didn't have any trouble following the timeline jumps at all, mainly because the lighting and mood for all three are so different. I'm very intrigued by this, and can't wait to see it all unravel. 

[millennium]

On 4/25/2021 at 9:39 AM, starri said:

She's Kevin Smith's daughter.  Most of her resume is her father's movies.

I was wondering what kind of joker would name their kid Harley Quinn. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by millennium