S02.E01: Winter is Coming

[peachmangosteen]

Airs November 17th.

[aghst]

Show makes me smile while I'm watching.  Seems all of Mindy Kaling's shows that I've watched have that quality.

First season they really tried to give equal time to all 4 girls and presumably will do the same.

But it seems Kimberly and Bela get into the most outlandish situations.

Looks like they're going to have Leighton come out in a big way.

Now they're trying to find other niches for Whitney besides soccer.

[ffwbe]

The premiere episode was fun. I hope we actually get to see Lila with the comedy writers. She was one of my faves of the supporting cast so I’d love to see her interact with others outside of the Sips crew.

Wonder how far they’ll go with Leighton coming out since she still seems so hesitant but the roomies were nice and encouraging as expected. 

I’m intrigued where they’re going with Whitney since she appears to be the only one who doesn’t have the same SL carrying over from season 1. I don’t know if it’s typical for college varsity athletes to have a bunch of other activities in the off-season but in season 1 she came off pretty driven and with her mom, I’m surprised that she didn’t have career or education goals. 

Kimberly’s SL is the only one I didn’t love but hopefully it’ll play out differently. First, I don’t know how common it is to have your scholarship revoked mid school year since you can only apply for the FAFSA in the spring. While you don’t need your parents to co-sign, you do need their income and other info so there’s no way to sign up without her telling them. I don’t want to see her doing a bunch of random jobs and magically coming up with 43k a year. Especially considering she seriously struggled with school last semester. Also her and the dude seems like it’ll play out a lot like her and Leighton brother last season.

[emma675]

I just found this show last week and binged it in time for ths S2 premiere, so I'm happy to be discussing this in real time, lol.

If Theta got kicked off campus, how are they still throwing parties the girls have to avoid? And white male douchebag frat boys throwing food and other paraphernalia at people pisses me off. I hope Leighton loses it on one of them in the near future.

Kimberly's hair looks so much better now that it's grown out a bit, but I don't know how I feel about her money storyline. She couldn't keep up with school, her job, and a boyfriend last year, how is she going to keep up with all of that plus finding ways to make even more money? 

Bela is her usual fun self, nothing can keep that girl down. Whitney's storyline is kind of meh so far and I am interested to see how they handle Leighton coming out.

Edited November 18, 2022 by emma675

[funnygirl]

I'm so bummed that there's no more Nico.

Edited November 18, 2022 by funnygirl

[aghst]

Looks like the climate refugee is this seasons beefcake.

[ybrik]

Really glad the show is back. This was a good season premiere as it recapped and also continued the storylines at the end of last season. 

Interesting that Nico is gone but like the ‘rich person’ explanation so that even though he got punished for last year, he still ends up in a good spot. I like it as it is probably very realistic. 

This show really has great side characters that make the most of any scene they are in. 

Will definitely need to see where this Kimberly storyline goes. I need to see more before I make a judgement. 

Whitney’s storyline seems like it could be interesting and something don’t see enough of on TV. Athletes in college having to figure out what to do when it isn’t their sport’s season. 

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but Bela is a bit too much. Of course it could just be a pet peeve of mine with using things that don’t belong to you and in this episode she does it twice. First wearing Leighton’s underwear and then her printer. Not only using the printer but using all the ink. I understand she is meant to be over the top and part of what makes her a funny character is her personality but too much of it starts to grate. 

[peachmangosteen]

14 hours ago, emma675 said:

If Theta got kicked off campus, how are they still throwing parties the girls have to avoid?

It was another frat throwing the party but the Theta guys got them to also want to ban the girls.

[gesundheit]

So happy this is back! I did crack up that they acted like Thanksgiving break was weeks long. It's 2 days and a weekend! Leave Wednesday night, come back Sunday! (I guess the rare college gives the full week but still, that's it. It's just a week.)

Frankly, these girls should be relieved to be banned from frat parties. They'll be fine.

The Kimberly story drove me a little nuts. Like most shows, they have no idea how financial aid works. Also she was right the first time, she should have demonstrated that she's working class. And you don't borrow for 4 years at once, there's no way that woman would've given her a monthly amount like that! (Also how is she going to pay for a year of tuition and housing at just $42k?) And the math didn't math on that reality show transcription job either. $20/hr isn't going to cover it. 

On 11/17/2022 at 11:49 AM, ffwbe said:

Kimberly’s SL is the only one I didn’t love but hopefully it’ll play out differently. First, I don’t know how common it is to have your scholarship revoked mid school year since you can only apply for the FAFSA in the spring. While you don’t need your parents to co-sign, you do need their income and other info so there’s no way to sign up without her telling them. I don’t want to see her doing a bunch of random jobs and magically coming up with 43k a year. Especially considering she seriously struggled with school last semester. 

As for the FAFSA part, I can hand-wave that one as I assumed she already filed. You can definitely take out new loans mid-year.

I agree that I don't want to watch her go through wacky side-job shenanigans while being told she's somehow pulling it off. Also she could just take out the loan for this year while trying to figure something else out for the future. The bill's due, baby!

Edited November 20, 2022 by gesundheit

[aghst]

Yeah I don't know why they pretend it's only been a week at most since the end of season 1.

The girls look different, especially Kimberly with the longer hair.

So they're still freshmen?

What are they going to do, 2 seasons per academic year?  I guess they want the flexibility in case they could go 5 or more seasons.

[Empress1]

On 11/19/2022 at 1:27 PM, gesundheit said:

The Kimberly story drove me a little nuts. Like most shows, they have no idea how financial aid works. Also she was right the first time, she should have demonstrated that she's working class. And you don't borrow for 4 years at once, there's no way that woman would've given her a monthly amount like that! (Also how is she going to pay for a year of tuition and housing at just $42k?) And the math didn't math on that reality show transcription job either. $20/hr isn't going to cover it. 

I’m not sure how she’s even taking classes if she’s that short for tuition. A friend of mine couldn’t register for a couple of days because our university messed something up - it was totally their error but it made it appear as though she was short and she couldn’t register until it was resolved.

If she’s that working class, she’d probably come out with way less debt if she came clean to her parents and redid her financial aid. Essex is supposed to be Ivy-ish, right? A lot (all?) are loan free if your income falls below a certain bracket.

Has she lost weight? I remember her being thicker last season.

On 11/19/2022 at 1:27 PM, gesundheit said:

Frankly, this girls should be relieved to be banned from frat parties. They'll be fine.

And is this a Greek or geek school? There’s nothing else to do on or off campus?

[DearEvette]

Ah, I enjoy this show so much. Glad it is back.

I love that they are continuing to explore the issue with Kimberly and the problems a lot of students face with affording college.  But in typical tv fashion the hows of it is completely ... not right. Outside of a school's accreditation, probably the one thing that is regulated within an inch of its life is financial aid/money.  There are so many federal and state laws that regulate how a school can accept funds, disburse funds, and even how they return funds.  I could see a Financial Aid person at my school's eyeball twitch while watching this while  thinking "that's not how any of this works at all."  LOL.   But it is the story-line they are going with for her so I handwave it because it seems like the job thing is going to be the running gag.

Whitney's story is also interesting,  And yeah a bit like Kimberly's financial aid stuff, the NCAA stuff is highly regulated as well and not as simple as they are representing.  The rules around off-season athletes is also very specific.  Off Season athletes can't do a lot of things in their sport, true,  but there are still some things they can do and that includes weight and conditioning, team study tables, some areas of specific instruction etc.  But I get it that as an athlete they tend to highly active and competitive so doing nothing is anathema and also a good way to explore another aspect of the college student.  One reason my school has so many dual sport athletes.  I wonder if they have a rowing team?  That would be ideal for Whitney.  I wonder how long her relationship with Canaan will last?  They seem kinda ok but then they seem like they could be on the cusp any moment.

I was kinda hoping Climate refugee hottie was getting it on with Jocelyn but it looked like she was at the underwear thingy even before Kimberly got there. 

I liked the last scene with the girls and Leighton coming out.  That was nice.

[Irlandesa]

On 11/19/2022 at 12:27 PM, gesundheit said:

I did crack up that they acted like Thanksgiving break was weeks long. It's 2 days and a weekend! Leave Wednesday night, come back Sunday! (I guess the rare college gives the full week but still, that's it. It's just a week.)

I am pretty sure Kimberly mentioned in this episode that they were starting a new trimester.  Colleges on a trimester schedule often start their winter breaks right before Thanksgiving and start up again right away in January.  The break would have been about five or six weeks. 

[peachmangosteen]

7 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I am pretty sure Kimberly mentioned in this episode that they were starting a new trimester.  Colleges on a trimester schedule often start their winter breaks right before Thanksgiving and start up again right away in January.  The break would have been about five or six weeks. 

I'd think they'd have asked each other about Christmas if that were the case though.

[aghst]

Yeah I would think with big time athletic programs and with athletes who aspire to have a professional career, they're training year round even when the season is over.

I don't know if that's the case with women's soccer at a Ivy-ish school though.

If Whitney could make the US Women's National Team, that's beaucoup bucks now, as long as they contend for WC and Olympic medals.  There are women's professional leagues but I don't think they pay as well.

But the National Team, because of its successes, are now getting paid pretty well and stars are getting endorsement deals.

I don't know if Whitney is suppose to be some major prospect or she's going to concentrate on her studies.  If she was more serious about the sport, probably better programs than Essex.

As for Kimberly, I think they're showing that she's one from a more middle class background, compared to the other girls.  Not sure of Bela's financial situation but she seems to be also from a more affluent family, as is the case with Leighton and Whitney.

So Kimberly has to work and find other sources of funding.  But I don't know if this story line is really a serious look at college affordability.  Just gives them an opportunity to put the character in some interesting, potentially comic situations.

[callie lee 29]

I thought they were in the middle of a semester which would mean Kimberly is concerned about how to pay for the next semester. And did she go meet with a bank for a private loan or someone at the school? The way they were treating the loan process or seemed like maybe it's was a bank. 

I think Bela's parents are high paying doctors?? So not Leighton you're of money but probably pretty decent. 

[gesundheit]

1 hour ago, callie lee 29 said:

I thought they were in the middle of a semester which would mean Kimberly is concerned about how to pay for the next semester. And did she go meet with a bank for a private loan or someone at the school? The way they were treating the loan process or seemed like maybe it's was a bank. 

They said she was going to the financial aid office on campus but definitely treated it like a bank loan. My guess is that the writers were basing it off bank loan experiences and none of them ever had a FA crisis in the middle of an academic year, and just assumed it basically functions like an on-campus bank.

College financial aid is one of only about a kajillion things TV gets wrong all the time and most of those things I can shrug off for artistic license (or scrutinize for general amusement but not out of any real frustration), but it's just that kids are so influenced by this stuff and so poorly informed about it because of the lack of real information and the preponderance of misinformation that it just bothers me more than most "it's only like this on TV" subjects. Because of these depictions and the dearth of simple real-world info, so many kids end up deciding they just can't go to college. Or the opposite: the kids that get sucked into bad, bad deals because of how it's depicted. (Or general anti-higher-ed assholes who judge folks struggling with student loan payments)

[atomic]

21 hours ago, Empress1 said:

Has she lost weight? I remember her being thicker last season.

Yes, she definitely got a LOT skinnier between the two seasons. 

[Empress1]

1 hour ago, atomic said:

Yes, she definitely got a LOT skinnier between the two seasons. 

Oh wow, she really did. When she took off her coat I was like “was her stomach that flat before?” and … nope!

[aghst]

Girls were in bra and panties and they went to a nude party in season 1.

Cast probably was made to understand there would be more cheesecake scenes.

So she decided to lose weight?  Or did they force a trainer on her?

[dingochick]

Are they trying to make the guy Bela kissed look like BJ Novak?? Also apologies if this is the wrong thread…

i also thought it was weird that Kimberly’s hair was that grown out. 

[absnow54]

6 hours ago, dingochick said:

Are they trying to make the guy Bela kissed look like BJ Novak?? Also apologies if this is the wrong thread…

Given Mindy Kaling's history with him, yes, 100%.