Imagine HBO’s Girls If It Were Woke
The Weekly Binge: 3 Web Series to Watch this Week
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Brown Girls
There are a lot of shows about young people trying to figure things out. But this feels a little different, starting with the titular brown girls — one queer and South Asian working to be a writer, the other straight and African-American hoping to be a singer, who are best friends in Chicago. The criticism of Girls, that it only represents straight white privileged women, doesn’t apply here. Quite the opposite, in fact — issues of race, sexuality, and relationship status are at the forefront of the show. They deal with their respective dramas through humor and by pulling together the modern version of social support structures, combining friends and family and the occasional lover.
People Watching
People Watching, an animated series from Winston Rowntree, constructs episodes that feel like fully-fledged stand-up routines or rants about specific themes. One covers how we all create facades as we date, slowly unveiling our personality to keep others from fleeing, like how one boils a frog. Another is a discussion of our worst thoughts and darkest fears, which we assume to be unique (and keep to ourselves), even though they’re actually the most common of shared experiences. Running through everything is a distinct voice that seems to understand what it means to battle loneliness, depression, and a constraining sense of social norms. The show often feels like you’re dishing to your best friend, someone both startlingly self-aware and heavily-baggaged, over a glass of wine.
Running with Violet
A caper that starts off rather innocently, two friends are attempting a girl’s weekend away (albeit with a child in tow) when they get wrapped up in a case of mistaken identities. They’re also, separately, confronted by a recent and violent mistake by one of the women. And, as it turns out, the husband of one of the women is living a secret life. And yet, despite the twists and turns, it doesn’t seem overdone, and they eventually tie together in a dark and thrilling way. The two women, frazzled as they try to come to terms with their situation, have great repartee and the daugher serves as needed comic relief, cutting the tension by remaining blissfully unaware of what’s happening around her.
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