Girlboss (2017)
6/10
Millenial sass pit
9 October 2017
Adulthood is where dreams go to die, bankruptcy is where companies go to die. It's unfortunate that whilst this series fanatically praises Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amuroso (here, she is called Sophia Marlowe)as a business success, in life Amuroso has stepped down as CEO and the company is bankrupt.

Sass alone does not make success but fictional Sophia seems to get by simply on being a sassy millenial. She starts the series as a twenty-three year old shoplifting drifter, who is stuck in teenager mood (where she basically remains throughout the whole series)and ends up a girlboss (the kind of patronising term you might use on marketing a Barbie doll).

Though the first three or four episodes are unbearably smug, Britt Robertson does a good job as little-girl-lost Sophia, seller of vintage fashion. Ellie Reed is fine enough as Sophia's hanger-on/best buddy Annie.

It's not so much the acting that's the problem as the whole concept being flawed. It's free publicity for the Nasty Gal business and no amount of dramatic license will disguise the fact that this is a six and a half hour commercial.

The reality is sanitised in the show. For starters, there is whitewashing (Sophia Amuroso is of Greek, Italian and Portuguese descent). Secondly, in this version Sophia is still in contact with her dad, with a relationship no more strained than any young daughter. When we know that he can bail her out financially, her decision to shoplift is bratty rebellion rather than financial problems.

The material was pretty thin anyway so unsurprisingly it did not get a second season.
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