Watch TV with Paul Flynn
KIRT POSTS A message on Instagram, hooking up an afternoon session with other skateboarding girls at the concrete park under the subway bridge. BFF Janay looks nonplussed when a solitary figure called Honeybear (‘Cute name.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because honey is sweet’) turns up, brandishing a steadycam to speak on behalf of her shyness. Kirt, Janae and Honeybear meet Camille. With her long hair, men’s slacks, specs and school shirt, she arrives from Brooklyn central casting. Camille has a board, too. But she’s considered an honorary dude. Meet the Betties. You will love them.
Betty is an intimate study of the blossoming between girl and womanhood told through skate culture, entirely without cliché. A TV offshoot of documentary maker Crystal Moselle’s much-loved indie film, Skate Kitchen, it lands with a fabulous authority and tells an honourably physical story about mental states. Scenes roll around without purpose, a perfect snapshot of that moment where the spare time on your hands is spent finding a comfortable identity to slot into. The first episode is just a lackadaisical search for a stolen backpack, letting the brilliant film-making do all the heavy lifting.
Our new favourite TV girl gang are perfectly framed as they move through the city, working out their place within it. When Kirt hits on the gorgeous Indigo – bleached eyebrows, Janet Jackson plaits – in the back of the van she peddles weed from, you feel like you’re actually overhearing a giddy, stoned and very real seduction. Yes, she will be taught to board, FYI.
Betty is a mood piece as much as it is a TV show, yet it cannily reveals the concerns of a generation. When a nice old stranger asks Camille and Janay to help him with his door key, he holds on to Janay’s hand a little too long in the thank yous. It reminds her of a past micro-aggression. Between the two girls, they flip the conversation over in three sentences flat. Betty is studded with these evocative details, ones that should land directly into the ears of its core audience.
Most of all, Betty allows its delightful heroines to be cool, clumsy, certain and confused all at the same time. It’s a beautiful work that made me want to be a teenager all over again.
Begins 9 June, 9pm, Sky Comedy