‘College Girls’ aces its heavy course load
Spoiler alert! Contains minor details about Season 1 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls” on HBO Max.
Is there anything Mindy Kaling can’t do?
The prolific actress/writer/producer/ director has created a mini-tv empire since her scene-stealing days as Kelly Kapoor on NBC’S “The Office,” which ended its nine-season run in 2013.
On Fox’s “The Mindy Project,” which later moved to Hulu, she deftly wed a swoony rom-com with a droll and downright weird workplace comedy. Her shortlived NBC show “Champions” was a showcase for “Project” standouts Anders Holm and Fortune Feimster, and it introduced many viewers to the dynamic Josie Totah (now on Peacock’s “Saved by the Bell”). And then, of course, there’s Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever,” which sneaks moving meditations on grief and identity into a pop-culture-savvy high school series.
They’ve all teed up Kaling’s brilliant “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” whose Grade A first season is streaming on HBO Max. Co-created with Justin Noble (“Brooklyn Nine-nine”), the streaming comedy follows four college roommates at a fictional New England university: Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), a selfassured soccer star who’s secretly sleeping with the assistant coach; Bela (Amrit Kaur), an unbridled aspiring comedian whose parents think she’s studying neurobiology; Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), a wide-eyed over-achiever just out of a long-term relationship; and Leighton (Reneé Rapp), a rich girl whose frosty exterior masks a soft side.
While plenty of TV comedies have been set at college – “Community,” “Grown-ish” and “Dear White People” among them – what’s remarkable about “Sex Lives” is just how fully realized these characters are from the moment their parents drop them off at school.
Like “Never Have I Ever” heroine Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), Bela bucks tropes of the “perfect Indian” student, diving headfirst into the frat parties and twin-size beds of her chiseled peers. Leighton, who is queer and closeted, reckons with her sorority ambitions as she sneaks around on a hookup app and eventually lands a girlfriend – a reality that hits close to home for any of us who have felt the need to hide our sexuality.
And in the show’s pitch-perfect sixth episode, a tense parents’ weekend dinner forces Whitney and Kimberly to confront insecurities about their families. Kimberly worries that her cash-strapped mom (Nicole Sullivan) can’t afford the upscale restaurant they chose and quietly tries to use Leighton’s credit card to foot the bill. Whitney, meanwhile, connects with her emotionally aloof mother, Evette (Sherri Shepherd), a no-nonsense U.S. senator who fiercely stands up for her daughter against Leighton’s snide parents.
But even as “Sex Lives” tackles weighty issues of race, class and predatory behavior, it never loses its light touch. The show will strike a chord with anyone who has ever worked an on-campus job or fought for a spot in a studentrun club, lovingly poking fun at everything from feminist poetry readings to awkward RA meetings.
Most of all, the writers’ genuine affection for these characters is evident in every frame. Rather than waste time on petty infighting, “Sex Lives” understands that your freshman-year roommates are your life rafts, for better or worse.