College is a time for new experiences, adventures and connections. This is the theme for HBO Max’s comedy series “The Sex Lives of College Girls.” The show’s first season premiered to great acclaim in 2021. As of Dec. 15, 2022, the entire second season is available for viewing. The show follows four suitemates attending the fictional Essex College. The first season introduced the audience to these suitemates, and the second season helps them develop. There are new struggles, new goals and new crushes on the women’s horizons. This show was created by Mindy Kaling, who also created “The Mindy Project” and “Never Have I Ever.” Both of those shows are successes, and her streak has continued. A lot of the magic from the first season is still seen within the second season. There were some problems with this season that made the structure feel a little different. However, when this show originally premiered, it was certainly one of a kind, and that is still true for season two.
The show picks up right after Essex’s Thanksgiving break and each of the four women has a new set of problems. Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) has to find a way to make some money after the events of last season, while also crushing on the girls’ absolutely ripped new neighbor Jackson (Mitchell Slaggert). Whitney’s (Alyah Chenelle Scott) soccer season is over, and she wants to prove to everyone that she is not a dumb jock. She’s also getting closer to her maybe boyfriend Canaan (Christopher Meyer), but there might also be another cute guy in her orbit? Leighton (Reneé Rapp) is out and proud, and is ready to have sex with any girl that makes eye contact with her. While going through this journey of being newly out, she may learn a little bit more about herself. Bela (Amrit Kaur) is ready to start Essex’s first female comedy magazine, as well as have sex with any hot guy and/or short king that comes her way. She is also getting closer to fellow comedy writer Eric (Mekki Leeper), but how far will she go to get what and who she wants? While each of these girls go on their own journeys, they support each other every step of the way. Sex may come and go, but friendship lasts forever.
Much like the first season, this show allowed all of its actors to absolutely shine. Particularly, I felt that Rapp did a wonderful job this season, which was mostly due to her character having the best development and writing. Leighton was going on a journey of self discovery to figure out what she wants, and Rapp did a wonderful job portraying that. On the other side of the coin, Kaur did a fantastic job as Bela, mostly because of all the thrilling directions that her character goes and decisions she makes. Kaur’s dedication and energy made Bela an entertaining character to watch, even through some cringe moments. Chalamet also did a lovely job as Kimberly. While this character did not have that many complexities this season, Kimberly’s one liners, spirit and confidence allow Chalamet to shine. To round out the women, Scott did a great job, but I wish her character had more to do. It seems that the other characters are given more interesting writing, and I believe Scott has the range to do even more with Whitney. In terms of supporting cast, the star was Lila (Ilia Isorelys Paulino), Kimberly’s co-worker and a comedy writer with Bela. She is always brutally honest, constantly throwing out hilarious lines, and Paulino stole every scene that she was in. I also liked Leeper as Eric. His dry humor combined with layers to his character getting peeled back led to a brilliant performance. I could go on about each of the supporting characters, but I’ll just say that all of them knocked their performances out of the park and I look forward to what else they will do.
One of the best parts of this show is its humor. This show does have its emotional and serious moments, but there are a lot of moments that can have anyone laughing out loud. All of the actors have fantastic comedic timing, both of the main characters and supporting characters. What I appreciate about this show is that the comedy is not based on events, but on what is said. There aren’t many moments in the show that are goofy and wacky on their own, but it’s the characters’ reactions and comments on everything that make this show a comedy. The writing felt snappy and there were some moments that had me laughing out loud. Sometimes a struggle that young adult shows have is their inability to capture the voices of young adults, making them sound too old or too young. However, I felt that the dialogue felt natural for their age. As someone in their age group, I could see myself saying some of the lines to my friends. While there were some story problems in this season compared to season one, which I will get to momentarily, I’d say the comedy definitely improved. The first season was definitely funny, but the humor was definitely emphasized this season, especially since a lot more funny supporting characters were given focus. Hopefully this continues, because if there is one reason to watch this show, it is to have a great laugh.
While the show was still entertaining, it felt a little weaker than the first season. This is mostly due to the pacing and the level of emphasis on certain plot points. The first season took place from the beginning of the school year to Thanksgiving break. The second season took place from just after Thanksgiving Break to around the end of the school year. Since there is a big difference between these time frames, the second season felt a little more rushed. Ten half-hour episodes is not a lot of time to work through, so a lot of plot points felt crammed. This leads to the problem of the emphasization of plot lines. Without giving away too many spoilers, I will say that there were some plots that felt important in the first few episodes, and then their resolutions would feel a little abrupt. There were also pacing problems within episodes. While the first season excelled at spreading out four individual storylines, some episodes this season felt like they were trying to cram in as many scenes as possible. There would sometimes be a scene for 20 seconds, and then an immediate transition to the next one. While this show was still very entertaining to me, I felt that the episode structures could be fixed. Hopefully the next season fixes these structure and flow issues so that great stories can be told in great ways.
As a college student, it is nice to watch a television show about college students. It seems that every television show these days is about high schoolers or fully grown adults. There are not many shows about that in between stage of life, which is why I am glad that this show is here. The beauty of this show is that each character felt relatable in different ways, and different moments were also very relatable. These moments include Kimberly not knowing how to talk to her crush, or Whitney trying to get over struggles in her class. A lot of people in college know what these experiences are like, and that is what makes this show fun to watch. While there are some problems in this season of storytelling, I feel optimistic about the future. The show just got renewed for season three, so hopefully you can catch up before it comes out. If you want a television show about college, female friendship and/or a little bit of sex, then watch the new season of “The Sex Lives of College Girls” today.
