TV Review: Teenage Bounty Hunters

Netflix

Release Date: August 14, 2020

WARNING: While I do my best to avoid spoilers, it's inevitable that I discuss some specifics from the show. If you're sensitive to that, go hit play first.

Ok, I'll admit it, the title presents a very silly premise. Formerly to be known as "Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters", the show follows a pair of fraternal twin sisters of the upper class variety attempting to balance the expectations of their family's class and religious values. Those values come into competition with their navigating of love, relationships, identity, and hormones, all of your typical teenage coming-of-age tropes. All of this comes with a non-traditional twist, as these girls inadvertently begin a career as bounty hunters.

(Quick Note: While they frequently toss the word around, none of what these sisters do is actually "slutty" and is pretty typical of teenage sexual exploration, even more so depending on your perspective of being raised in a conservative, religious community. Netflix was smart to remove the word from the title, even if it was only to make the show seem more accessible for everyone.)

OUR STORY BEGINS

Look, this isn't Ozark nor is it coming out of Netflix's critically-acclaimed catalog. This is a fun and silly show at times, but it also tackles the areas of personal growth, both for teenagers and adults, in a satisfying way. The show begins with Sterling and Blair Wesley, high schoolers at a religious private school in Atlanta, getting into a car accident with a guy being chased by bounty hunter Bowser Jenkins. Realizing they'll need money to repair their father's truck, they roll with Bowser's mistaking them for bounty hunters so that they can get a cut of the reward money. Though he was very reluctant at first, Bowser continues to work with girls in a mutualistic manner: he gets access to their upper class connections and resources and they get paid.

(Another note: I shouldn't have been surprised, but I couldn't believe the actresses that play Sterling and Blair are both 25. It seems most, if not all, of the primary cast of teenagers are 21+). I was looking 30 by the time I turned 18.)

HIGH SCHOOL: LAND OF LOVE AND GOD

As if working and hiding their lives as bounty hunters isn't difficult enough, Blair and Sterling also exploring their feelings towards sex and relationships...and how to justify all this to their religious teachings. From bible study to sex in a closet, the shows sets the sisters up as a dichotomy: the innocent, well-behaved sister and the rowdier, rebellious one. What i like so much about the show's character development is how much those labels intertwine across the sisters and how it shapes their changing relationship with each other. A cool concept of the show is the use of "twin speak" between the girls where time freezes around them and they seemingly communicate telepathically. The sisters' relationship with Bowser also has a nice development, from starting off as maybe something very questionable (older guy and teenage girls...though it never even crosses that area) to something bordering father-daughter.

FAMILIES, CAN'T LIVE WITH 'EM, CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT 'EM

Whatever you think of when I say religious, upper class family is exactly what the show provides in the background for Blair and Sterling. Private school? Check. Country Club? Check. Big House? Check. Conservative values and sex before marriage is evil? Check. All about keeping up appearances and caring too much about what other people think? Check. Now, it wouldn't be an interesting dynamic if it was all cut and sewn directly from those threads. You get plenty of cracks in the glass from their parents and they try to balance being happy with the high expectations of their lifestyle. But most intriguingly, you have the mystery regarding their mother's younger years which becomes a main fixture heading towards the finale.

A BOUNTIFUL EXPERIENCE

The sisters tackling life as bounty hunters is presented as expected, a couple of hyped teenagers faking it until they make it. There is a bit of inconsistency in their bounty pursuits, though, sometimes showing them as more competent and skilled than they should be and other times it's a comedic chase that they conquer through circumstance. It honestly doesn't matter for much of the series since the profession is less a mainstay for their identities and more an additional driving force for their development with other characters.

Even with the various running storylines, from Sterling and Blair's teenage shenanigans, to the bounty hunting, to Bowser and his love life, and to the mysteries surrounding the girls' mother, the show never feels too packed. It keeps the viewers focus on the primary journey of the characters and maintains other storylines as supplements to that journey. In the penultimate episode, you finally get the converging of the various storylines and character development payoffs:

• Sterling coming clean about her changing sexual identity

• Blair's cathartic outburst towards Sterling

• Bowser letting his walls down and showing his growing compassion

• April's struggle with hiding her homosexuality AND how her father's return will impact everything

• The girl's parents realizing how close the girls are to the family secret.Though, if you pay enough attention early on the series as I did, you already know specifically how the girls professional escapades and family drama will collide.

When the aforementioned storylines come together and I feel relief that the characters' knowledge finally matches my own and everyone (audience and characters alike) is on the same page, I know the show is doing a good job of connecting the audience with the characters.

As with any show, how the season finale wraps these storylines up has the power to make or break its rating. For that reason, I'll give a pre-finale rating first and then give a final grade after watching the finale.

Pre-Finale Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

---

The season finale doesn't bomb and actually offers up a few additional surprises, though I wouldn't call them all unexpected. I thought the initial reveal of the family secret was really weak and unsatisfying, but it wasn't meant to offer the shock, as that was planned for mid-episode. It successfully carries out the transformation of one character while also introducing a completely new one. The cliffhanger statement was a little cheap, pulling out a trick from an old bag that has been used by many soap operas before it. It closes most of the Season 1's threads and tugs on some new ones that will continue the exploration of the sisters' identities. Honestly, it's the storylines that we're left open that intrigue me the most, particularly April and her father. But I can only remain the most extreme of cautiously optimistic for the next season because...well, find out here.

Post-Finale Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 3/4