elisabeth Oas

The first couple episodes of this show I hated. I thought it was going too far w/teenage stereotypes, and just using a lot of shock value to get people to watch. I still think that-in the sense that I find it hard to believe that in this group of teenagers ALL of these majorly messed up issues are going on at once..but, it’s a story not a documentary. It’s meant to be fiction. By the 3rd episode I was hooked. The acting is very good. The filming is brilliant, as is the directing. It would be much more believable if this were college age kids-I agree with another reviewer on that. Several times during the show, as a Mom I’m asking myself-Where are these kids parents??? They seem to have NO idea where their kids are ever?!! They have zero clue about what they do, where they go, or anything about them.. Yes-more than likely why they are so messed up-I get it. Every girl besides Rue, and her bestie from Pre school are not in control of their bodies sexually even though they think they are...it’s beyond sad. It’s supposed to be, I get that too.. Every character is sad, but you want them to be ok-it’s a weird dichotomy. You find yourself not really liking anyone that much-but very invested in them all the same. The drug dealer who stops selling to Rue actually is the best of them in terms of seemingly having common sense, and a shred of decency and that’s not saying much. Of course then there is Rue’s adviser from her AA meetings...sort of a character that wasn’t a big surprise to have in show, I saw that storyline coming from a mile away. However as viewers we needed him to come in-because we needed some relief!! The storyline w/Rue and Jules is really good, extremely touching, equally compelling is the storyline w/Jules and Nate. I also think this show will catapult Zendaya onto even bigger roles. She is doing an awesome job. Don’t just watch one episode and decide- In fact never watch just one episode of any show and do that-it’s not fair. Characters need time to grow as does a storyline. I always give 3 episodes before I stop or continue a show... I usually find that it take any show that long to really get going. For those people who stopped after the first episode, I say keep going. You will change your mind!