Cover art by @itsjenacyde on Instagram
by Frankie Fanelli
I’d been anticipating Dollface, a newer Hulu Original release, for quite some time. The trailer they released looked just like the combination of relatable, modern, heartfelt, and absurdity I liked in the tv shows I watched. And let me tell you: I wasn’t disappointed.
The show stars Kat Dennings as Jules Wiley, a woman who was abruptly dumped by her boyfriend of five years only to come out the other side and realize that since she has been dating him, she has completely neglected every single one of her female friendships to the point that she virtually has no friends left. In an attempt to rectify this, she reaches out to old college pals Madison Maxwell (Brenda Song) and Stella Cole (Shay Mitchell).
They welcome her back with open arms and are immediately supportive, urging her to go out of her comfort zone. This leads Jules to attend a party thrown by the feminist magazine she works for. The girls have fun and slowly rebuild the bond they once had by reminiscing on spring break college trips, catching up with one another on their lives, and even launching a brief rescue mission when Stella gets too drunk and grabs an Uber to a Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville restaurant.
I don’t have many negative things to say about this show. The acting is genuine and believable and even the more absurd scenes where the episodes take a more magical realism turn Kat Dennings delivers through her character’s reactions just the right amount of confused but defeated enough to go along with it that seems appropriate when you get dumped out of a 5 year long relationship and then immediately see a bus of crying women driven by a cat-lady.
The setting and set design are so on-point, from the streets of LA to what the apartments owned by successful, modern day working women in their late-20s might look like, to the interior of a feminist magazine office space.
The acting by Mitchell and Song is also something that makes the show so much better. But let’s be real, these actresses are no stranger to playing iconic female characters, as they played Emily Fields on Pretty Little Liars and London Tipton on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, respectively.
All in all, this show is one that screams GIRL POWER every chance it gets and is uplifting while also being cynical and realistic in the funniest possible way while the characters learn to juggle not only young adulthood and life-after-breakup, but the importance of what it means to have and maintain female friendships.
TV Wasteland 