Ginny & Georgia on Netflix gets off to a good start with three characters hitting joints and bongs and a dispensary sub-plot to boot.
Starring Brianne Howey as Georgia and Antonia Gentry as her biracial teenaged daughter Ginny, the 10-episode series (they run 51-58 minutes long) turns into a bumpy ride. Georgia is sort of on the run from Texas with her two kids after her husband died of a suspicious heart attack. They arrive in fictional Wellsbury, Massachusetts, an idyllic New England town, and start over.
The series quickly kicks into Gossip Girl gear as Ginny's accepted into a multi-culti high school clique. There's dating, sex, texting, musical interludes, a non-fatal car crash, bong hits, parties, heart-to-hearts ("we have to talk") and breakups - the usual, just nothing too heavy.
That's left for Georgia, who connives her way into a job at City Hall and soon is seeing the mayor. Flashbacks to 15 years earlier when she was pregnant with Ginny and still with Ginny's father Zion (Nathan Mitchell) are effective and jarring. In a later episode, he shows up, hoping to reconnect with Georgia and Ginny after many years apart.
"At a get-together, Ginny loses her marijuana virginity after a bong rip."
As a detective snoops around, Georgia makes moves, proving her survival skills are intact.
The marijuana use is fairly intense in the first two episodes, then disappears entirely. It starts with Georgia hitting up a high schooler (Felix Mallard) she spies lighting up across the street for weed. Then the kid's mother (Jennifer Robertson) comes over with a bag she raided from her son (the same dude); they share a joint on the back deck. At a get-together, Ginny loses her marijuana virginity after a bong rip.
A local fight over the Green Gardens dispensary opening in the middle of town gets lip service, but ultimately is dropped. The town council decides it should not be in such a prime location. But they never really explore this storyline. Instead, the focus pivots to Georgia's job in city government and the upcoming mayoral race.
Created by Sarah Lampert, Ginny & Georgia is a terrific vehicle for Howey who eats up every scene she's in with her persuavive Southern drawl and quick thinking. It's a tour de force performance.
However, the show is catching some flak. In one scene, Ginny flippantly says to Georgia: "You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.” Swift replied:
“Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse s*** as FuNnY."
Another review called out Ginny's character and other insensitive show dialogue: "If there is a season two, I hope the show gets a better handle on Ginny’s identity and what it means to be biracial."
Update: Ginny & Georgia is returning for Season 2 on January 5. Watch the trailer below.
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