It’s hard to review Dollface, though I previously attempted to do it without spoilers, so hey, if you haven’t finished watching yet, you can check that out first. If you have, and/or don’t care for spoilers (hello, like-minded individuals), you’re welcome to join me here. But back to my point, it’s hard to review this show, mostly because …well, there aren’t many shows like it.
Not just shows that focus on female-friendships, without using that as setup to make us invest in the romantic relationships these women are involved in, but shows that actually show up the ups and downs of, you know, having friends.
We often hear how relationships require work, and take that to mean only romantic relationships do. But the truth is, people are not perfect, and for you and someone else to find any kind of middle ground, much less to coexist, you need to, well, try. Yes, more often than not friendship is squealing about the same things, and having someone to lean on when things get hard, but other times it’s also being there, doing things you might not want to do because your friend needs you to.
You know, like all relationships.
So yes, my favorite thing about Dollface is that it gives us that, and it does so while being one of the weirdest, funniest shows I’ve watched in my entire life. Because yes, you can put together a group of women, both behind and in front of the scenes, and make this kind of entertaining, heart-warming, fun show.
Who knew? Oh, yes. We did.
WHAT WORKED
Jules’ Journey: She’s a hard character to like at first, not because she’s obnoxious, but because there are moments when she seems determined to ignore her faults. But she never gives up, and this show never plays it like any of the girls are perfect, anyway, so the journey isn’t impossible, it’s just real.
The focus on female friendship: I know this show was advertised as being about female friendships, but you know how they say that and then the show ends up being about one couple, with the friends just sorta being around when the relationships is having issues? Yeah? Well, that wasn’t what we got here. In fact, if anything, the romantic relationships were there to send a message about the friendship. IMAGINE THAT.
The vet: If we have to bring one guy back, were this show to get a second season, let it be him. Especially because who the fuck was that woman at the end, let it be his sister or something, because YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT.
WHAT DIDN’T
The Love Interests: Jeremy, yuck. Colin? Triple yuck. The dude Stella almost married? Less yuck, but yuck still. Neither of them worked, but I guess that was the point. It wasn’t about them. It was never going to be about them.
The Cat Lady: But why a cat? Seriously, why?
WHAT WE WANT TO SEE NEXT
More of the same, basically. Friendships first, maybe a little romance for the gals, but without them ever becoming like Jules was at the beginning, someone that put a romantic relationship over every other relationship in her life. Basically, what we want is balance, and maybe, just maybe, love interests that fit in with the group.
Because we all know how important that is.
I’ll also take a bit more diversity. I could see Stella with a female love interest, why not? Or hey, maybe they make a Latina friend. You can never have enough friends, after all.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think about Dollface? Share with us in the comments below!
Dollface is available to stream on Hulu right now.
