It’s Not 2 Late 4 You 3 Get On the Girls5Eva Bandwagon

“Where are we going?’ asks Gloria (Paula Pell), when her bandmate Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry) insists that they get back on the road after a long stint in Fort Worth coasting off the popularity of their song “Tap Into Your Fort Worth.”

“The top, Gloria,” Wickie says. “Ever heard of it?”

One could argue that Girls5Eva itself has gone to the top this season by landing on Netflix, the streamer most likely to help pre-existing shows find a new audience. The first two seasons streamed in 2021 and 2022 on Peacock, which then canceled Girls5Eva, enabling Netflix to swoop in and acquire the first two seasons, as well as a new one.

Reinvention has always been a recurring theme in Girls5Eva, and it’s particularly apt for this go-round of the riotously funny examination of middle-age rebirth and celebrity-culture inanity. The six new episodes that landed today on Netflix follow the four members of the pop group that gives the show its name as they embark on a concert tour, continuing their quest to find stardom again, 20 years after they found it the first time. With this relaunch, an echo of the ongoing rebooting of Girls5Eva the group, Girls5Eva the series is poised to hopefully, finally earn the kind of attention it has always deserved. If you’re not already convinced that you should watch the newseason — as well as the first two if you’ve never seen them — here are four reasons to get your ass on that tour bus (technically a tour van).

1. There are so many good jokes. So, so many.

The ratio of funny moments to non-funny moments on this show is like, 10 million to zero. Perhaps that’s a touch hyperbolic, but the density of the comedy is certainly on par with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — series creator Meredith Scardino previously wrote and co-produced that zippy comedy — or 30 Rock. And that makes sense since executive producers Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, David Miner, and Eric Gurian worked on both of those series, too. If you giggle one second too long at one bit, there is a real chance you will miss the next one, and the one after that.

But just as impressive as the joke density in Girls5Eva is the joke variety.This show loves a ridiculous running gag, like one this season involving a hotel chain called the Marriott Suitelettes for Divorced Dads, and another about Jon Hamm’s thirst for attention. It’s spectacular at satire: John Early guest stars as a conservative senator who is legally required to act as a fetal citizen’s advocate during any doctor visits with pregnant women. It does not shy away from physical comedy, whether it’s Gloria attempting to nurse an ailing squirrel or a topless Gloria chugging a two-liter bottle of soda while Wickie’s trying to have a serious conversation with her. (Pell is a master at this sort of nonsense). Even the fly-by visual Easter eggs are absolutely hilarious: Do yourself a favor and hit pause when the camera closes in on the spreadsheet Gloria has made of the 178 types of women, all of whom she’s hoping to hook up with on tour. (Entries include: Old Cara Delevingne, Pre-Friends Courteney Cox-Type, During-Friends Courteney Cox-type, and Femme Mr. Peanut.)

Girls5Eva doesn’t just make you laugh once, it keeps the laughs coming at a breakneck pace, and only gets funnier on rewatch. At a time when several of television’s most revered comedies can more accurately be described as dramedies (The Bear, Ted Lasso, Barry), it’s refreshing to watch a show have such a blast being unapologetically silly.

2. The four principles are at their best in season three.

Because the third season puts all four of the main characters — Wickie (Goldsberry), Dawn (Sara Bareilles), Gloria (Pell) and Summer (Busy Philipps) — on the road and away from their home lives and related supporting characters, each of the four stars gets more of a chance to individually shine. Bareilles is a famously gifted singer, but she’s also a skilled comedic actor who can alternate between the responsible straight woman and world’s goofiest basic mom. (When she placed a pair of hot pancakes from the Marriott Suitelettes breakfast buffet inside the shoulders of her bathrobe, then sighed contentedly, I laughed. Then I thought: wow, life hack.) Pell is a whirlwind of insecurity and bluster who puts the right amount of pepper on every single line delivery, every single time. (“Hi, this is Gloria, from sex!” she says brightly while leaving a message for a one-night stand.) Without having to manage her relationship with ex-husband Kev (Andrew Rannells, appearing only briefly this season), Summer emerges as her own self-motivated woman, an opportunity she uses to join a multi-level marketing scheme that requires her to sell teeth-whitening gummies. Philipps plays her like an oblivious ditz at times, but stops short of making her a prototypical dumb blonde.

And then there’s Wickie, whose confidence and supreme ego are almost as blinding as Summer’s gummie-white smile. Goldsberry is so perfect for this role it’s as though a designer chose it for her, then had it custom-tailored to fit her contours perfectly. She walks, talks and conducts herself like a diva who knows her time back in the spotlight is coming, but is also eager to do whatever is necessary to nudge that moment along. “Billie Eilish got 25 million for her doc,” she notes while explaining why she’s trying to make a documentary about her experience on the road. “I can wear sweatshirts and have a brother.” She is great. They are all great.

3. You’ll never get the songs out of your head.

This season is lighter than usual on original songs, which are primarily written by Richmond and Scardino. But the ones that appear are inspired as usual, from the previously mentioned “Tap Into Your Fort Worth,” the equivalent of a Fort Worth Texas Visitors Bureau jingle turned into a self-empowerment anthem; a song about white women like Dawn who hate confrontation (“The time to rise up is… later!”); and a funky pop tune about perpetual comebacks: “Returnity: Always gonna never stop restarting/Never gonna end not un-beginning/Don’t un-try to un-stop us now.” Every single one has strong earworm potential (assuming your brain can make room for it alongside the never-skip opening credits song).

4. The pop-culture references cut deep.

The vastness and sometimes-randomness of the constant pop-culture references on Girls5Eva is worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. You know what? Throw in a Nobel, too, why not? There isn’t enough space on the Internet to make a full list of every inspired reference in season three, but to give you a taste, there are shout-outs and allusions to: Britney Spears, Harry Styles, the WNBA, Degrassi: The Next Generation, John Cougar Mellencamp, Footloose, John Mayer, and the comic strip Andy Capp. I actually laughed so hard at the Andy Capp joke that my son texted from another room to find out if I was okay.

Girls5Eva’s new streaming home also allows it to tap a new referential vein, and the results are delightful: Dawn becomes obsessed with a new season of The Crown that’s focused entirely on Prince Andrew’s relationship with his stuffed animals, and we’re treated to a brief clip of a reality series called Love Is Smells. There’s even a highly meta scene in the finale about the rapid, chaotic change in the streaming world that is both hilarious and sobering because it’s so dead-on accurate. Even in the world of Girls5Eva, it’s hard for good shows to find a platform that will let them stick around for a while. Here’s hoping Netflix gives Girls5Eva that chance.

Jen Chaney , 2024-03-14 23:22:58

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