Go Girls: Hidden Gem all the way from New Zealand
With the new HBO show ‘Girls’ creating a lot of hype as the voice of its generation and the ‘spiritual successor’ to the critically acclaimed Sex and the City, it would be a travesty if this good show never get a mention.
This New Zealand comedy centres around friends who all at the start of each season make a vow concerning their lives from which they all go about during the season trying to fulfil their respective goals. The episodes unlike a lot of British, Canadian and American shows is done in months, which can take some time getting used to.
At the start of the series it featured one guy- Kevin, and three girls- Amy, Britta and Cody. All of them are in their mid 20’s, and have been best friends with each other since childhood.
Kevin and the tomboy Cody own a car garage together which actually seems to do well earlier on in the series. There’s Amy who’s had perfect life only for it to fall apart due to her parent’s divorce, leaving her to try and recover her old life back. Britta’s the nympho constantly attracted to guys who are out of luck. This leaves Cody- a single mother of a ten year old daughter named Possum- whose love life remains the most interesting even after four years.
In the latest episode to air, it pitted Amy up against a fellow colleague (Rupert the Perv) who had roofied her drink only for Amy to give the bar owner, Brad, who collapsed in front of his family and friends. Now obviously this is a sensitive issue but it still doesn’t weigh down the episode and helps to exhibit what the show does best, crazy humour all across the board.
The show’s theme like Friends, How I met your mother uses the theme that friends are the family you choose. In this episode it was most evident as all of Amy friends united together with their own families to wreak havoc and misery on the insidious Rupert ranging from periodic prank calls to getting his car towed whilst he’s at work.
For making the villain of the story a lawyer the writers deserve credit. Seeing as how they’re taught in the workplace not to be afraid of making ethically dubious decisions for the sake of victory. It makes sense that such a character would have no problem crossing the line every now and again.
It really shouldn’t matter if this show is set inNew Zealandbecause its storylines are universal and once you start watching it you wont stop. It should be considered as the sex and the city for this generation just like Girls is but its origin means it stands the chance of never getting noticed outsidenew ZealandandAustralia. On a good note, this shows provides a good look at the influence sex and city had on the television worldwide.
Go Girls at times misses Kevin’s ( Jay Ryan) eternally grumpiness, and whilst he’s away, we’re treated to Brad’s sibling rivalry with his just as perfect brother Will. The return of Kevin is all dependant on the success of Jay Ryan’s new show, CW’s Beauty & the Beast of which he’s the co-star.
Go Girls success has been that it mixes so many different elements together to make it universal. It has complex soap opera-esque relationships between the characters, comedy, tragedy, heartbreak, family, friendships. From what I can tell its not on the top rated channel inNew Zealandbut that shouldn’t detract from what a gem this show is. Fans of shows likes Sex and the City, Friends, and soap operas would do well to watch this show.
