TV Review: "The Season" (Hulu)
Whoa, someone really wanted to remake Gossip Girl.
Unnecessary trivia time! Did you see some time ago, 2013-ish, I interviewed a lead from this show, Celina Jade? The article is somewhere online, probably my Lucky Pineapple Films Substack and another website.
Seeing her name pop up on this series kind of took me aback because I am always surprised when someone you least expect lands a juicy major speaking role. There is so much competition with too many people in line for acting talent. Good for her! Mean it. ❤️
Now, the review. Pop quiz.
How do you feel about Gossip Girl, the original on The CW?
I hated it.
I loved it / liked it.
The Season looked at the HBO Gossip Girl reboot, said, “We can do that,” and made their own Hong Kong set Gossip Girl for adults. Same beats, dialogue, delivery, acting style, gazes, camera cuts, focus shots on the city, aspirational designer wardrobe in a general trying to please every viewer way, sets, furniture, window views, sex/drugs/cheating, hotel plots, money, the Gossip Girl entirety, basic backstabbing, jail(!!!!), lady catfights through stuff that does not really matter, secrets(!), classism, with a scattered curse word now and then The CW never permitted.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and what probably counts is I felt like I was reviewing Gossip Girl: Hong Kong. Of this and the HBO remake, The Season feels like part of the official Gossip Girl universe. And no, I don’t think that is a coincidence.
Visually, The Season appeals to me more because Hong Kong looks fantastic. They filmed on location, and no, it is not all set on a ship, what I thought I was in for. A full six episodes on a boat without leaving looked dreadful. When they stepped off the ship and plots went into Gossip Girl land, all was a warm familiar in a passably entertaining late night soap you watch for comfort.
Jessie Mei Li, the lead playing female character Cola, is actually super pretty as her/their normal self on the Wikipedia photo whenever that was taken. Whoever gave her/them that Lord Farquaad hair don’t bob-bangs combo should be arrested by the fashion police. Have to say what you’re thinking.
Cola is kind of like the Jenny character, the outsider who did not grow up with money until she did, literally outside of Hong Kong in America. You will see why on the series.
Everyone else on the show is so sleazy. You wonder if anyone is a good person. Cola herself isn’t that great as the series rolls on. That nice seeming head maid is out for herself. Guess they have that in common with Gossip Girl.
Hong Kong is a destination I could see myself in, and watching this show was for me, being a dog in a moving car staring at the window. I’d watch it again to see Hong Kong cinematically.
The Season is great because you can pause it and return to it, not feeling lost. The plots are easy to follow, and the plots guessable. That’s OK. We don’t need Meryl Streep on the nightly.
Check it out on Disney+ in the USA.
