Girlfriends | TV Show Review

I haven't decided whether I will write reviews for long TV-shows - as up until now I have only reviewed limited shows. But whether I continue or not, I finished Girlfriends two weeks ago, and I really wanted to write about it.

Girlfriends is about four (technically five) friends - Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross), Maya (Golden Brooks), Toni (Jill Marie Jones), Lynn (Persia White) and William (Reggie Hayes) who navigate the ups and downs of life together.

This show first aired from 2000 to 2008, and I didn't catch any of it at the time (due to being about 11 when it finished in 2008), so when it came out on Netflix, I got to watch it all from scratch.

I absolutely loved this show!

First of all, I feel like I've been severely deprived of Black sitcoms, so I definitely had room for this in my life, and it didn't disappoint. 

But I also loved these characters. This is a character-driven show, and these characters are what made the show, and has kept the show, so popular. They were all written so well, and were portrayed so well by their respective actors.

The reason that I know how good these characters are, is because I probably went through a small period of disliking each one of them. There were times when I completely agreed with them, times when their storylines didn't mean much to me, and times when I preferred literally any other character! But then I did a complete 180 and fell in love with them all over again - because they always felt like real people.

The biggest culprit of this was Toni Childs, who I disliked on and off throughout the first season, but then fell in love with. And I stayed in love with Toni until she left the show. 

I loved the fact that the show wasn't afraid to push boundaries, particularly for when it aired. We had a character who was a self-confessed gold digger, there were episodes about colourism and racism, abortion, HIV, jealousy, divorce, being a single parent, feminism, religion - at a time when few other shows were daring to show this. For that alone, this show stands out from the crowd.

I feel like, whether this show gets a movie or a reboot, there is definitely a gap in the market for a show like this to come back to TV screens - and I am ready for it!

Now, having said this, I had heard before getting there that the show went downhill when Jill Marie Jones, aka Toni Childs, left. And while I enjoyed the rest of the show, I do have to agree that I really missed Toni. The dynamic that she brought to the show was really missed, and at times I felt like other characters were given her lines because the show really did need a bit of that character.

I also didn't really enjoy the character arcs of the 6th season, when Toni left. Particularly the dynamic between Toni and Joan. Because of this, for me, Joan was the only character I started to dislike that never really redeemed herself. This was a storyline that was left unfinished, and the show really suffered because of it. 

And I feel really sad about the ending. Because of a writer's strike, the show ended in the middle of a season, on an episode that clearly wasn't meant to be the end, and I really wish that it had been finished. Because I feel like I will now never know the end of there characters' stories.

Overall, are you watching Girlfriends yet? If not, why? All of the seasons are on Netflix, so go watch!

4.5/5