What We’re Watching is back for 2022! We’re feeling energized and more excited than ever to bring you monthly TV and film recommendations from our TLL team.

In February, Galentine’s day is traditionally when people celebrate their love for their friends. But here at TLL, we’d like to take the gendered assumptions out of the day (gender is just a construct after all) and think of it as ‘Pal-entine’s day’ going forward. Friendships are so special and distinct, so why limit the types of people in your life you can celebrate? In this spirit, we’re sharing some of our favorite shows and movies based on a variety of friendship types. Grab your pals and check out our picks below for a fun night together!

Watch with your College Friends…

The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021 created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble) TV-MA
With the perfect balance of humor, heart, and horniness, The Sex Lives of College Girls has quickly become one of my favorite shows. It’s the perfect thing to watch with your college friends while reminiscing on the memories you made together. The series follows Bela (Amrit Kaur), Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), Leighton (Renee Rapp), and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) as they start their first semester as roommates at the prestigious fictional Essex College. Bela is a sex-positive aspiring comedian who lies to her parents about being a neuroscience major. Kimberly is desperate to prove that she isn’t as small-minded as the small Arizona town she comes from. She comes from a poorer background than her roommates and is the only one on her floor that’s in the campus work-study program. Leighton is old-money rich and an Essex legacy - her family has a building on campus named after them - but she is also wrestling with how to accept her identity and sexuality in the judgmental world she grew up in. Whitney is a phenomenal soccer player who wants to be known as more than just a U.S. Senator’s daughter. Together they navigate the ups and downs of college life while discovering who they are in this new chapter of their lives.

As someone who finds comfort in watching characters go through stages of life on screen as I go through them IRL, I’ve long wished for more college-based series to fill the void between those set in high school and among working age adults. So much change and growth happens in people during their time in college - it’s a setting full of so much untapped potential for stories that are fun and compelling.

With The Sex Lives of College Girls, Mindy Kaling has created a coming-of-age series for a new generation and for those of us who crave the days when making friends was as easy as getting randomly assigned roommates, going to a random party and connecting with strangers, or volunteering for an on campus organization. Bela, Kimberly, Leighton, and Whitney are a great example of how chaotic the start of college friendships can be. One second they’re strangers that barely know each other and maybe get drunk together sometimes, the next they’re helping each other with things like breaking up with a high school boyfriend or stealing from a frat bro that wronged them or going to a naked party with spray painted abs. Bonds formed in college can be both short and lifelong, and The Sex Lives of College Girls proves that those friendships and connections are worth the gamble. - Brynna A, Editorial Lead

Watch with your Ride or Die Friends…

Plan B (2021 directed by Natalie Morales, co-written by Prathiksha Srinivasan) TV-MA
Plan B is the hilarious, raunchy, heartwarming, and adventurous movie that you should watch with the friends who would do anything for you. Sunny and Lupe are ride or die friends. There’s no limit to what these South Dakota teenagers would do for each other, even if that involves a spontaneous and secret road trip to a Planned Parenthood after being denied Plan B. Sunny, the rule follower, snaps at a drunken house party when her high expectations fall short and has sex for the first time with her high school’s resident “teen with extreme youth minister energy”. The dual embarrassment and regret on both sides, leads Sunny to hide this from her best friend. When she realizes the condom was in her overnight, Lupe is mortified and they immediately head to a pharmacy and are denied Plan B under the “conscious clause”.

With just a 24 hour window to most effectively pregnancy, every hour is crucial on their road trip. Lupe, the punk cool girl always vaping, has some secrets of her own just under the surface that might come out before the trip is over..

Unplanned pregnancy is the central conflict in this film - it’s incredibly high stakes for Sunny but also millions of folks who need healthy, safe access to reproductive care. The gravity of the mission isn’t in conflict with any other part of the teens lives. Navigating crushes, keeping up your cool profile for those around you, managing parental expectations, and learning how to navigate sexual health are all things that teens live with in the modern day. Lupe is totally there for her best friend but can’t fight being swept up in a crush so intense that she changes their GPS destination in order to meet. They both get caught up in lies that only show how limited they feel in their own families, both in traditional households that value women looking and acting in specific ‘proper’ ways. The only person they never have to hide from is each other. Their friendship is so familiar to watch on screen because even through challenges, they choose to love and accept each other because of their authentic bond.

Plan B is a great example of WOC coming together on screen and behind the camera! Lupe is Latina and Sonny is Southeast Asian and both of their cultures are part of their characters' stories in really natural ways given that the film wasdirected by queer Latina fillmaker and actress, Natalie Morales and written by Southeast Asian writer, Prathiksha Srinivasan. The personalities, mannerisms, and home lives they created for Sunny and Lupe jump off the screen. If you loved Broad City, Plan B will give you the taste of female best friends finding themselves in absolutely insane and also relatable situations - fighting drunk creeps, hyping each other up, and doing anything for your bestie. Plan B is for your close friends who love you 100% and have your back. - Kim Hoyos, TLL founder

Watch with your Childhood BFF…

Pen15 created by Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and Sam Zvibleman (2019-2021) TV-MA

I would describe ‘Pen15’ as a beautiful portrait of the human experience that you should watch with your childhood best friend. Pen15 is about Maya (Maya Erskine) and Anna (Anna Konkle), awkward 13-year-old friends trying to navigate the world around them. Played by real life BFFS and show creators, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, I binge watched this show, peeking out from the cracks of my fingers and screaming at the television. Watching Maya and Anna catapults you back to those awkward years of cringy crushes, first periods, and embarrassing parents. If in the dark of night you are still thinking about that one embarrassing thing you did, watching Pen15 will be a cathartic experience. Yes, you will have to relive memories that you have spent years trying to block out - but also remember the highs as well, the fun and games, the giddiness you felt when you were sleep deprived at a sleepover or had too much sugar.

The authenticity of Anna and Maya’s performances as whiney, overdramatic 13 year olds is astounding. It is refreshing to see the girls portrayed as awkward, gross and endearing as I was at that age. They are never sexualised or are seen to be anything more than kids just learning how to survive in the world. Each episode is an emotional rollercoaster, going from the girls happily pretending to be witches or dressing up in their mom’s clothes to exploring their deepest insecurities about their looks or Anna trying to cope with her parent’s divorce. These highs and lows are always mere moments apart, never have I ever watched a show where I’ve gone from hysterically laughing to hysterically crying so rapidly. This whirlwind leaves you on the edge of your seat, willing these two innocent girls to be happy.

Having watched this show halfway around the world from where Anna and Maya grew up, Pen15 is a testament to the fact that everything that happens to us is ultimately a universal experience that connects us all. We all remember what it was like sending a risky message on AIM or the sheer embarrassment of getting your period at a sleepover. Pen15 is just as messy as life is, every character, even the adults, are deeply flawed yet redeemed by their motivations. No matter what, Maya and Anna are always there to support each other, from first kisses, through to the heartbreaks. -Róisín Chapman, Research Editor and Writer

Watch with your Friends that Feel like Family…

Derry Girls (2018, created by Lisa McGee) TV-MA
This sitcom tells the story of five Irish teens growing up in Derry, Northern Ireland in the mid-90s and it’s inspired by creator Lisa McGee’s own experiences. It follows 16-year-old Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), their friends Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell), and Michelle's English cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn). On the day-to-day, the five deal with irritating classmates, a hilariously stoic nun, and parents who always seem to know what they're up to, but that also means all those characters must cope with the annoyances from the five of them. The series weaves the actual history of the times with chaotic teen hijinks in a way that makes you laugh, cringe, and even sometimes shed a tear. It’s one of those shows that you can watch with your family or your friends, and everyone will be laughing.

Derry Girls puts a microscope onto this major historical time and places it on a demographic who often go ignored— teenage girls (and their wee English fella). The characters exist within a time of high political stress, but their motivations and frustrations surround typical teenage angst and trying to just emotionally survive teenhood. I love the dynamics between each friend amongst the group because they all have distinct personalities and unite to create unintentional mayhem from their ill thought out plans. From convincing a hot priest they’ve seen a miracle to setting a home on fire from flaming vodka shots, these five are always up to something and causing destruction together. There’s a tone to long term friendships where they feel more like family and that’s how I feel watching Derry Girls; the bond between them holds strong through major and minor conflicts. This series brings me so much joy and when I watch (and rewatch) I’m immediately comforted by these characters because they make it easy to root for them. And also laugh at them.

— Mercedes Gonzales-Bazan, Research Lead

Watch with your Adventurous Friends…

Betty (2020, created by Crystal Moselle) TV-MA
We enter the world of Betty with two girls making it their mission to plan a girls-only skateboarding session and what we see unfold is a crew of women who just want to skate. Set in summertime NYC, we follow these girls navigating life on the board and off— dealing with their family, relationships, passions, and their sport. In skateboarding terminology, “Betty” was originally used derogatorily to describe the women who’d hang out with skaters and surfers, but creator Crystal Moselle wanted to reclaim the term as a sense of power for the show. The series is based on the 2018 film Skate Kitchen also directed by Moselle. The movie was inspired by a group of real life skaters—Dede Lovelace, Moonbear, Nina Moran, Ajani Russell, and Rachelle Vinberg— who go by the name “Skate Kitchen.” Moselle actually casted the skate crew after meeting them on the subway. Like in the film, the show stars these same women and they all play fictionalized versions of themselves. The group is a diverse collection of women who all live such different lives but come together as a collective with one goal: to skate.

I love how the show captures New York City as its backdrop and through the lens of young women. These characters guide us viewers through their version of the city which takes such a different viewpoint atop the skateboard than it does in a car or on the train or even on foot— here, we glide, fall, and maneuver through life alongside them. Plus, it’s so fulfilling watching these characters bond and grow as individuals as well as a unit; that’s what I respect the most about skateboarding— as much as it is a solo sport, you build community through it. Betty creates a window into a world I didn’t have prior access to and invites its audience to be a part of the scene. We get to see them create community and also tackle heavy situations in their personal lives throughout the series; these characters hold a nuanced depth that feels genuine. No matter what they go through, their support system is on the skateboards right beside them and looking cool as hell— that’s why watching Betty is a fab Galentine’s plan for you and your friends who love to try new things and enjoy diverse storytelling!

— Mercedes Gonzales-Bazan, Research Lead