What I’m Watching: Shrill (Season Finale)

Shrill: Season 1, Episode 6 “Troll” (B+)

It was sweet to see Ryan wake Annie up for lots of good reasons, expressing that, now that they’re boyfriend and girlfriend, they should be supporting each other’s work stuff. She’ll have to start listening to his podcast soon if she wants to keep up that honesty, but at the moment she’s got other things to distract her. I’m glad that she lashed out at Fran by telling her that she was basically the female Ryan, not that it’s supposed to be an insult anymore since they’re now together. As if Gabe’s fat-shaming response article wasn’t cruel enough, telling Annie that he was born gay while her weight is a choice elicited a proper reaction from her, one that he didn’t seem ready to accept. He evidently values her working there even if she’s a constant nuisance, otherwise he would have readily accepted her resignation. Amadi was a helpful partner until he reminded her that he has his own life, and at least they got to have fun together profiling people in the coffee shop before Annie went off on the completely wrong person who mistook her for a kindergarten teacher. I liked the casting of Beck Bennett, a fellow “Saturday Night Live” cast member, as The Awesome, who initially apologized to Annie for trolling her and then regressed to deplorable insults which bounced right off Annie. This show will be back next year for an eight-episode second season, and I plan to be watching. This was a good start, and I think there’s a lot more here to be explored.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Aidy Bryant as Annie