TV Revue: Grown-ish "If You're Reading This, It's Too Late"
Grown-ish “If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late”
The core storytelling aspect of what makes a spin-off great for me is breaking itself from its parent show. Freeform’s Grown-ish continues this trend with Episode 3, “If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late”. Since the backdoor pilot episode aired last season, Zoey has been trying to get Aaron (Trevor Jackson) to notice her.
Picking up a few weeks after the premiere episode, where Zoey received a “U Up” text from Aaron, we cut to a late-night powwow with Zoey and her girlfriends. During the late-night gossip session, Zoey confesses to them that she’s been hooking up with Aaron, for make-out sessions. While Zoey listens to her friends, sometimes questionable advice, she never really takes the time, to just talk to Aaron and let him how she feels.
Instead, Zoey goes overboard with text messages, talking about marriage and in hindsight scaring Aaron off. It’s a hilarious and awkward moment, but also realistic with its tone. On black-ish, Zoey was a beautiful, confident young woman, who was the object of affection of many guys in high school. Here she’s written as flawed, which makes her character relatable.
After messing up things with Aaron, Zoey decides to set her sights on stoner and pretty boy Luca. Played by Luka Sabbat, Luca is the opposite of Aaron, and it could be argued that Luca is a better match for Zoey. With Luca, Zoey can be herself and is the confident Zoey we came to love on the parent show. While I am all the way #TeamAaron, when it comes to the endgame match for Zoey, the chemistry between Zoey & Luca can’t be denied. It will be interesting to see if the writers decide to make a love triangle between the threesome this coming season.
The love triangle angle would be even more interesting since Luca and Aaron are sworn, enemies. Part of going to college is finding yourself, and that is just what the creators of Grown-ish have established for Zoey. Yara Shahidi continues to shine in the role, as the lead, while series creator Kenya Barris is taking all the right creative angles to allow the show to stand on its own.
Episode 3 of grown-ish, continues to show why it’s one of the best written new comedies currently on TV. With pop culture references, witty one-liners and great chemistry between the cast, it’s another great episode.
Final Grade: A-
