The Sex Lives Of College Girls has a pacing problem

The second season of The Sex Lives Of College Girls ended on a juicy cliffhanger. One of the titular girls, Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), discovered her ex Canaan (Christopher Meyer) had secretly kissed one of her best friends, Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), so she decided that she’d live in a sorority house for her sophomore year rather than with her suitemates. It was the kind of dramatic twist that has you counting down the days until the next season’s premiere. But the fallout was minimal: Within one episode of the third season, Kimberly and Canaan broke up without any friction, and Whitney forgave Kimberly and dropped out of the sorority entirely to move back in with her roommates. So much for drama!

The season-three premiere was a disappointing denouement that is unfortunately typical of The Sex Lives Of College Girls. Characters and plot lines are introduced quickly and dropped with a shrug. Consequences—particularly long-term ones—are few and far between. And interesting elements of our protagonists’ lives and of the college experience go underexplored. Whitney might not have been a good fit for Greek life, but a few more episodes delving into the eccentricities of living in the sorority house would’ve been a good fit for a show called The Sex Lives Of College Girls. Instead, that potential plot was rushed forward and ultimately unsatisfying. 

Now, there is a degree to which the fast-paced and transitory nature of the plot reflects the reality of the college experience. Life can look incredibly different from semester to semester. People you thought would be friends forever might leave the school (like Leighton, played by Renée Rap), and someone new you never expected to get along with might take their place (such as Gracie Lawrence’s Kacey). New romances may flare up and fade quickly, and new interests may become obsessions and then old news by the next term. In that sense, TSLOCG has indeed captured something true. 

But the pacing problem of The Sex Lives Of College Girls runs deeper than the fickle nature of young adulthood. Bela (Amrit Kaur) spends most of the third season pursuing a relationship with her first “nice guy” (Nabeel Muscatwalla), only to have her entire queer awakening squeezed into last week’s season finale. Even Bela herself recognizes the unfairness of her rushed coming-out: “What the fuck? Does my queer journey mean nothing to you people? When Leighton came out, you guys cried for like a full day,” she complains to her friends. The episode barrels through not only her first kiss with a woman but also the planned public coming-out on campus that’s ultimately derailed by the appearance of her mother (portrayed by Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier). Lest you mistake this scenario for fertile storytelling ground, TSLOCG skips over any emotional confrontation with Bela’s more traditional parents in favor of a dialogue-free scene in which her mom offers tacit support for her new gay relationship. 

In fairness to the TSLOCG writers, such rushed storytelling isn’t exclusive to their series. Rather, it seems to be an issue across the board for these types of streaming shows with short episode orders, from Marvel fare like Moon Knight to Netflix froth like Emily In Paris. Shrinking similarly stumbled through its plot in its most recent season, introducing major conflicts like a cheating scandal between Liz (Christa Miller) and Derek (Ted McGinley) that is resolved in three episodes with few lasting consequences, or Brian (Michael Urie) entirely putting aside his reluctance to become a father, or a hesitant Sean (Luke Tennie) reconnecting with an old Army buddy offscreen. Unlike the broadcast series of old, the eight- to 10-episode season just doesn’t offer writers enough time or resources to fully flesh out these kinds of complicated, messy stories in a way that is comprehensive and—most importantly—satisfying.  

As a trim, half-hour dramedy, The Sex Lives Of College Girls has also covered an awkward amount of time over its run: 10 episodes for the fall trimester of freshman year in season one, 10 for both winter and spring of that year in season two, and another 10 for an undefined chunk of sophomore year in season three. Compare that to previous entries in the college-TV canon like Felicity or Gilmore Girls, which traditionally chronicled a full school year per season (and over ones that often stretched to 20-plus hourlong episodes, no less). That setup allowed more space to dig into the characters’ lives and relationships. On TSLOCG, the audience is given barely enough time to get to know love interests like Ash (Ruby Cruz) or Isaiah (Devin Craig), who Whitney dumps to date Canaan (again!). 

Even Kacey’s emotional declaration in the season finale that she loves her suitemates rings a bit hollow, as she’s only been part of the gang for a few episodes. Their friendship feels more like an accident of proximity than one of true, established connection onscreen. Maybe that is a little bit of what college is like, but it’s not a pace that suits television. And if The Sex Lives Of College Girls keeps burning through plot like this, it won’t be able to sustain itself—or viewers’ interest—through graduation.