Welcome to our coverage of Katy Keene! The CW’s newest series is a glitzy, warm, escapist spinoff of Riverdale and to be completely honest, it’s a mess. A fun mess! A mess with a great cast! But a mess nonetheless.
1. That’s All For Now, Folks
So here we are everyone- the finale. The way here has not been easy (in the figurative sense, at least. In the literal sense we are all watching very easily digestible television); the highs have been high, the lows have been low, but it’s all built to a pretty solid last third of a season. The finale is almost exactly what any of the 12 of us that watch Katy Keene would want- an ode to earnestness with multiple musical numbers and a fairy tale feel. Thematically, this is an episode about leaving the past behind, making it kind of like the Last Jedi of Katy Keene episodes; each and every character moves on from some type of emotional baggage that’s been haunting them in some way or another. For Katy and Jorge, that’s for the sake of moving forward without emotional weight bearing down on them. For Josie and Pepper, it’s about giving themselves a fresh start. The finale does better all-around work with its characters than just about any episode of the show so far. If we get a season 2, I hope this episode is a good omen.
2. Pepper and Josie Take out the Trash
DISCLAIMER: Alex Cabot is an addict and that is sad. He is not trash because of that but because he was already a pretty gross man.
Okay now that we’ve got that out of the way, thank god for Josie and Pepper’s progress this week. For the former, the progress is more Doylist than Watsonian (I’m so sorry that’s the most pretentious I’ve ever sounded but it’s also accurate!). Josie has spent quite a while having her whole story dictated by Alex Cabot being an absolute mess with loads and loads of baggage. Now that he’s being (hopefully) set straight and Josie has to move forward on her own, there’s significantly more potential for a compelling story about Josie and the Pussycats (who are once again relegated to the background in the finale). As for Pepper, our favorite New York socialite leaves her scamming ways behind her, and Bernadette Peters with them (though I am expecting Ms. Freesia and Hannah Melvey to team up in the future). It’s a welcome development and a natural conclusion to her season arc. While last week’s arresting ending (see what I did there?) is paved over a little hastily, it’s all in service of some moving material about Pepper accepting herself and her history so I’ll allow it. Also, Pepper is Josie’s manager now! Will that be fun? I do not know but I hope it will be.
3. Jorge Saves the Block (For Now)
This week, Jorge miraculously gets 10,000 signatures to petition the city not to replace his block’s apartment buildings with some mysterious developer’s project. This story is hard for me to evaluate. On the one hand, it brings back the absolutely ludicrous concept that Jorge is the best organizer in New York City. It’s all very silly stuff that feels pretty impossible especially given the fact that the rally that he puts together to save the block has no more than 200 attendants and he seems to be the only person collecting signatures. On the other hand, the mysterious developer is Hiram Lodge. Despite my better judgement, I have a deep love for Riverdale and seeing its characters on Katy Keene is thrilling. Hiram is from the neighborhood, he wants to come back, and it seems like he’s going to be an antagonist next season. To be clear though, Hiram will not be taken down by pluckiness or sass so Jorge and the gang don’t stand a chance. The bright spot in this story is Jorge’s reconciliation with his dad. It’s one of those nice, grounded Jorge moments that really works. More of those in the future, please!
4. Everything’s Coming Up Katy
Katy has a whole lot going on in this finale which makes sense what with her being the titular character and all. She’s got this triple-helix story going about Lacy’s, her dreams of being a designer, and her ever-present love for KO. Give me a moment to collect myself before recapping this as efficiently as possible. Alright so boom: Lacy’s is being sold and replaced with a giant Coboteur store so Guy LaMontagne offers Katy a job as his lead designer as an olive branch for stealing from her and she accepts but boy oh boy does she feel bad. Then she realizes that she shouldn’t take the job and should save Lacy’s so she recruits Gloria and a mysterious benefactor to stop the sale. Also, she loves KO and wants him back but he’s going to join that gym in Philly from the first episode and she decides to let him do that instead of holding him back which is very sweet and admirable. So then the store gets saved by none other than (drumroll please…) Prince Errol, who actually left the royal family so he’s just Errol now and he and Katy do still have chemistry thank you for asking. The cherry on top of this whole thing is that Leo Lacy (who might be Katy’s dad) shows up to replace his mother and he’s played by Cary Elwes (with whom I share an alma mater as of a couple of hours prior to this review being posted). Also, Katy gets into Parsons which is supposed to be exciting but like I’ve said before- it feels weird that someone would want to go to a school to learn skills and gain opportunities that they already have. Katy gets a ton of story in very little time but the whole thing really works, mostly because Lucy Hale is a goddamn professional who knows what she’s doing. She taps into Katy unbelievably well- delivering a performance that stands out in how effortlessly it presents a character whose whole thing is trying hard.
5. A Season Retrospective
This has not been a normal season of television. It’s always felt a little bit like a dream (sometimes a fever dream) but it’s also been far more normal than its dark counterpart, Riverdale. The first handful of episodes were delightful, comfort television. The middle were sloppy and at times actively bad. Then it all coalesced, finding its way back to that original identity, but with a little more thematic maturity. So is this a good show? I honestly can’t say. The cast is wonderful and the moments that work work remarkably well. But it makes bad choices with relative frequency and most episodes feature at least one plot line that’s so clearly filler that it’s embarrassing. Is this a show that’s worth watching? Absolutely. There isn’t another show like it on television and it’s a fascinating viewing experience at all times. I, for one, am rooting for a season two. I hope I’ll see you when it happens.
