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. A bit of an Odd Return
It’s been quite a while since we last saw our favorite designer and her glamorous group of friends and their return is a relatively average entry. This week, Katy Keene continues its attempt to throw every special tv episode format into its first season, giving us a series of vignettes about each character, only one of which really lands. To be frank, it’s fairly worrying that a show this young could have used a bottle episode, musical episode, vignette episode, AND documentary episode WITHIN the vignette episode already. If they’re pulling out all of the stops before even getting renewed for a second season, the idea of that this show has a lot to give is definitely questionable. While we’re here though, let’s embrace the good parts because in the moments that this show works, it really does work. (On a personal note: while the vignette style is absolutely not justified, it is deeply helpful in writing a review that’s split into five bullet points.)
2. Katy is in an Abusive Workplace
Katy’s story this week revolves around her first day as Guy LaMontagne’s experience and it’s honestly deeply messed up. Basically, Katy tries to prove herself to Guy, who isn’t paying her for her labor, and he makes her stitch a dress for hours and prick her hand a bunch of times as he verbally abuses her. Then, Katy goes rogue and makes a dress to be sold at Lacy’s that Gloria doesn’t like; Katy tries to quit but then Guy gives a speech about resilience while he uses her as a model for new dress and we’re supposed so see it as romantically charged and redemptive? It’s crazy that we spend like 20 minutes watching Guy be an abusive boss and then treated like he’s still a character worth our time. Lucy Hale does great work here and she deserves credit for it, but the story itself just is plain bad. Maybe its the Brooklyn hippie in me but I simply can’t condone a “resilience is the most important thing ever” morality play starring a man who is verbally abusing his employee while denying her pay nor can I accept him as a potential love interest.
3. Dude, We’re Getting the Band Back Together
Josie’s story is a documentary about her search for the new Pussycats. It’s a perfectly fine effort, though it doesn’t really do justice to the documentary format. In this segment, Josie goes rogue to find two band members after Mr. Cabot hires two Caboteur models. The audition process is genuinely laugh out loud funny but other than that things are only fine. Inevitably, Mr. Cabot rejects the two new band members, a singer/pianist named Cricket and a very punk drummer named Trula. Instead of giving in and selling out, though, Josie opts to go solo and Alex follows her against his father’s wishes. The big silver lining is that Josie going solo finally makes her into an active part in shaping her own story. Thus far, essentially every plot point for Josie has been shaped by the whims of the Cabot family and it’s been a bit exhausting. Ashleigh Murray has been doing great as Josie and the prospect of seeing her take charge is very exciting. As for the new band members, they’re fine! Not very memorable but they’ve had maybe 5 minutes of screen time so I’ll give them a shot.
4. A Throwaway Jorge Story
Jorge gets a very small and relatively unimportant story this week; it doesn’t take up too much time so it’s far from offensive but I also question why it happened. He and his lawyer ex, Buzz are trying to be friends but there’s an undeniable spark between them. So at Pepper’s urging, Jorge arranges a dinner for himself, his boyfriend Bernardo, and Buzz that ends with all three going home together. When Jorge wakes up, Bernardo and Buzz are cuddling and he feels jealous. Thats’s it! I have quite literally no insights about it as a story because it barely qualifies as one. There’s something almost interesting when Jorge puts Buzz in drag but it’s dropped to quickly to feel like anything real.
5. A Pepper Storyline for a Very Specific Type of Viewer
Pepper pops up in each of the other character’s vignettes, giving advice and being the same Pepper as always. The main through line is that she has some kind of Twitter beef with somebody named Hannah Melvey (a very clear allusion to famous New York socialite/scammer Anna Delvey). Things come to a head at the end of Jorge’s story when the two resolve to meet face to face after Hannah sends Pepper’s mugshot to Pepper in a DM. Their meeting is a fascinating peek into Pepper’s past and a promise for an interesting path forward for her as a character. The reveal that Hannah and Pepper were MARRIED (and technically still are) was absolutely shocking and Hannah’s mission to take Pepper down injects some real tension into Katy Keene. Pepper has been the most fun character to watch on this show and it’s exciting to see that there’s real dramatic potential for her going forward.
