Ich und die Walter Boys

I wasn't expecting much more than light fare at first, but apart from the obvious tropes and cliches, was impressed by how many marks the episodes hit, with various storylines and characters.

Jackie (Nikki Rodriguez) and Cole (Noah LaLonde) especially the latter, gave excellent performances with real emotional nuances that made the unlikely pairing and romantic tension believable.

The show touches on other themes of mental health, loneliness, friendship, navigating queer romance, native American perspectives, persons with not so obvious disabilities (deafness and epilepsy); girl empowerment and teen self-esteem. I think it's all well done and very relevant. I can't wait for Season 2!

The adults and Jackie did a great job but Cole and Alex were horrible at their roles. Cole was decent at times but Alex ...... Alex was one of the worst actors I've ever watched. Every time he was on the screen he was awkward and made you cringe. After a few episodes it was actually laughable at how bad he was. The writing didn't help and I'm sure they were trying to make the character semi awkward but he took the and ran with it. From the way he stands to the things he says to the way he moves and delivers his lines was absolutely laughable and ruined the little of joy you get from this show. If it wasn't for Jackie and Kathrine this show would get 2 stars because of the acting alone.

This was basically a hate watch for most of the viewing experience, but by the end I was all in for a second season. So despite the people who made this making some the wackiest decisions ever, I applaud them for subverting my expectations for the main characters by the end, and making me feel invested.

Casting - completely nonsensical. Siblings that look wildly different, some look the same age as their mother, totally unexplained how a woman can have 9 kids and also 2 university degrees whilst looking 40, we were laughing about it throughout the whole show because it was so ridiculous! Like fully thought they would all turn out to be adopted as the big twist, it was so bad!

Story - could not care less about most of the secondary characters but quite liked a few of them. Most of the side plots felt like wasted time, and there were too many (and some of the acting was pretty flat). The main romantic story was full of toxic tropes but actually redeemed itself a bit - my initial "nice guy" I genuinely hated by the end, and the "bad guy" who I hated at the start I really came to feel for by the end. Like obviously a classic trope but it got me! Main character was fairly bland but likeable enough.

Elephant in the room - The main thing that bothered me throughout is that a teenage girl who's been though a really traumatic event is put into this chaotic environment and pursued by what are essentially like her brothers in this situation - I wish the family had actually looked after her (instead of just saying they did) because in real life this would be a worrying situation for a young vulnerable girl. But, it's just a story and in the end she does sort of save herself.

So, I would recommend this show only if you have a buddy to watch with, because there will be parts where you will be ripping your hair out and need someone to laugh about it with. It's totally ridiculous, but pretty entertaining.

The first episode doesn't seem to be part of the same series. I had a hard time enjoying it. But it wasn't horrible, so I kept going. I was surprised to find that the characters made an impression on me. I got attached to each of them and can't wait to see what happens next. It's for teenagers, sure, but the parents are incredible. We don't see a lot of money problems in Netflix series like this so a little realism was appreciated. I liked the diversity, which for once was fair and not forced. I became attached to this family. Overall, I had a good time. I cried and laughed. I don't expect more!

This show had some potential after the first few episodes. I started watching and was like: "okay, nice story and lots of room to develop characters". I didn't expect most of them would turn out to be so annoying and predictable. Certain level of predictability is tolerable in these kinds of shows, but that level has been crossed IMO. Very disappointing altogether. No chemistry between the characters.

Alex is so annoying I started skipping scenes with him.

Cole is just simply too old to have any chemistry with Jackie, it's weird.

Will - seriously? Are we supposed to believe that Donna (sorry, Katherine) gave birth to him? Come on.

Whoever did casting here, please do better next time.

The only character I actually like at this point (8 ep) is Erin.