Second Jen

Oy, vey. I don't even know where to begin with this review.

I was excited to watch a TV show with two female Asian leads, but my excitement quickly turned to disappointment after watching the first few episodes. Second Jen is lifeless and devoid of personality, very much like the two main characters. It's torturous following Amanda Joy and Samantha Wan's characters around for 20 minutes, because they're some of the worst Canadian TV actors (the standards are already very low) I've seen in a long time. Had the creators of the show not cast themselves as the leads, it still would have fallen flat because even decent actors wouldn't have been able to save a show so horribly written. Much like how the cousin (who was surprisingly a very good actress) in the second episode couldn't distract from the horrible acting.

The plot it empty, the characters vapid, boring, and two dimensional, and at the end of an episode you'll wonder why you wasted 20 minutes of your life. Not to mention the transition scenes are jarring and outright weird. I've watched Hallmark and Lifetime movies that have better character development in the first 10 minutes than Second Jen has had in 2 episodes (40 minutes).

You may be thinking that 6 episodes isn't a lot of time to establish anything. Nice excuse, but the British seem to have no problem with these time constraints as most of their series are 6 episodes. I'd rather watch their shows any day since they understand basic screen writing and character development and write beyond the level of a high schooler trying to make a vacuous web series.

I would be very surprised if Second Jen received a second season.

I do like the premise and want to like the show and characters but just everything about this show seems wrong. Like it was poorly done, or done quickly or without any experience or something. Like is is a film school project instead of a real professional TV show. I hope it improves.

This show is so cheap it's as if it was thrown together in a couple hours by a grade eight class doing a video project. Some of the worst writing I've ever seen. The acting isn't good either but it's hard to say for sure since they are given such crappy writing.

I stumbled onto Second Jen randomly, while flipping through channels. I happened to stop at a scene from the fifth episode, where the two main characters were seeing a doctor together. Despite having no context of who these characters were, or what they were doing, I found it charming and funny. I decided to go back to the beginning and watch the whole season.

The show has received some acclaim for starring two female Asian characters as the leads of the show. This goes beyond any sort of token diversity, as these two characters are framed by their experience as second generation Canadians (hence the name), as well as being 20-something women. While the latter characterization may not be ground breaking, I did find the way it was presented refreshing. These two characters are very charming and relatable, but without becoming too twee or annoying.

Second Jen's greatest strength s its two lead actors, Amanda Joy and Samantha Wan. They have great chemistry together, and trade quips and barbs with ease. While I may not have gotten wrapped up in its plot, I always wanted to see more of Mo and Jen.

I hope that Second Jen is renewed, but barring that, I hope to see more of Amanda Joy and Samantha Wan on Canadian television.

This is a terrible, terrible, terrible show. It is just terrible, terrible, terrible.