astonmatters

I watched the entire show, I kinda liked it - at least it kept me engaged - but now that I'm done, I just don't know what to do with it. Like, what is the reason for its existence? Does it want to tell something more than the story at hand? If so, I missed that. So the entire idea is to tell a pretty average love story about two very much above average annoying people? Or is its purpose to throw shade at Jack Antonoff, some kind of personal vendetta? I sincerely don't know. Which leaves the bitter aftertaste that the show's main goal could just be to serve as a vehicle for Lena Dunham to talk about herself. And in that, completely overestimating how relatable, special or meaningful her life is for everyone except Lena Dunham. That suspicion certainly isn't helped by the fact that Lena cast herself in one of the roles.

One thing I liked though are the sharp character studies of people besides the main characters. The bosses wife Ann, Jessica's colleague Kim, the French Polly, Jessica's grandmother - there are some fantastic characterizations (or caricatures?) here that I absolutely enjoyed. Some others don't succeed as much (Boss Gibbons, Fiona), but overall it would maybe make sense for Dunham to focus more on telling other people's stories than telling her own.

Listen, I love this show and I have been loving it for 20+ years now. It would take a whole lot to ruin it for me. So I'm good with season 21, I am happy the show is back.

But there are things I don't like/don't understand:

1) Why did they scrap showing the safe designers' looks again? I appreciated when they did that. Especially in the beginning it is hard to keep track of which look belongs to which designer. Why make it harder for the audience?

2) Why move the elimination to the next episode? You are far more connected to the decision if it happens in the week itself. The whole cliffhanger thing it is just a cheap trick and - frankly - cheapens the franchise. Just annoying.

3) I am not sure about the whole house stuff. So everything is a group challenge now? Group challenges are great, but making it the entire show? Unnecessary gamification. It's also not fair, because usually the best/worst looks aren't neatly grouped together in winning/losing teams. I want to see the overall best/worst looks critiqued - not just the ones of each house.

Other than that, I am glad Project Runway is back and I hope despite the changes, it stays fair and interesting.