There was a time when I enjoyed Teen shows. They were entertaining and good enough. Teen dramas were my type of television. However, I slowly stopped watching them until they were entirely out of my radar, but, recently I tried going back, and I decided to start Riverdale, and I enjoyed it…sort of, at least until my brain fully processed it.
By the time I was done with season 1, and after three episodes of season 2, I concluded that around 80% of it was ridiculous. I admit that it has its appeal, especially the first season. After all, I did finish that season, and I did want to know who killed Jason Blossom. All my problems came with season 2, and my brain started to process it enough to realize that it had a lot of illogical and cringey scenes…like a lot.
This made me realized that even though I did watch a lot of teen dramas before, I haven’t been able to finish one in years. I started Gossip Girl, and I stopped watching it after season 2 because Blair and Nate broke up (Don’t judge me! I was never a Chuck fan). I moved on to Pretty Little Liars, and I left it in season 2 because honestly for how long can the “A” problem continue (Apparently for the rest of the show because there is always a new “A” hiding around the corner). Then The Vampire Diaries and I watched it for five seasons until it started to get awful because how many times can a character die? And do we really need 3 Elenas? This was followed by Shadowhunters, which I started because of my love for the books, but O.M.G! It is not a good show…like at all! Then I tried to watch The Fosters, which was slightly better but then again… how much of this stuff can actually happen to one particular teen? I can’t finish teen dramas anymore.
So, after thinking about this (and making fun with friends), I realized that my huge problem with teen dramas, besides some of the plot’s logic, and the reason why I can’t stand them anymore is that…
No teenager behaves like that! Characters do not act like typical teenagers. It is not even normal behaviour for someone in their 20s. Most of the characters feel like they are like 35 but look like a 24-year-old, but in reality, they are 16. They have mimosas for breakfast, which causes zero issues with their parents (and btw I am not making this up. This happens in Riverdale). They talk and think as if they were poets or have a fantastic amount of popular culture in their brains. They go around life as if they were models and being super dramatic. They have issues that are like wait….what? And they deal with them in ways that are mind-blowing. Like honestly, I love their reasoning. I know that the show has to be dramatic, so it is entertaining and interesting, but most of the times it is simply laughable. The one that makes me roll my eyes more often is the idea that teenagers can take down criminals or gangs. There are shows that it is more plausible like Gossip Girl because they have the money or The Vampire Diaries because they are…you know… vampires, but you really can’t expect me to believe that a “normal” teen can hunt down and capture a criminal. That is like saying that when I was 16 years old, I was able to catch members of Hells Angels. Not believable…AT ALL. They are not Batman. And this happens all the time. And what is wrong with going to the police? Or even telling their parents? Actually, parents are always missing. There is always an excuse for why there is no parental supervision. They are oblivious, they are in Paris (again), or they are dead…whatever.
I admit that I am overthinking this, and maybe I do not enjoy these shows anymore because I am not longer their target demographic or…maybe… simply the quality has decreased, but the point here is that I am simply not able to watch Teen dramas anymore….at least not without laughing or rolling my eyes every 5 minutes.