Mindy Kaling’s, The Sex Lives of College Girls, follows the lives of four roommates throughout their first semester at Essex College. Kimberly is a small-town valedictorian living off of her work-study plan and financial aid. Leighton is an Essex legacy from New York with a closeted identity. Whitney hopes to escape the shadow of her US senator mother through her soccer career on the school team. And last but not least, Bela dreams of a comedy writing career despite her parents’ wishes of becoming a doctor.
These mismatched characters arrive at Essex with aspirations for their dating lives. However, we are able to discover the characters’ personalities much deeper than their dating lives. Much of the show follows the romance side of the girls’ lives, showing Kimberly’s high school breakup as well as Whitney’s forbidden relationship with her soccer coach. As the show progresses, the girls find their college freshman year to be much different from what they had anticipated. Kimberly struggles to find a work-school balance, leaving her with an academic integrity violation and a chance of being expelled. On the other hand, Bela finds herself excelling through her work at the comedy club, The Catalan, but her successes continue to be threatened by the lack of respect shown from her male peers. Through these plot-lines, Mindy Kaling creates the ability for everyone to be able to relate to a character in the show. For the first time, we get to see the true reality of life as a college girl including the messy, unedited parts of the university experience – which are often left out in other media.
From her start as a writer on The Office to her now endless acting, writing and directing credits, Mindy Kaling has continued to highlight topics that are often not projected in the media. Her project, Never Have I Ever, follows the life of Devi as she navigates high school living in an Indian household. Kaling also highlights her own personal struggles as an Indian female comedy writer through her writing of Late Night. While Mindy has continued to grow as a writer, she never fails to lose touch with the topics she holds close to her heart. Kaling often reworks the modern day romantic comedy cliches through her addition of taboo topics and themes which stand out to most adolescents. Ever since watching Kalings, The Mindy Show, I have found myself constantly gravitating to Kaling’s work whether it be a show, movie or even her best-selling memoirs. This isn’t only because I love a good coming-of-age story, but also because Indian female representation isn’t a common theme within mainstream media. Kaling continues to perfectly portray the teenage life in an immigrant household which is something neither myself nor most first-gens can easily find within television.
The Sex Lives of College Girls continues with the classic coming of age rom-com layout but this doesn’t stop Kaling from playing around with new themes that have yet to be displayed on television. While the focus of this show involves romance and dating lives, the predominant spotlight falls on the relatability of the characters. Oftentimes we see the boy-crazy college girl but the storyline outside of their dating world generally falls short. Through the character development, the audience is not only able to relate to the characters but also continues to root for them throughout this show. With a confirmed season 2 and countless positive reviews, The Sex Lives of College Girls is a must watch.