Seven years ago, ABC cancelled Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 halfway through its second season. Now, it’s time to revisit this charming, witty, feminine gem that has stayed modern and brilliantly funny.
Despite its short run, ABC’s appalling decision to air the second season brutally out of order, and my initial skepticism at the suspiciously misogynistic title, Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 swept me off my feet effortlessly. Created by Nahnatchka Khan, the show stars Dreama Walker as June, a wholesome, eager, career-driven young woman; and Krysten Ritter as Chloe, a promiscuous, self-obsessed party girl with the morals of a pirate. The show embraces both characters with ease.
While Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 isn’t without its flaws, we must give credit where it’s due: it’s one of the rare pieces of media that spotlights the humour and polarities of femininity without villainizing or belittling femme identities. For example, on a weekend trip to the Hamptons, Chloe is determined to have a bender while June milks a goat, buys fresh peaches from a farmer, and goes out for scones. Chloe isn’t punished for her hedonism at the end of the episode and June doesn’t learn to ‘let loose’; instead, the episode makes a point of denying audiences the twisted pleasure of laughing at women.
In apartment 23, June and Chloe are allowed the space to dial their characters up to eleven: when money is tight, June makes and sells strawberry jam to cover their rent while Chloe secretly films their jam-making and posts them on a monetized fetish site. This dynamic proves that women can flourish in the buddy comedy genre, exploring a female friendship that’s simultaneously blunter and more nuanced than what we’ve been afforded by most other mainstream media.
More broadly, the show argues that comedy, which is so often dominated by men, is beyond capable of becoming a women’s genre. In conventional comedy, women are relegated to being objects of desire or ridicule; Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 actively resists this convention and, through June and Chloe, creates a space where femininity is self-determined and women can reclaim control over the way they are seen.
The show positions us to see the world through June’s eyes: her love interests, her conflicts at work, and her friendship with Chloe. As June navigates her life in New York, we are asked to consider her choices and decisions as she might. Is Mark good for her? Is her job at Harkin Financial good for her? When should she interfere with Chloe’s unruliness—like when she fosters a child to be her personal assistant—and when should she let her be?
As their personalities collide in apartment 23, the show asserts over and over again that there is no wrong way to be a woman, and every chance we get to laugh with June and Chloe is a breath of fresh air.