Teenage Bounty Hunters (2020) (TV)

Surprisingly entertaining! 27 November 2020

On their way home from a night out, teenage fraternal twins, Sterling (Maddie Phillips) and Blair (Angelica Bella Fellini), find themselves caught up in the dangerous world of bounty hunting when they interrupt (and accidentally aid) a veteran bounty hunter taking down a “skip”.  Much hilarity and teen angst ensues.

There is no way my wife and I were part of the demographic the makers of Teenage Bounty Hunters were going for.  I’m a 57 year-old married white guy with two kids under 18, two dogs, and a mortgage.  We decided to give it a whirl anyway and . . . Wow!  How fun was that?  We found Teenage Bounty Hunters surprisingly entertaining.  

I can pretty well sum up what we liked about the show in two words, Sterling and Blair - or more precisely, Maddie Phillips and Angelica Bella Fellini.  These two young women were absolutely fantastic.  Cute, sweet, athletic, funny, bad-ass, and immensely watchable - they grabbed us from the beginning and drug us along on their crazy adventure.  The two are helped by some amazing writing.  I’m not a 16 year-old girl, but the dialogue seemed on point to me.  It’s funny and felt true throughout.  Their story will tug at your heartstrings one minute and have you on an adrenaline high the next.  Even at its cringiest (and you’re going to have cringey in a teenage drama), it’s still good.  And I really appreciated the way the show wove the action and comedy with some interesting notions on religion, sexual identification, race, gun rights, and more.  The characters take an interesting travel through these potential minefields.  Unlike a lot of television I watch, not once did I find anything to really object to.  Nice going! 

As soon as we finished the last episode, we looked to see when Season 2 would be out.  We were shocked to read Teenage Bounty Hunters has already been canceled.  I’m stunned.  What a mistake on the part of Netflix!  I’m holding out hope there’s some way it can be saved.  There are so many plot twists and cliffhangers at the end of the season that I’d love to see resolved.  But regardless of whether or not we ever get to see the further adventure of Sterling and Blair, my wife and I have decided we’ll follow the actors’ careers to see what’s next for these wonderfully talented performers.  

Finally, what a hoot it was to see Kadeem Hardison?  I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything since A Different World.  

8/10