mel in the milkyway: Go Girls Season 5, A Year of All Things New

currently: just finished watching Go Girls on demand.

So it finally happened, the first episode of Go Girls season 5.
And you know what? It was pretty good.

Now before you mount on your high horses of hate and share your hurt feelings, yes I am still a bit miffed about the fact the entire cast is changed. There are situations that have still yet to be resolved with the original cast.

BUT, after watching this first episode, this brand new cast is quite nice to have.

"But it's not Go Girls" you say. "It's not the same people, it's all wrong!"
Well not all of it is wrong. The concept of Go Girls has always been about friends who set a year long goal to better their life, as they make their way through their 20s on the North Shore.
You can't say that the current cast of Go Girls are not like that.

And unlike the old cast, I feel the new cast is a bit more real and not so pidgeonholed into North Shore stereotypes.

For example; Ted, the series narrator, is an instantly likeable character. Down to earth, simple, a real Kiwi bloke much like Kevin. And his narration means that as a character, he's easy to figure out and connect to. I don't really like the plot of him going after his gorgeous high-school teacher, but his attitude as a loyal friend and a decent man means girls watching the show will be ready to fall in love with him. (He's not that bad a looker too.) By the way, I don't know why Go Girls has this thing for missing parents...

And I'm unsure as to how Candy has friends in the first place (if she was such a bully and hated woman) but her confidence and cunningness is that sort of quality that girls want to have (minus all that sluzza background.) I could draw some Amy parallels to her, but Candy is definitely more self-sure, and less of a princess like Amy was.

The others of the class I'm still unsure over. Alice and Bennie are a bit of unsettled characters who are a bit harder to figure out, while Levi has this faint air of mystery around him.

But one change I really did enjoy was the way the catalyst for the whole year was launched. Go Girls for the past four seasons ended in weddings (whether that succeeded or failed) or people getting engaged. So it was a completely opposite choice to launch this season with a failed wedding, and use it to push the characters into stretching their identities - instead of finding love and all that romance drama (Ted being the slight exception to this, though being a hero is an admirable quest).

There's still so much to be said about using a brand new and unfamiliar cast, but while watching this episode, I kinda felt like these people were familiar to me. After all, everyone has a good solid group of friends trying to make their way through life.

Plus, it's too early to write off the show as a failure or success yet, so till next week.