Television

Review: Netflix’s BabySitters Club promotes diversity, captures essence of original

By CARA HUNT Tribune Features Writer cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

Awhole new generation of tween girls is now being introduced to the immensely popular The Baby-Sitters Club thanks to Netflix’s reboot of the TV show based on the popular books by Ann M Martin.

The series chronicles the adventures of a group of middle school girls who operate a successful baby-sitting business as they also navigate the challenges of growing up.

Like many of my fellow 90s’ teens who grew up along with Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, Dawn and Stacey, I was excited and a bit hesitant to see if the 2020 version would live up to the original.

So many of these reboots have missed the mark (yes, Riverdale, Bewitched and Sabrina The Teenage Witch, I am talking about you) and I hate when Hollywood messes with my childhood memories.

But after using the Independence Day holiday to binge-watch season one of the show, I feel like Netflix has done pretty good job in capturing the essence of the books. The actresses do a great job in bringing the girls to life and the show stays true to the original plot. I almost felt transported back to the 1990s as I got reacquainted with the familiar characters I’d grown to love in my youth.

There were many “blink or may miss them” references to the past – the clear neon phones the girls use to book jobs (bought on Etsy in this new version), posters of the actual book covers on the wall, the yellow plaid suit Claudia wears (an almost exact replica of the one Alicia Silverstone wore in “Clueless”). In the ultimate nod to 90s’ teen entertainment, Silverstone actually plays Kristy’s mom in the series. But make no mistake, this is definitely baby-sitting in the 2020s.

As the girls launch their business, they discuss the advantages of social media and Google Docs to attract clients, and fears that their info may be sold to the Russians and the need to dress “Ruth Bader Ginsberg smart” to help them pass math.

When they attend summer camp and realise that many of the extracurricular activities are out of NETFLIX’s new Baby-Sitter’s Club

financial reach of campers, they stage a sit-in complete with “Les Misérable” inspired barricades (it’s one of several Broadway mentions; one character has seen the original “Hamilton” cast three times because her dad is a producer in New York).

The girls rally around Stacy, who has been cyber-bullied because she is diabetic, and preach lessons in feminism that would make Hillary Clinton proud. “You should really try supporting women. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed,” one of the club members says.

Dawn’s aunt is also a witch ready to expand on the show’s feminist message. “Historically, the term ‘witch’ has been used to describe people, primarily women, who refuse to conform to society’s expectations of who they should be. We’ve got a lot of witches here,” she explains.

It is apparent that the writers tried to bring as much diversity to the cast as possible.

The club’s secretary, Mary Anne Spier, who was white and brunette in the original books and the first show, is now portrayed by Malia Baker, a mixed race actress who was born in Botswana. Dawn Schafer, originally a blonde, blue-eyed transplant from California, has been recast as Latina now played by Xochitl Gomez.

Rounding out your cast are Kristy Thomas (Sophie Grace) and Stacy McGill (Shay Rudolph), who are still portrayed by white actresses, and Claudia Kishi, who was always Japanese- American, portrayed by Momona Tamada.

I especially loved seeing Momona’s portray of Claudia, who is one of my favourite characters.

Where the show loses points for me is in its attempt to tick every politically correct box. Instead of weaving modern sensibilities into the show’s plots, the reboot can get a little preachy at times, particularly for a show about teen girls.

In one episode, Mary Anne takes the transgender girl she is looking after to the hospital. Doctors refer to the child as “he/him”. Mary Anne tells them: “Bailey is not a boy and by treating her like one you are completely ignoring who she is. You are making her feel insignificant and humiliated and that is not going to help her feel good, or safe or calm. From here on out, please recognise her for who she is.”

It’s a passionate speech. I just wonder if most 13-year-olds would be so eloquent. It’s also an episode that has conservatives blasting the reboot.

Dawn tells Mary Anne her parents divorced after her dad came out as is gay. Another of the club’s clients happen to be a lesbian couple. However, instead of this information being woven into the storytelling and advancing the plot, we get impassioned speeches about these topics, only for them never to be mentioned again.

When Claudia’s grandmother has a stroke and her she experiences memory lapses to her youth when she and her family were forced to live in internment camps after Pearl Harbour, Claudia tells her sister she can’t believe people locked other people up like that. Her sister tells her, “I can’t believe they still do” – an obvious reference to the Trump administration’s current immigration policy.

Overall though it’s a good reboot which offers a modern twist on a classic favourite.

Season one of “The Baby-Sitters Club” is currently available on Netflix. It is in the top 10 of most watches shows and movies in Bahamas this week.