Selfie - Series Premiere - Review: The Social Network

Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

What works about Selfie is the contradiction in its premise: Eliza Dooley (Karen Gillan) is socially active online, but socially inept in real life. A "like" on Facebook or Instagram only carries you so far if none of those "likes" translate into actual, meaningful connections. As Eliza learns at her lowest moment, she may have over 200,000 "friends", but she's every bit as alone as she would be if she were stranded on a desert island. While on a business flight as a sales exec with a multi-million dollar firm, Eliza discovers her boyfriend is married, has a complete emotional breakdown, and vomits into two airline sick bags, both of which break open and leave her covered in her own "panic pudding". Eliza realizes that not only is no one concerned about her physical or emotional well-being in the aftermath, but they're actually glad to see her taken down a peg. Realizing she needs a serious image overhaul, she turns to the corporation's self-image guru to help re-brand herself as someone who isn't some horrible person who's worthy of ridicule. Unfortunately for Eliza, Henry Higgs (John Cho) isn't interested in helping. Well...at least not until he arbitrarily decides that he is.

Credit: ABC

One of the shortcomings of the pilot is that Henry vehemently opposes helping Eliza, explaining in no uncertain terms that she can't be helped, and even if she could, he wouldn't want to since he can't stand her. Henry is a more forceful, blunt protagonist than we've gotten on a TV comedy in some time, which is why it's all the more perplexing when he just up and decides to help Eliza out anyway, practically changing his mind mid-sentence, without even being prompted by any epiphany or rewording of the situation. He pretty much just repeats everything Eliza just told him -- that he could re-brand her just like he would one of the corporation's failed products -- and suddenly, he's on-board with the image makeover. When the entire catalyst of your show is that this self-image wunderkind decides to help this woman he can't stand, there should probably be a better reason for having him decide to do so. Henry doesn't need Eliza, which makes their pairing one-sided, from a dramatic standpoint. Maybe Henry will be revealed to be every bit as alone as Eliza, but that doesn't appear to be the case. We only get a reference to a failed relationship, and Henry's own stuck-up, stick-in-the-mud demeanor as reasons why he might need someone like Eliza in his life. It'll be better for the show if, ultimately, Henry discovers that Eliza is as necessary for his own well-being as he is for hers. Although I'd love if the pairing remained non-romantic for as long as possible. Cho and Gillan have a wonderful sort of mentor/pupil chemistry that would be tarnished by a hookup. Hell, even the inevitable "Will they?" / "Won't they?" tension could hurt the pairing, since there isn't really a lot of places this show can go after putting these two together, I would think. So I'd delay the process as long as possible. This is a pairing that could have romantic chemistry in the future, but they aren't quite there yet.

Credit: ABC

Ultimately, Gillan and Cho are very effective in their performances. Henry is implacable, and Cho plays that stubbornness well. Meanwhile, Eliza is every bit as hard-headed about her social media presence (if there's one annoying trait about the character, it's her need to talk almost exclusively in rapid-fire internet lingo). Gillan plays her as someone who recognizes that this is a problem, but lacks the proper motivation (or inner strength) to change, at least on her own. It's kind of poignant, especially when we learn that Eliza's desperation to be the Queen of Social Media is fueled by her gawky, awkward adolescent years. She was a teenager who vacillated between being ridiculed by her peers, and being ignored altogether. In attempting to escape the specter of her unpopular youth, she made over her entire persona, and essentially became someone who never has to interact with her feelings, since no one really expects much from her anyway. As the episode rolls on, we learn that her obsession with messing around on her phone is a defense mechanism that allows her to avoid having to confront her feelings, an explanation that would feel on-the-nose if it were regarding any other character but this. For Eliza, it just makes sense. Whether she's playing on her phone to avoid listening to an emotionally-moving wedding speech, or she's singing along to "Bad Romance" while her neighbor Bryn (Allyn Rachel) and her friends give her a "make-under," Eliza is portrayed as someone who does her damndest to avoid having to confront her loneliness. While watching Bryn's friends clean her house, Eliza wonders to herself, "Is this what friends do for each other?" Genuine human connections seem entirely foreign to her, and it makes her a character worthy of empathy, even if we don't see much of ourselves in her.

Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

Selfie is an encouraging pilot, as Suburgatory creator Emily Kapnek could have another cult hit on her hands. Or possibly even a proper hit. At the very least, I hope this show doesn't bomb, as Gillan and Cho are really quite endearing, and the show has tons of potential to grow into something special, and something far more than just a small-screen take on My Fair Lady.