Anyone Who's Been To College Can Relate To These 11 Moments In "The Sex Lives Of College Girls"
If you haven't been watching Mindy Kaling's hysterical new HBO Max show, The Sex Lives of College Girls, hoo boy, let me be the first to say that you are seriously missing out.
The Sex Lives of College Girls (which just got renewed for a second season), takes us into the world of the fictional, elite Essex College. It stars Reneé Rapp, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Pauline Chalamet, and Amrit Kaur as four college freshman roommates who are just figuring this whole young-adult-life thing out. And yes, it gets awkward. A lot.
There are tons of laugh-out-loud funny scenes, BUT there are also tons of deeply cringe, highly relatable moments that will 100% make you think back to your own time as a wee college student.
Let's count down some of the show's most relatable moments, shall we? (Warning: spoilers ahead.)
1.Getting iced out by your so-called friends.
In Episode 1, "Welcome to Essex," uptight Upper East Sider Leighton (Reneé Rapp) is sure she'll be rooming with her two (equally preppy) friends from high school. That is, until they unceremoniously friend-dump her on the first day of college, blindsiding Leighton in the process. (As we'll come to find out, Leighton's friends have a pretty understandable reason for dumping her.) Still, who hasn't been suddenly and passive-aggressively friend-dumped?
2.Crushing on a friend's hot older brother.
Meet Nico (Gavin Leatherwood): Leighton's older brother who also attends Essex. In the first episode of Season 1, Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) makes serious eye contact with him as he runs past her. Suffice it to say, a serious crush develops, which may or may not be reciprocated.
3.Only to find out that hot older brother has a secret girlfriend and is actually a low-key fuccboi.
In Episode 8, "The Surprise Party," Kimberly finds out that after multiple sexy (but secret) encounters with Nico — surprise! — Nico actually has a girlfriend, whom Leighton flew in from Barcelona for his surprise birthday party. And she's gorgeous too. (Goddamn it.)
4.Being preyed on/groomed by an older person with power.
I hate that this situation is so relatable, but it is all too common. Throughout Season 1, comedy hopeful Bela (Amrit Kaur) is repeatedly sexually assaulted by one of the editors of Essex's comedy magazine, The Catullan, and has to decide whether or not to take any action against him. Likewise, soccer star Whitney is having an affair with her married assistant soccer coach, who at one point tells her how much he likes her "skin tone." Hrm.
5.Getting a UTI from not peeing after sex.
Kimberly and Nico finally bang it out in Episode 7, "I Think I'm a Sex Addict." Yay!! Too bad no one ever told Kim, though, that you can get a UTI from not peeing after sex, which is exactly what happens to her. Ouch.
6.Hiding your "real" self from your parents when they come to visit.
In Episode 6, "Parents Weekend," the four roommates host their parents on Essex's campus. The catch, though, is that Kimberly, Leighton, Whitney, and Bela are all keeping secrets from their parents. For instance, Bela LOVES comedy, but her parents think she's a science major. Meanwhile, Kimberly is ashamed of not being as financially well off as her roommates, which becomes apparent when all four families go out for an expensive dinner.
7.Working to pay the ginormous college bills.
Like I was saying, Kimberly has some insecurity around the fact that she comes from a small, sheltered town in Arizona and her parents don't have a lot of money. As part of her financial aid package, she works at Sips, an on-campus coffee shop. Though Essex is full of wealthy kids who might not *need* to work, Kimberly's situation is actually way more common and relatable to the majority of students out there.
8.Hiding from yourself.
Though Leighton's life looks pretty charmed from the outside — she's gorgeous, comes from money, is good at math, etc. — she comes from a pretty conservative background. As a result, Leighton has identity issues and is extremely insecure, often sniping at her roommates and brother Nico. Namely, she's gay (and deeply closeted), but she can't bear the idea of coming out and having anyone view her differently.
9.Slacking on your responsibilities for some hot, hot sex.
As Kimberly and Nico — ahem — consummate their attraction, Kimberly starts to let her grades slip, leading to her taking desperate measures to get them back up. (PSA, kids: Don't cheat on your midterms.) That said, who among us hasn't, oh, IDK, forgotten to pay a bill or three when we're getting it in on the regular?
10.Being totally confused by a crush — do they like me or not?? WTF??
One of the key indicators that Nico was into Kimberly was when he double-tapped a sexyyy photo she uploaded to Instagram with the comment "That dress, tho." Except the next day, Nico deleted his comment. (Grrrrr. Confusing.)
11.When YOU'RE out (and proud), but the person you're dating refuses to come out.
If you're comfortably out, like Leighton's Essex love interest Alicia (Midori Francis), then it can be really, really frustrating to date someone who refuses to be affectionate in public with you. After they hook up a few times, Alicia (understandably) breaks up with Leighton in Episode 9 when she won't go public with her.
