1x01 Pilot

Good Jesus what happened here? Who thought any of this was a good idea? In an era where we have literal Nazis claiming to be oppressed by minorities (many of whom have been oppressed for centuries) because of the changes in the past 10-15 years, why on earth would it be appropriate to make this. I LOVED Heathers (1989). As a 90s kid it was mostly a pop culture thing for me (back when pop culture didn't move at lightning speed that the internet demands now) until I actually rented it and I truly got the chance to appreciate it. It was a fantastically dark film. As I got older of course I could appreciate the digs the movie provided at the outward proper and prim face WASP society would wear while being duplicitous and judgmental on the inside.

This TV show however is completely inappropriate for 2018. Does no one watching TV know how social media works? This is the show that all the racists have been waiting for. A show in which a "normal" (and they keep stressing this) white girl goes up against the super powerful minorities: black lesbian (pst not a lesbian just more virtue signalling), a gender-queer ginger, and their plus size leader. These new "Heathers" rule the school with a social justice platform that has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with presenting the viewer with the idea that social justice is bullying. Everything in this show is designed to appeal to the likes of the Hate YouTubers. The ones that hide behind avatars and obnoxious names and make highly specific videos against feminists and Black Lives Matter that completely miss the point and almost uniformly assume anything pro women must be anti men. The ones that will respond to a 20 minute video about feminism with an hour long video titled Re: {Original Video Title}

The YouTubers who assumed, incorrectly, that Black Lives Matter meant ONLY Black Lives Matter will love this new show. Because in this show all the "weirdos" are using their power exactly like they say they do. It's all "virtue signalling" and if you don't know what that is check out this YouTube Video (ID:sAmM872874A) googling the ID should be fine. In the first episode our minority leaders of the school spontaneously and with no inciting event attack a white male jock for wearing a shirt with a potential slur against First Nation people. They even point out that a first nation person (1/16th) is in the cafeteria RIGHT NOW. But surprise, it's all just virtue signalling because they don't even care that the kid "who should be offended" doesn't care. They use the controversy it could cause to bully this poor white jock character into taking off his shirt in the middle of the cafeteria, which I imagine was supposed to be embarrassing but given that they don't cast ugly people on TV didn't exactly work. He looks like a fit football jock with his shirt off.

You see dear viewers.. this is what minorities do. They just use their minority status to bully white people. And only straight white people (like Veronica) can call a spade a spade. That's why she's our hero character. She's the only one who doesn't buy into the Heather's brand of social justice bullying.

In spite of what the showrunner claims nothing in this show is done sarcastically. For an example of what sarcastic portrayals would look like see the fantastically hilarious and over the top Scream Queens and considering how much I hate Ryan Murphy I was so impressed with that show that I couldn't deny it's greatness and how much I enjoyed it. The show is just a straight forward whitelash. White characters who feel like they're tired of being supplanted by newer characters who are different races or genders have been on the rise clapping back. For a much better show about how the popular girls look different than they did in the 80s see Awkward. Both of those shows do everything that Heathers looks like it's trying to do but better.

Even the parents serve this anti social justice goal. Veronica's parents are tablet obsessed, ignore their child, yet can't operate technology, and care more about puppies than the poor African children next to them. JD (the psychotic character who will take Veronica down the bad path) on the other hand has a father who doesn't ignore his son but is a manly man and is sarcastic towards him but at least pays attention to him. He's a frakking tycoon who works hard and gets punished by society "just for trying to make a living and make jobs". Heck we later find out that he collects literal Nazi memorabilia down to the pills that Germans took to induce vomiting (in case of poisoning) as well as pills to induce death.

This isn't a flashy remake of Heathers that has been updated for the modern era. It's an alt-right wet dream. This isn't Heathers 2018 this is Make Heathers Great Again.

P.S. There are two great jokes about technology though.

1. "Let's trim a few seconds, it'll get more hits if it's under 10" (when they're filming a fake suicide video)
   
2. "No one tells you how to prepare for [death of a friend], like are we supposed to unfollow her?" (During the wake for Heather 1)