Teenage Bounty Hunters Review: The Wesley Sisters are on the Hunt for More Consistent Storytelling (Season 1 Episodes 1-5)

On the surface, Netflix’s latest weird dramedy Teenage Bounty Hunters is the perfect piece of fun summer fluff. Once the binge starts, it reveals itself as a fractured story, with enough good performances that it’s worth spending a little time with these characters.

The series follows twin sisters Blair (Anjelica Bette Fellini) and Sterling (Maddie Phillips) Wesley. Two rich girls in Atlanta, who literally crash into becoming bounty hunters.

It’s during this first encounter that they meet experienced bail enforcement agent Bowser, played by TV favorite Kadeem Hardison. Though he knows they’re only in high school, he recognizes their potential and hires them as interns who help with cases.

With that, we’re off into the crazy world of Blair, Sterling, and Bowser.

We spend half our time with the trio out in the field or at Bowser’s yogurt shop. The other half focuses on the girls’ lives at their deeply religious private high school.

Since they went through all the trouble of titling it Teenage Bounty Hunters, that’s kind of the reason we’re here, so when the action moves back to school, the story loses momentum.

Despite the constant references to the Bible, the duo attends a typical high school with all the drama that viewers expect. Unfortunately, none of that drama is remotely interesting.

There’s way too much time spent on the abstinence-only politics of their private school. The high school scenes are just filler until we get back to bounty hunting.

Sterling has sex with her longtime boyfriend Luke, and the resulting fallout lasts for five episodes. Since Sterling is such a smart, capable young woman, it is completely unbelievable that she spent six years putting up with Luke the doofus.

Once she finally decides to get some space to focus on herself, she finds a new confidence, while also embracing her sexuality. Basically, Luke was holding her back, and realizing that makes her a more well-rounded character. 

April is one of the few high school students who has a more interesting story to tell. Unfortunately, the series spends the first five episodes portraying her as a run of the mill mean girl. She has minions and everything.

There’s clearly more to her ongoing rivalry with Sterling, but none of that is revealed until the sixth episode, so if you didn’t stick around, you didn’t see it.

Blair and Sterling working with Bowser, slowly bringing him out of his hole, while becoming increasingly enamored with their new jobs is fun to watch. The show succeeds when it plays on the chemistry of the sisters.

Unfortunately, all the good moments are instantly undercut by nonsense teen angst or silly rich people problems. A fun show with charming leads and an interesting premise is constantly dragged down by the melodrama of small-town gossip and politics.

We’re trapped in two shows. One of them has potential and the other is just ridiculous high school stuff.

On Teenage Bounty Hunters Season 1 Episode 3, “This Must Be How Dumb Kids Feel,” the show addresses the front page issue of tearing down confederate statues. The team chases after a woman wanted for cutting the heads off statues near schools. She didn’t want kids seeing them everyday, like she had to.

It’s the best episode of the first five, but like all the politics touched on in the show, it’s all used as a punchline, which dilutes any point it’s trying to make.

Like many teen-focused shows, the adults all feel irrelevant. However, Hardison manages to stand out as the gruff mentor. Bowser is obviously uncomfortable with their teen antics, but he’s endlessly supportive of their commitment to the work. With every episode, the trio’s friendship grows, and they get more fun to watch.

Shirley Rumierk is great as Bowser’s ex/bail bondswoman Yolanda. The two still have feelings for one another, but his marriage to her flighty sister will be a constant source of tension.

She has a quiet strength that we want to spend more time with. Her origin is a fascinating story waiting to be told.

Perhaps it’s because they’re the only two adults who receive extended screen time, or maybe it’s because the rest are all underdeveloped background players. Either way, the grown-ups are all comic relief wallpaper.

Generally, once you’re halfway through a series, you get a very clear picture of where the rest of the show is going. At this point, Teenage Bounty Hunters has no clear path of what’s next.

It’s the kind of show you desperately want to love, but the first batch of episodes makes it difficult to stick around for the fascinating show we can see bubbling under the surface.

What did you think of Teenage Bounty Hunters? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

Teenage Bounty Hunters is currently streaming on Netflix.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

What to Stream in August: Lucifer, Ted Lasso, Work It