Searching for a TV show to stave off the boredom of lockdown? Look no further: HBO has got you covered with its latest must-see series, Betty, which premieres tonight. Centering around young women shredding in New York City, the series is abound in good vibes and impressive skating to boot. HBO rarely ever dips into teen drama territory, but when it does, the results are pretty staggering (see: Euphoria), so Betty already has a lot of promise.
But there’s more to the show than just skating that’ll make you consider heading to the nearest park when self-isolation is over. With its Instagram-famous cast and a feature film, Betty has its own small-scale mythology that’s worth knowing about before you dive into its world.
What is Betty about?
The six-episode series introduces us to a tight-knit group of girl skaters and follows their everyday lives as they navigate the male-dominated world of skateboarding. The title comes from the derogatory nickname sometimes thrown at them by men. Beyond that, the girls also discover crushes, tackle problems and embark on small-time adventures across New York. The main cast is composed of members of the real NYC-based skate collective, The Skate Kitchen.
Who are The Skate Kitchen?
Several members of the real-life skating sisterhood play fictitious versions of themselves in the series, including Rachelle Vinberg, Nina Moran, Dede Lovelace, Kabrina “Moonbear” Adams and Ajani Russell. According to Moran, (who, by the way, has done an actual Ted Talk) the group’s name is their way of reclaiming a phrase that’s been frequently hurled towards them: “go back to the kitchen”. The group quickly launched to Internet fame after accumulating over 100k followers on Instagram, and they’ve been credited with inspiring legions of young women to pick up a board (this writer included, embarrassingly).
In 2016, they were discovered by documentarian Crystal Moselle one day on the G train, who noticed Moran recounting a story to Vinberg about a girl she made out with. (Side note: remember public transport?) Charmed by her colorful personality, and the skateboards the two were holding, the filmmaker approached them on the train platform. And so, a fruitful collaboration was born that has spawned a Miu Miu ad campaign, and the hit Sundance drama, Skate Kitchen. Betty is the third entry in the SKCU (Skate Kitchen Cinematic Universe).
Are Betty and Skate Kitchen connected?
Sort of. The show is a spin-off of the film, and a few members of the cast reprise their characters from Skate Kitchen. But with the extra minutes of a TV show, storylines have been tweaked and expanded to accommodate some of the more minor characters in the film. Honeybear, for example, (played by Adams) mostly hangs around in the sidelines with a camera in the film, but she gets a more prominent arc in the series that explores her anxiety in the face of a burgeoning relationship with another girl skater. Judging by what we’ve seen, the events from the film seem to have not happened in the series either, so I guess this is like an alternate universe situation…?