Boo, Bitch Trailer Breakdown: Lana Condor Is Ghosting Her Friends
Let's face it — we've all desperately wished we were invisible at least once during high school. Perhaps for the broodier among us, the thought has occurred that if we were to suddenly drop dead, countless would pop out of the woodwork to lament our loss. But what if after death, you could still influence what your peers thought of you — and maybe even become more popular than you ever were in life?
Well, that's what appears to be the loose premise of "Boo, Bitch," a limited series set to hit Netflix on July 8. Screenwriters Erin Ehrlich ("Crazy Ex-Girlfriend") and Lauren Iungerich ("On My Block") serve as series showrunners and principal writers. The story for the series itself comes from a script that was optioned by co-creators Tim Schauer and Kuba Soltysiak, which Ehrlich and Iungerich have altered significantly. Netflix darling Lana Condor (of "To All the Boys" trilogy fame) stars and serves as an executive producer.
Though a ton of details haven't been revealed on the finer plot details of "Boo, Bitch," a synopsis supplied by Netflix reveals the gist of the series:
"Over the course of one night, a high school senior, who's lived her life safely under the radar, seizes the opportunity to change her narrative and start living an epic life, only to find out the next morning... she's a motherf**king ghost."
Now that a trailer's just dropped, let's dig into what we can expect from the limited series.
High school regrets and a last-minute vow for a change
As soon as the trailer starts, we're introduced to best friends Erica (Condor) and Gia (Zoe Margaret Colletti) during their last days of high school. As opposed to being elated over graduation, they feel enormous regret over how lackluster their youthful experience has been.
"We're about to leave high school, and all we have to show for it is our education," complains Gia. "We are not leaving until we've had some real fun."
A few brief snippets of scenes flash by: the girls dance wildly in one of their bedrooms, tear down a banner in the hall of their high school, and clutch iconic red solo cups during a nighttime pool party.
"I can't believe we waited so long to start living," Gia says off-camera in response to their recent antics. The camera then pans to Erica, who faces Gia in the middle of a desolate road surrounded by woods. "From now on, let's promise to live our lives without giving any fu—" Erica's thought is interrupted by the yellow gleam of approaching headlights, a truck horn blaring as the girls stand and scream in the middle of the road, clearly paralyzed by fear.
Ending up in the afterlife
As it appears, Erica is the one who perishes from the truck collision. Now daytime, Gia calmly asks: "Erica, are you okay?"
"Oh god, what happened?!" Erica jolts awake terrified. Her feelings are only exacerbated when she sees her dead body lying a few feet away from where she's woken up. It looks like her corpse has been hastily covered with a dead deer. "How am I there and still here? Am I a ghost?"
How did Gia survive seemingly unscathed, though? And why is Erica still perceptible to the living in a separate corporeal form that clearly isn't attached to her corpse?
Somehow still clinging to this mortal coil
"How can I be dead and walking and talking?" A stupefied Erica asks. Suddenly, a pack of small dogs begin barking as Erica's specter walks by. "They know," she jokes.
As Erica approaches a glass door, she nervously declares: "I'm going to walk through it." She walks right into it, evidently unable to pass through solid matter.
"Do I have to be invited in?" Erica wonders.
"You're not a vampire," reasons Gia. "Pull, don't push."
What appears to be the biggest delineation in "Boo, Bitch" as opposed to other ghost-centric media is that people still seem to be able to see and interact with Erica, or at least that's what the trailer certainly makes it seem like. She still holds conversations with Gia, and at one point gives the finger to her mom — who swiftly returns the gesture, meaning she must have seen it. On top of that, Erica's wardrobe and make-up choices become progressively more ostentatious as she embraces her newfound ghostliness. Surely she's not dressing so elaborately if people can't even see her.
As the girls struggle to figure out exactly what the heck is going on, they decide to tap the knowledge of an enduring faction of teenage misfits.
Asking goth kids for help
"We have to figure out what's going on with me," Erica declares.
"These kids know all about the occult," Gia responds while the pair gaze upon a goth kid cramming Twizlers into their mouth. "I bet they have answers."
Led by a group of goths into a graveyard, a girl aptly named Raven (Abigail Achiri) explains the basic tenet of ghostliness: "Ghosts are ghosts because they always have unfinished business in their mortal life."
An image flashes by of a feathery-haired boy sitting in a classroom, Erica clearly fawning over him from across the room. Could her "unfinished business" have to do with unrequited love?
Could this be just the change Erica needed?
"Until I figure out my unfinished business, I'm going to get down to business," Erica proudly asserts.
"You're making the most of the little bit of life you have left," Gia cheerily agrees. Once again, the subject turns to the prospect of lusty relationships when Erica muses on one of the pros of her undead state.
"At least I can't get pregnant!" She exclaims. "Oh, wait, can I? Are ghost babies a thing?"
It appears that only having so much life left to live has ironically revitalized Erica's pursuit for a truly memorable high school experience. Is this newfound joie de vivre and confidence just what she needed to finally flourish? At the very least, there's a willingness to try on a few new looks to see what sticks.
A metaphysical loophole complicates things
...Or maybe Erica intends to stay on Earth far longer than she initially anticipated. Somehow, she becomes convinced that she's found a way to stay a ghost indefinitely, never passing on to the afterlife.
"I found a loophole," she excitedly tells Gia. "I can stick around if I'm more famous in death than in life."
Her pursuit for post-mortem popularity, however, appears to put a strain on the one actually stable friendship that she forged in life. As she becomes more obsessed with her appearance — both in school and on social media — Erica seems totally absorbed in this new narrative she's created for herself. It seems that her classmates all idolize her and she's finally starting to get the guy she's always wanted. But will there be a price to pay?
"Are you planning on posting from the afterlife?" Gia asks, clearly annoyed with Erica's increased reliance on her phone.
"Why are you being so hostile?" She responds. "I'm evolving. As my close friend, you should allow me to grow ... my following," she adds with a smile.
Unanswered questions remain
Of course, no good trailer would give everything away! For a show that will only run for a limited eight-episode run, there's so much to already anticipate from "Boo, Bitch." Can Erica successfully court a boyfriend from beyond the grave? "I like Erica," her crush states in a brief clip at the end of the trailer to his friend's shocked faces.
"My name is Erica Vu, and this is my party," begins her last voice-over segment of the trailer. "So if you don't like it, there's the door!"
To close it out, we get another appearance from the Twizzler-eating goth kid, who's apparently named Gavin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor).
You may unearth some crazy, dark shit," he warns. "Now, you'll need the bones of a mourning dove and a packet of hemlock."
He begins to walk away, a few boxes of pizza balanced on his hip, before swiftly returning. "Or Capri Suns."
While we may not have all the answers, several distinct aspects of "Boo, Bitch" already feel fully-realized. It's sure to be a clever, funny, totally new take on haunted high schools — definitely worth checking out with the A/C cranking on a hot summer's day.
"Boo Bitch" comes to Netflix on July 8, 2022.