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If bubbly brainiac Elle Woods taught us anything in the 2001 megahit Legally Blonde, it’s that you can’t judge a book by its sparkly pink cover. Viewers should remember that when they tune in to Elle (premiering Wednesday, July 1), Prime Video’s candy-coated eight-episode spinoff about Woods (winning newcomer Lexi Minetree) as a high school student in 1995.
In this reimagining of the Harvard heroine’s origin story, the central fish-out-of-water tension bubbles over when the Woods family relocates from sunny SoCal to grunge-obsessed Seattle. Ms. Woods, meet Nirvana. And rain. And a distinct lack of pink.
Created by Laura Kittrell (Insecure, Black Monday) and executive produced by original Elle, Reese Witherspoon, the dramedy finds ways to nod to the movies — yes, Bruiser the dog is here! — while creating a new world for Elle to brighten with her signature optimism.
It helps that Minetree channels Witherspoon’s indelible creation in all the right ways. She’s not doing an imitation, but one need not squint hard to see how this glass-half-full teen will eventually wind up shining in the courtroom thanks to her gumption and formidable beauty care knowledge.
Elle’s new world includes her supportive parents, played by Tom Everett Scott and a characteristically wonderful June Diane Raphael (the confessional scenes between mother and daughter are some of the show’s strongest). There are high school friends and frenemies and duh, even a love interest or two. To keep things moving, the season also introduces a central mystery for Elle and her friends to solve — a fitting nod to our protagonist’s future legal career.
It’s surprising that producers resisted the urge to turn this thing into a cameofest — not even Witherspoon appears — but their restraint is a model for all studios in our IP-driven era. Take away the film inspiration, and Elle would still be a warm coming-of-age TV show about the importance of having faith in yourself. Elle Woods is famous for proving doubters wrong, and here, she does it again.
What, like it’s hard?
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