Finished it last night, surprised so many on this board are singing praises. I gave it a B-, it felt like a good soap opera. Better than average, but not great. Everything is so dramatic, the stakes are so high, typical teenagers.
I do wonder how my viewing of this show would change if I was a. A parent myself or b. Had lived this in high school. I feel out of the loop, went to a big public high school, we partied a bit, but nothing was this crazy. This is soap opera level shit. Then again every character in this "crew" has a fucked up home life of some sort, they aren't showing the stable homes, nor the split homes where both parents are still involved and providing support/love. Rue's dad died, Cassie's dad is a crack-head and mom's an alchie, Maddie's parents hate each other in the same home 24/7, Nate's dad likes underage trans kids, Jules' mom is MIA, etc. etc. The only semi-normal home seemed to be Kat's and I never saw a dad in hers.
The only couple of "good & normal" kids seemed to be the dude that sat next to Kat and fell in love with her and Cassie's little sister (who grew up in the same household but is completely different). Everybody else was the most dramatic character they could muster.