The Cat's Me-Wow: Doll Face Head Space

Sneaking that princess figure into my last post made me want to show you more of my dolls.  And no, not the creepy, lace-covered, porcelain kind, although I've got those in my parents' attic.  Just the candy-colored, normal kind that every kid -- and forty-year-old -- has stashed in her playroom-slash-craft room.  

Having Barbie on the brain means prime time to gab about the Hulu original comedy Dollface, which recently debuted Season 2.  For the uninitiated, LA transplant Jules (Kat Dennings) is dumped by her long-term boyfriend, a clueless cad who patronizingly calls her, yes, doll face.  On her own for the first time in years, Jules decides to reconnect with her college besties Madison (Brenda Song) and Stella (Shay Mitchell).  But being a girls' girl instead of a boyfriend girl is more difficult than she anticipates.  As is her dubious gig as a web designer for a lifestyle brand run by you-know-what-on-wheels Celeste (Malin Akerman).  Surrounded by the Allisons at the office -- a trio of mean girl yes women who all go by the same name -- Jules retreats further into her self-effacing shell, her dry wit unappreciated.  That is, until one of the Allisons (Esther Povitsky) breaks away and admits that being in the in crowd isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Suddenly at the center of a hybrid friend group, Jules reevaluates her career and juggles new romantic prospects (Criminal Minds's Matthew Gray Gubler and Katy Keene's Luke Cook), making her feel alive again, far from the plastic doll of her past.  

What's more, she has her cat.  And no, I'm not referring to cozy couch cuddles where Jules pours out her soul to some tabby who'd rather lick itself.  Jules has dream sequences in which her cat morphs into a walking, talking advisor, dropping harsh truths in the voice of the secretary from The Mindy Project (Beth Grant).  This cat lady gone loco, coupled with a beachy, retro theme song and Jules's apathetic-rather-than-perky persona make Dollface more than just another show about a twentysomething trying to figure it out.  It's refreshing to see a heroine who's the antithesis of a go-getter in a world overstuffed with suck-up pick-me's.  Not that Jules doesn't have plenty to learn.  But she grows in her own way, to the beat of her own spirit animal, one well-timed wisecrack at a time.

That said, I look forward to Season 3.  Maybe its feline fever dreams will feature a glitter box of crap decisions.  Or, at the very least, a high stakes hairball brawl.