Don’t Trust the B**** in Apt. 23: Season 1 Finale

I can’t decide if I love or loathe Don’t Trust the B**** in Apt. 23. It’s strange.

Are we watching Friends? It is located in an apartment in Manhattan and involves dating, roommates and mishaps after all… Wait, no, I think we’re watching a trashy CW show! There’s lots of booze, sex and corruption of innocent, wide-eyed blondes! Er…wait, it’s on ABC. Huh?

Point: the show has potential, but genre-wise, it’s all over the place. It hasn’t quite found its groove, and with only seven episodes, it didn’t have much time to.

Nahnatchka Khan hails Don’t Trust the B*****, known for her work on American Dad and Unfabulous. It’s an intriguing concept: vanilla, small town girl moves in with a raucous, alcoholic sex-pot and learns the way of the world. Ok, I’m in. Krysten Ritter plays Chloe, “the bitch” and Dreama Walker the fresh faced June Colburn. Then, in a tongue-and-cheek casting move, James Van Der Beek plays….himself. Pretty hilarious. Except wait, he’s not funny…

The first six episodes were sprinkled with clever moments, priceless one-liners, and no shortage of the did-she-just-do-that facial twists so frequent in sitcom comedy. The finale continued with the rhythm of the show, not delivering any dramatic plot curve balls. It leaves us simply wondering what’s next for the characters.

June has finally started to become Chloe’s “friend.” She’s doing shots with her! She’s sharing dresses! She’s getting alcohol poisoning!

Oops. June’s dreams are dashed when she parties too hard one night, leaving her a strict sober for the next six months. Will she still be able to keep up with Chloe? No, not the Kardashian.

Meanwhile, it’s revealed that Chloe has a comic book alter-ego and it involves going “commando.” Shitagi Nashi (look it up!). Its no surprise Chloe has a secret fan base in the comic book world, but perhaps she’s hiding some surprises of her own…

James is being his typical diva-self. He’s on the new season of Dancing with the Stars and his dressing room is too small. How could they! He stresses that the width and length of his room with most assuredly affect his dancing performance. Stakes are high.

This show had a lot of hype when it was first pitched. It was nabbed by Fox, passed to ABC and was chosen as one of the “Most exciting new series” at the Critics' Choice Television Awards. Honestly, the only thing to really be hyped about it is Krysten Ritter. She’s killer.

Her comedy is effortless. You hate her, love her, want to be her best friend and dump her in a trashcan all at the same time. It makes for a consistently entertaining character. The problem is that her castmates still need to sharpen their sitcom tools. Dreama has her moments, but overall, she’s unbelievable. Seems likes she ran onto screen from Guys and Dolls around the corner on Broadway. Awkward. And James? We know him from soap drama and I’m still not convinced he can tackle comedy.

It’s more than obvious that Chloe is cool. Everyone thought the same about Regina George. What was interesting, though, was seeing a girl like Cady fight against Regina, instead of falling at her feet like everyone else. The relationship between Chloe and June is suffering from that need. Seeing Chloe stomp around and June pick up the pieces and grovel isn’t compelling anymore. I would’ve liked to see June finally stand up to Chloe in the finale. Every time Dreama does so, she’s unconvincing, timid and meek. Grow some balls, girl! Hopefully next season we’ll either see the duo become partners in crime, or (hopefully) Chloe finds a new roomie to torture who’s slightly less cartoon and definitely more raw.