With teen dramas crowding not just Netflix but all of TV, it’s easy to think that the Jordanian series AlRawabi School for Girls won’t be any different. But while it may share a lot of similarities with other coming-of-age stories, it stands out for its willingness to explore dark themes and cultural specificities without a pandering tone. It’s smart, mature, and complex enough to give us a feminist lead who weaponizes misogyny against other girls, for instance, or a fierce bully who eventually earns our sympathy. It’s hard to imagine the treatment being this sensitive, nuanced, and wholly engaging without the all-female cast and crew that AlRawabi thankfully has.
Synopsis
The bullied outcasts at prestigious Al Rawabi School for Girls plot a series of risky takedowns to get back at their tormentors.
Storyline
In the hallowed halls of the private school AlRawabi, girls battle growing pains, the patriarchy, and each other as they come of age in present-day Jordan.
TLDR
Alternative title, Meaner Girls (2021).
What stands out
The show isn’t just pink-hued, it’s pink everything. The bathroom tiles, the classroom doors, the uniforms, the flowers that adorn the school grounds. Director Tima Shomali contrasts her whimsical, picturesque scenes with the grim things the students explore, and the even grimmer reality waiting for them outside the school gates.