The Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV) recently launched the pilot for their original scripted series Heathers, moderately based on the 1989 cult classic of the same name. The show is vastly different from the movie, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of anyone who was hoping to see the classic popular clique on their screens again. However, what this new Heathers shows its audience is that anyone can be anyone. Specifically, even the former outcasts can be bullies.
The makeup of the Heathers clique is now features Heather Chandler, the “body positive” mean-girl who calls out each and everybody who crosses the PC line, Heather McNamara, a black lesbian who might just be faking her sexuality for attention, and Heath “Heather” Duke, a genderqueer person who is just really mean.
Oh, and Veronica? Still a white girl. But don’t worry, she’s half-Jewish (except apparently that’s not “trendy” in 2018).
A little more than thirty years later, Westerburg High in 2018 is a social-media wasteland, consumed in every way the baby boomers assume generation Z to be. The post-millennial landscape of high school finds the “alternative popular” Heather Chandler as a social-media Tycoon, with thousands of followers on her Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. With one post, she can end lives through cultural shunning.
Meanwhile, Veronica is starting to apply to college—and she thinks she’s “nothing.” She’s not queer, she’s white, upper-middle class “trash.” She’s normal. What adds a slight compelling nature to this show is the fact that she, and white, overdramatic J.D., are aware of their “plainness.” Except now, instead of trying to tear down the pyramid of power that use to be held by “Barbie” and “Jock” archetypes, J.D. is bent on dismantling the idea that “everyone can be special.” J.D. mentions to Veronica upon their first interaction that “a little bit of self hatred can be healthy.”
Perhaps the most disturbing of changes made to the original concept is that instead of the college party in which Veronica pukes on Heather C., Heather C. is an artistically-inclined wannabe, chasing after the latest popular installation artist at a local showcase. Instead of vomit, Veronica knocks over an art piece, spilling on Heather blue liquid resembling the drain cleaner from the original film. And then, in perhaps the “most dramatic moment of her life” (until the following murder) Veronica fat-shames Heather C., publically calling her a “fatty.”
At this point, it is not clear who is actually the villain of this new show. Clearly Veronica has some pent-up issues, but it doesn’t seem that J.D. is the only thing motivating her any longer.
With odd-pacing over a 42-minute pilot that covers roughly the first thirty minutes of the film, it is unclear what direction the first season of the show will take. Veronica and J.D.’s relationship is already questionable, Veronica seeming to only follow along with J.D.’s game in an attempt to make her life just a little more interesting. Meanwhile, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara vie for control of the school in Heather Chandler’s absence. However, both are undercut by Betty Finch who preaches for a new era of self and communal acceptance, bringing together the whole school so that “everybody can be special.” The very thing J.D. wants to fight against. With Betty Finch set up as the next villain the Bonnie and Clyde duo will take down, Heathers’ thesis seems to ring true: anyone can be anyone.
Except, of course, the white girl remains the protagonist.
