Why Netflix's "Too Much" is Too Much
Three women delve into the new Lena Dunham series, unpacking its portrayal of an American woman navigating life in London.
Meet Your “Too Much” Critics
- (c’est moi!), the moderator/contributor bringing SMAHHT* people together to talk about film, TV, and ROMANCE!
- , Gen X pop culture expert and humor writer (and published author) | Substack:
- , long-time Girls fan (on her 5th rewatch of the series) and a fan of prestige TV, notably Game of Thrones.
*A Sheila-ism (might have to check the spelling)
All three critics are fans of female-helmed comedies, rom-coms and romance. Lena Dunham, the show’s creator, and co-star, and one of its writers, also created the cult classic, Girls for HBO in the mid 2010s. Her breakout in this show paved the path for a bright future, leaving us curious about what this show could bring. The show is inspired by Dunham’s own move to London in her 30s.
Meet the Show’s Cast
Stars Meg Stalter (Kayla, Hacks) as Jessica and her love interest, Felix played by Will Sharpe (The White Lotus, A Real Pain)
Co-stars: Rhea Perlman (Cheers), Lena Dunham (Girls), and Rita Wilson (My Big Fat Greek Wedding producer and Tom Hank’s wife), Richard E. Grant, Andrew Rannells, etc.
The Nicole Kidman AMC Commercial / Caveat Before We Start
Two of three critics couldn’t finish this 10-episode show.
When did you stop 🛑 watching?
Beth: 5 episodes in. No apologies. Life’s too short.
Rebecca: I managed to watch through episode 4. There is a world where I might go back to see what happens, but I’ve got other things in my queue that I’d rather get into.
Sheila: I bounced after episode 3. But then I went back and slogged through the rest of the series mostly to be informed. You’re welcome.*
*Thank you for your sacrifice in service to this review.
Editorial Note: Everything is SHOUTY in Too Much hence the use of ALL CAPS.
Synopsis & Hot Takes
If you have to give a logline for this show, what would it be?
Beth: A Zennial update on the Emily in Paris theme, minus the grit, resilience, and passion for life and self-work (on the part of the protagonist). Or simply put, “Who are we rooting for here?”
Rebecca: Dang, I also was going to call out the Emily in Paris parallels. Same quirky fashion, except it's London! Also, Jessica's (Meg Stalter) body is more reflective of a typical woman! The hot guy from The White Lotus s2 is weirdly playing too young for his age!*
Sheila: Shades of Shrill without the nuance, maturity, or comedy.
*Good call out, Rebecca. Everyone here feels like they are acting too young for their age, save the pink-haired guy from the office.
What’s your chief criticism of this show?
Themes: Lack of boundaries, oversharing in abundance, lack of self-worth, sexual intimacy continuity, sexual rumspringas, insufferable characters, and zero authenticity - to name a few…
Beth: Where to start? I THINK that my main issue is Jessica’s lack of self-ambition or desire to funnel her talents into something positive. She has an opportunity to make a mark in her career with the London move, or at least lean into a strength or past (or present?) aspiration, yet she treats the workplace, and her job overall, like little more than a nuisance she must tolerate. This contrasts sharply with Emily in Paris, in which Lily Collins as Emily has whole episodes where she’s busting a move to land a client or make a campaign pop, sizzle, and then some. That’s how she connects with her coworkers, not by way of coke binged parties at the boss’s house with work peers who all seem to lack a moral compass or any sense of boundaries.
The love story is the cherry on top, not the main attraction. The best love stories, IMO, ARE, even in rom-coms. It’s about the woman’s arc and her personal growth. However, here, it’s as if Jessica lives to be “less than” her ex’s girlfriend, Wendy (played by EmRata), and uses social media as a conduit for her self-hate.
It’s hideous and exhausting (and performative), which I guess is the point, but people are complex, and two things can be true - Jess can engage in hard-to-watch self-harm behaviors AND also get excited by her work. The best episode is episode 1, and that’s because we witness glimpses of her joy in her craft, especially in the Jessica Alba scene, and then she runs away from it. What?? Jessica/Meg’s obsession with her ex, Zev, and Wendy, his current girlfriend, is next-level bad. [And I wrote an entire piece about obsessing over my opp, or at least part of it dealt with comparing myself to an ex’s new gf]
Rebecca: Oof - my main beef? I don’t think there is one big thing, it's just a smattering of little things that all together add up to MEH. First episode, I was thrilled to see Andrew Rannells (Who doesn’t want to reunite the Girls band!?), but that whole scene felt like two actors in a hallway reading lines and the timing was all off.
Jessica is supposed to be “quirky, but lovable” but I was finding her to be like a watered-down version of her Hacks character (Kayla) that's somehow less fun, less capable, less weird, less tuned into people's need. When a show reminds you of how good another show or character is, that’s never good.
Also, her co-workers are horrific. I said what I said.
Call the Intimacy Coordinator STAT & Have Continuity on Stand By
A pet peeve of mine is sex scenes where the state of undress doesn't add up. Allow me a moment while I present Exhibit A on this subject. Ep3 is a bottle episode that features A LOT of intimacy. And it was a good episode overall, comparatively. But, I found myself weirdly clocking the logistics of some of it, and if/when you’re thinking about that, then something isn’t working. The most egregious is in one sexual encounter, our lovers are spooning, and the camera is straight on Jess who is playing little spoon - ya’ll, SHE HAS HER UNDERWEAR ON. Now, his hand is in said underwear so perhaps this is just a generous lover moment, but he is moving in such a way that looks like he is very much PARTICIPATING, and all I could think was WHY ARE HER UNDERWEAR ON, THIS MAKES NO SENSE.
Ridiculous, perhaps, but good sex scenes are at their best when they mix fantasy with reality. Am I right?
Beth: Damn straight you are. And while I like that Lena Dunham doesn’t shy away from the less glamorous sides of sex and intimacy in her work, I also clocked this odd sexual spooning encounter, but then was distracted by Jess’s belly dressing. My mind can only handle so much noise at once.
Sheila: Rebecca, to your point, that’s super interesting and just shows how in Lena’s determination to represent real bodies and real women enjoying real pleasure, she takes you out of the narrative. I love all sex and body-positive content and, again, I would go back to Shrill for how it can be done so beautifully and powerfully. Here, I just felt like it was too much of Lena’s agenda in play. And this is also why I feel like the show is so scattered and disjointed; it’s like she was trying to take cinematic and representational moves from Girls and throw them in this unappetizing TV gumbo (yes, I am determined to make TV gumbo happen! Move over fetch!)
I’m with you, Beth, I don’t even know where to dig in. Anyone licensed to use an excavator? There is a lot. And ditto Rebecca: this ship sinks from a thousand nicks in the hull. Mostly, I think this show is such a mess in general. It feels like Dunham has shoehorned every trope, narrative arc, and character type into this rat's nest of a show.
Plot Shmot, Story Shmory
Jessica flees NYC for London after what we later learn really is a series of events that ascend in their horrific-ness. Okay. Got it. Then let it BE about that: about a person trying to outrun and reinvent and of course that will fall apart too. Instead, it’s a little about that, sort of about this job opportunity, which drops out for most of the series and then resurfaces at the very end in a scenario that also feels jammed in there. The subplot with Jess’ sister, Leah (Lena Dunham), and her family breaking apart is also stuck in there, does nothing to advance storylines or characters really, and is awkwardly executed throughout.
And this new trend that everyone suddenly wants to go on a sexual rumspringa—if it’s not about moving toward authenticity (here I’m thinking of Miranda in Just Like That), then, please, no, stop, just don’t. I think it is handled especially badly and is self-indulgent here. Toss in a bunch of mostly insufferable co-workers and other mates who make no effort to know Jess or be in her life (save for Gaz, the apartment guy who is sweet to her) and a bunch of moments that do nothing else but scream, “I HAVE NO BOUNDARIES AND EVERYONE MUST BE OKAY WITH THAT!” and the whole thing starts to feel like the unedited version of someone's film school semester project.
THE ROMANCE ANGLE
Sheila: I agree with you, Beth, that layering in the romantic/love aspects in this type of show always makes it more compelling and fun to watch. It creates this rich dimension that feels more true to life: How am I going to figure out THIS piece of my life right now? (I would say Emily in Paris, Nobody Wants This do this well)
Not what we see here, which feels more like: How do I not repeat the same mistakes, trust a guy with my heart again, fix whatever it is that needs fixing with me, get through all this pain while also trying to be liked by everyone. It’s exhausting. Unfortunately, Jess became totally draining for me in her relentless determination to pour everything into this new relationship and use all of its predictable twists and turns to exorcise these traumas. I’m not interested in watching therapy play out in real time.
Name a redeeming quality, if you can.
Beth: We occasionally witness sparks of authenticity and emotional depth, suggesting there's more beneath the surface than initially meets the eye. A great example of this is Jess’s love interest. Felix isn’t just a clueless musician. He truly sees Jessica, even when she questions whether he’s capable of that kind of insight. Jessica, in turn, recognizes the double standards women face in how they're allowed to move through the world, especially when compared to men in positions of power, like the athlete, Pavel, in episode 2. Jess’s moments of self-awareness, delivered through monologue, offer something meaningful and worth hearing, like in her interaction with Pavel, but unfortunately they are fleeting.
On the cast side, Naomi Watts and Richard E. Grant make the most of their onscreen walk-ons as posh creative types living in the wealthy enclave of Notting Hill and snorting too much coke, even if I personally, am one big 80s, “Just say no to drugs,” PSA spokesperson and loathe the glorification of drugs onscreen as one big, wild party where lowered inhibitions are a currency for connection. It feels so sad. Don’t worry, I’m not becoming “Temperance Ada” from Gilded Age S2 here, just saying it’s annoying.
Rebecca: The show is chock-full of capable actors that you recognize with glee and want to watch do their thing. Ep 1 has Rhea Perlman and Rita Wilson alongside Lena herself! Michael Zegen (of Mrs. Maisel fame) plays her ex! Her new love is Will Sharpe who shines in The White Lotus (S2) and recently as the tour guide in A Real Pain (a film Beth and I saw together and LOVED). Ep 4 shines when Naomi Watts (LEGEND!) appears as Jess’s boss’s partner played by another Girls alumni, Richard E. Grant (famously Girls’ Jessa’s elder friend from rehab). Our cup runneth over with talent, and yet, nothing saves this mess of a show.
So, part of what kept me watching was to see who showed up next and what they would be doing, and those scenes often stole the episode.
Sheila: Rebecca–100% on BRING BACK RHEA PERLMAN IN EVERYTHING!! Wow. Did she steal every scene she was in INCLUDING a Zoom? Yes. yes she did. There are three moments I would keep in this show:
The conversation between Naomi Watts and Jess in the bathroom, but specifically when she talks about relishing the new and exciting and unknown of a relationship. That was beautiful work when she talks about settling into the middle part of a long-term relationship and it feels like everything is known completely (which of course it is not). This was true, moving, and revealing. I could have used more of Watts in general.
The scene after Felix discloses his childhood trauma/abuse to Jess and she literally tucks him in. There is such sweet tenderness, respect, and empathy there between them.
The scene between Wendy and Jess in the last episode. That was also wonderfully played and executed. Both women realize that their happiness is not about anyone else’s destruction or triumph. It is about healing, reclaiming power, and moving on. I especially loved when Wendy gently shut Jess’ unhinged revenge scenarios down because it showed a lot of growth, like, this is not who we are even though it is the story that culture wants to tell about women.
The fan fiction rewrite: If we were to create a better show with a compelling storyline that starts with the prompt, “Once upon a time, a 30-something-year-old woman was trying and failing to keep it together, living in NYC, along with her hairless dog companion and support animal, Astrid, who got the opportunity to travel to London for 3 months on a work assignment…”
Beth: Jessica, whose real name is Meg Kayla (a mashup of the actress’s name and her character in Hacks), realizes London isn't for her after about two days in the city, living in Estate housing, which, silly American girl, thought meant Pemberley. Apparently, she doesn’t understand UK real estate rates and pricing because, well, girl math. You feel me, right?
Meanwhile, Astrid, her hairless dog companion whose tongue is perpetually out, is suffering big time, overheating from all the Victorian doggy dresses Meg adorns her with, and turns out, poor Astrid, licked some of the K or Coke Meg Kayla indulged in during one of her late night sex romps with her weird, but kind neighbor, since the drugs were conveniently spread out on the coffee table.
Post seizure and some cultural hijinks involving the NHS and how to navigate DOGGY ER, Felix shows up. He’s a vet and a handsome one at that. Too bad he’s married with children. In this version, he’s just a passing cameo and not even an experience. Thankfully, the dog survives, but Meg Kayla’s spirits have dimmed, and her mental health has taken a hit.
She returns to the U.S. (thank DOG!) to live out a “Grey Gardens” existence with her mom (Rita Wilson), grandma (Rhea Perlman), and sister, Leah (Lena Dunham). They sleep in the same bed and tell fart jokes, and it’s the best comedy in years because it’s REAL. We’ve finally discovered authenticity!
Critics pan the realism (We see you, NPR, and The New Yorker). Fans know it's what we want most. Bill Hader and Fred Armisen become series’ regulars. The SNL Please Don’t Destroy Guys stop by with Dunkin Donuts.
Rebecca: Ok Beth, I love this show you’re proposing and I’m subscribing - “Grey Gardens with fart jokes” had me cackling!
To be honest, I’m not sure the “American girl in London” inspires me, so my first rewrite might simply be “Brit from a village outside London moves to the city” but I digress.
I think I would start with more meaningful friendships, have her find her people QUICKLY and let those relationships (think Bridget Jones’ besties) be what really keeps her there and thriving, while the love interest is just icing on the cake.
As for the love interest, let's replace “recovering drug user and alcoholic with a tragic music career and no job, oh, and also he's a womanizer" with "undiscovered Ed Sheeran type who has a gift for music, but perhaps needs to work up the courage to take some chances”. He can still have a complicated past, but can’t he also have a job? Even at a coffee shop?!
I’ll keep the episode where she gets straight up SAT-IS-FIED sexually, but would also want to see her thrive more at work (I don't mind a hiccup here and there of course). Still, I want her friends to be the real context where she plays the relationship out - quirky co-workers can be present but less relied on for conversation and unpacking of her love life. Let them be part of her career woman's story.
Oh, and her and Naomi Watts, still in the role of boss’s partner - they meet right away, hit it off like a house on fire (as they did), and infuse much-needed challenge, love, and support with some generational differences into each other's life. I guess I want Naomi to be sort of Eva from Bad Sisters (played by Sharon Horgan, also the show’s creator).
I’m not sure I’m good at this game Beth, but you know I love a powerful female character and I KNOW LENA CAN DELIVER THIS! Catherine called Birdy is a prime example!
Beth: Rebecca, you are incredible at this game. Period. Facts. We’re going to start playing it on all our neighborhood walks.
Sheila: I cannot even hold a BIC lighter to both of you for this prompt, but I’ll give it a shot. Jess is a New York transplant who has been kicking ass and taking names at her job in London just like she had always planned. She’s got an amazing flat, incredible friends, a perfect, gorgeous, not gross tech type guy and is poised for the big promotion. And then, something like a white-collar crime is going on; the company gets shut down, and she loses everything. It’s not her fault, but she's too close to the top brass and becomes collateral damage.
To make matters worse, Felix, a scrappy journalist from her NY past, lands the story about this Enron-type scandal.
So, I don’t know...I’m always intrigued by those conflict-ish kinds of scenarios. Will Felix put his job and responsibility above his feelings for Jess? She has the chance to get it all back, but not if she’s part of the story. And of course, there would be people she thought were her friends distancing themselves from the scandal; she’d have to find a new way to live etc…
I am bad at this! But I guess I am a sucker for redemption love stories!
Beth: Au contraire. You are made for these prompts and the crime/go-for-broke elements work! I love this. And Will Sharpe as a justice-seeking journo tracks.
Anything else to say?
Rebecca: In case it’s not clear, I’m a huge fan of Lena Dunham. The idea that she created/wrote Girls, a show that so captured women of her age/generation, whilst being at that stage, is pretty remarkable. It’s hard to see yourself that clearly and both celebrate and criticize it all at once. I’ve rewatched Girls to completion 4x - in fact, when I finally quit Too Much it was to resume my 5th Girls rewatch (I’m currently in S2). It’s an incredible show - it’s laugh out loud funny at least once every episode (the Bushwick party, “your dad is gay”, trying cocaine for an article). It can also be deeply moving (e.g. Jessa visiting her dad, Jessa’s friend from rehab comes to the city, Marni reuniting with a very different Charlie years later).
I’m not of that particular generation, but Lena had a way to make you understand them, appreciate them, laugh at and with them, and root for them. Now excuse me while I resume my rewatch ;)
Sheila: I had high hopes for this series because I really enjoy Megan Stalter and think her character on Hacks is something special in her own way. I am also always excited to see how the romcom format/genre can continue to evolve and make room for diverse voices, perspectives, stories.
Too Much was just a complete disappointment on all fronts.
I never connected with Girls, but I understood what Lena was doing and why it mattered. Maybe her gifts are simply better utilized in film instead of the shorter TV format. Girls may have been her television masterwork and that’s fine. I don’t think she has anything to prove in that space. Maybe film would have been a better fit for whatever stories she wanted to tell through these characters.
Beth: The ladies said it all here. In the iconic words of popstar Ariana Grande, “NO Thank you, Next.”
However, a big THANK YOU to Rebecca and Sheila for hanging out on the virtual couch with me and getting me through watching the eps with smiles, cringe-wrinkles, laughs and total understanding. The whole, “Tell me I’m not insane,” mantra being the connective tissue, and the “What am I missing?” curiosity keeping my glass half full.
Let’s Discuss - Sound Off!
What do you think of this show?
Any characters you loved? Hated?
Was the romance real? Could you feel the chemistry?
On the Dunham-o-meter, where does this show fall?
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I still haven't started Too Much but now I'm cautiously curious 😂. I love Megan Stalter in Hacks. She is one of the best side characters on TV for me but it sounds like her character here will disappoint. I'll probably watch a few episodes to see and then come back to read this post again.
Thanks for your hilarious summary of everything that irked you
My note and your fab piece, floating through the Stackosphere. (I'm woefully behind.) If you ever need another panelist...🤣