Best for when you need a reminder of how good the nineties were..

For all you retro lovers there is a hugely underrated series. My So-Called Life from 1994 featured Claire Danes (Homeland, Romeo + Juliet) and Jared Leto, actor, model and rock star. The two made their on-screen breakthrough in this touching and emotionally charged teen drama. Tragically My So-Called Life was cancelled after just one series. Yet for many that one series became life-changing.

Full of everything you expect from a teen drama: love and passion, friendships and betrayals, and the challenges of the awkward adolescent years, this series rejects the glitz and glamour of the likes of Gossip Girl or 90210. In place of an impossibly slim, glassy-eyed super model cast, you have relatable and flawed teens: zits and all. The show also touches on some serious social issues, such as violence, censorship, drugs, sex and, most notably, homosexuality. Wilson Cruz’s Ricky Vasquez was a groundbreaking character, a young gay man dealing with his sexuality and the abuse that comes with it. All seen from a 15 year-old girl’s perspective, these solemn issues don’t seem so brutal and distant. They become fully relatable.

Narrated by the protagonist Angela Chase (Danes), the series gives us an insight into your typical teenage girl’s mind, full of unanswered questions and desire to understand the meaning of everything around her. My So-Called Life follows Angela’s relationships with both friends and family, the lack of mutual understanding between her and her parents, her attempts to be different and rebellious, and the struggles of fitting in at this difficult age. Hanging out with her new friends Ricky Vasquez and Rayanne Graff (A.J. Langer), she uncovers a world where she often has to face real adult problems.

Now, can we just talk about Jared Leto’s teenage heartthrob Jordan Catalano? This mysterious bad-boy character has serious issues hidden underneath the beautiful surface. Angela’s love interest throughout the series, he’s everything you want from a mid-nineties, sensitive and troubled dreamboat.

The soundtrack is a glorious wave of Nineties nostalgia: the outfits are a hipster’s daydream, and the hairstyles will have you digging out your Babyliss crimping tongs. All in all, the show gets 5 out of 5. The characters, the cast, the plot, the soundtrack – it is pretty much perfect.

Sofia Dedyukhina

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