R29 Binge Club: Girlboss Episode 1-12 Recaps

The word "girlboss" means a lot of things to a lot of women. To many, it signifies someone who is determined, innovative, creative, and down to kick ass. But, it also means taking risks, embracing letdowns, and powering through even the most humiliating moments in life. Sophia Amoruso documented all this and more in her 2014 best-selling memoir/advice book #GIRLBOSS, which was released at the height of her company Nasty Gal's success. The millennial businesswomen's cutting advice to finding success and happiness as a woman entrepreneur became a brand of its own, and has now spawned its own Netflix series, Girlboss, which chronicles the rise of Sophia as a law-abiding citizen and as a boss.

Screenwriter Kay Cannon (New Girl, Pitch Perfect) reframes Sophia' story in 13 episodes (based "real loose" on actual events from the early to mid-2000s), breaking down all the humanising flaws of a narcissistic, caustic, and materialistic woman as she finds her footing in a new kind of business landscape: the internet. “It always comes down to this idea of the female lead having to be incredibly likeable,” Cannon told The New York Times of the series. “I wanted to tell the story of a flawed woman that is not a fairy tale.”

The show itself is entertaining, if not addictive. It uses a killer alt-rock, post-punk soundtrack and a vibrant vintage wardrobe to transport viewers right into the lifestyle and mindset of 23-year-old Sophia, through all her quirks and catastrophes. It's hard to watch without thinking about the present-day, real-life Amoruso, who stepped down as CEO of Nasty Gal shorty after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2016 (it has since been acquired by Boohoo). Since the book's release, she also went through a divorce, and started a new online endeavour based on the Girlboss brand, a website and forum for other badass ladies who want to do and make more in life.

So, as we settle down and start streaming the season in its entirety, just remember that even though it may be difficult to find instant sympathy or inspiration in Britt Robertson's portrayal of Sophia Amoruso (Marlowe, on the series), it's worth sticking around to see the story through the end. As any vintage shopper knows, the best, and most special, items are always buried by the fluff — and having patience pays off in unearthing those treasures.

"I just need to figure out a way to grow up without becoming a boring adult." This is the mantra that runs throughout Sophia's (Britt Robertson) mind, over and over again. While she sits on a park bench next to an old woman, while she's at her menial job as a shoe salesman, while she's thrift shopping, and while she's scheming her way through her last years of adolescence. At 23, Sophia is having a post-grad (or rather, post almost-grad, as she left her after only a semester) crisis that everyone young person goes through. Who wants to grow up? Not her.

With sunny San Francisco as her playground, Sophia spends her nights drinking and dancing with her best friend, Annie (Ellie Reed), and the rest of her days avoiding any type of responsibility. And she doesn't exactly surround herself with inspiring adults: at her shoe store, she works for a total pushover and spends her days scrolling eBay and stealing sandwiches. When she is (inevitably) fired, she immediately heads to a vintage store where she scores her dream leather jacket: an original 1970s East/West calfskin motorcycle jacket in perfect condition. After wearing it all day — dumpster diving for bagels, stealing rugs, laying out in the park, briefly making an appearance at a disastrous dinner with her dad — she decides to make a little extra cash by selling the jacket on eBay. And it works: She makes a quick couple hundred bucks, after she only spent nine crumpled ones on the vintage item.

And thus, the vision begins. Things start to turn around for the newly inspired Sophia. She's still pissed off (about what, she is unsure) and she is still pretty broke (it's inevitable when you're unemployed in an expensive city), but now the fire has been lit under her Jeffrey Campbell Lolitas.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Finally taking some initiative and creating an original photo shoot (hair, makeup, set design, camera stand and all) to sell the shit out of her vintage find.

With her newfound business percolating under her messy, just-rolled-out-of-bed hair, Sophia is on a mission to get some more clothes to sell online. She needs the money, and ASAP. She doesn’t want to ask her dad for help (even though she could, because she is fortunate enough to have that as part of her circumstance); she wants to do it herself. Or, more importantly, by her own rules — which are unconventional at best. Until — OUCH. Some weird little alien bump shows up right around her “razor-burn area”, which turns out to be a hernia.

While avoiding going to the doctor in typical Sophia fashion, she scrounges up some extra cash and gets to thrifting, but quickly realises that finding good vintage is like finding a needle in a haystack. She stumbles upon the vintage store where she originally found the East/West jacket. She announces she up-sold the jacket and the store owner calls her out for her lack of experience, novice ability to run a business, and her truly half-hearted attempt at understanding how to make enough money to sustain herself. After stealing a How to Start a Business on eBay for Dummies book, she realises she needs to hit up estate sales to find the real jackpots. She still doesn’t know how to do anything in terms of business, customer relations, or managing money, but she does find a crate full of goodies in the back of some dead socialite’s closet at an estate sale.

From there she heads to a free clinic, where she finds out that she needs to get a job for the health insurance to take care of her little hernia. Then ends up having a slight meltdown in the rain over how lost she feels (again) while holding a soaked sack of old furs. Sophia girl, we gotta get it together.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Getting her gross gut bump checked out to make sure it’s nothing serious. Oh, and realising that she is going to have to do more if she wants to find the answers in life. She can’t just sit around surrounded by old clothes and expect the stars to align for her.

I knew this would be an entertaining episode the moment it opened with an a cappella version of Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag." Sophia has a new job, and this time it seems like it will be a better fit for her: She is the front desk attendant at an art school student centre, with full access to the on-site computer, which means she can browse eBay all day. But most importantly, she gets health insurance with the gig, which means she can properly take care of her inguinal hernia. Cha-ching.

Job: check. Health insurance: check. Vintage clothes to sell: check. But, a store name? Not so much. And, according to Sophia, it's the "most important decision of her young life."

In order to spark more inspiration, she decides to go on a day date adventure with Shane. Regardless of them spending sun up to sundown in each other's company, Shane points out to Sophia that she had not asked him a single question about his own personal life (except for when he moved to the city, which was only months earlier), calling out her blatant narcissism. It turns out that he manages not-so famous bands, which he feels is a very complimentary career path to Sophia's own budding plans. We also learn that in addition to Sophia's fear of real responsibility, she is also deathly terrified of bridges.

Towards the end of the episode, it appears that Sophia has found the dream name for her brand "Rubix Vintage" and celebrates emphatically. Then, minutes later she pulls a 180 and sulks into a privileged angst. "This fucking girl," Shane vents. Sophia runs into a neon underground club and crashes an intense dance party where lightning strikes and Sophia realises the perfect name for her shop: Nasty Gal, based on the Betty Davis song. Shane, somehow, finds the entire experience endearing, regardless of the sweaty screaming mosh pit that Sophia ditches him for on a whim. Seriously, This. Fucking. Girl. You're a mess.

The episode ends on a high note, with Sophia manning the desk and receiving a "Beanie Baby" from her security coworker (it's definitely not a Beanie Baby, but I think that's the joke) for her to sell on her eBay store. "It's perfect," she remarks. And for the first time in the series, I'm ready to root for her.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Thinking outside the box to find the perfect name which embodies her bad attitude, teenage vernacular, and vixen vibe of her soon-to-exist dream Internet store. Props, man.

This time, it isn’t Sophia against the world — it’s Sophia against Nasty Gal customer “Ladyshopper99.” And it’s war.

Ladyshopper99 is a bridezilla about to fucking lose it over her absent dress that she ordered from Sophia’s shop: “I swear to God I am going to tear that fucking Nasty Gal apart.” And she looks like she really, really means it. And thus, we backtrack to figure out exactly what Sophia did to earn a “scathing review” from this mystery shopper. Apparently Sophia sent a totally pristine white dress to the bride, only for her to send the dress back with a small Diet Coke stain and claim it had always been there. Sophia cannot have a bad review this early in her budding eBay store career, so she promises to get the dress cleaned and back in the customer's hands by Saturday (which is four days away).

Here we take a quick intermission to witness a milestone episode of The OC. RIP, Marissa Cooper.

Amid her wedding dress fiasco (the beads all fall off as a result of her having the stain removed so now she has to hand-sew the beads on), she decides to visit her new art student friend, Nathan (Cole Escola), in “the Big Gay House right next to the 7/11.” While there, she bonds with him and his eclectic mother while drinking red wine and eating tubs of half-melted ice cream and listening to Josh Groban. They drink, dance, and eat themselves to sleep which means — yep, Sophia is running late to drop off the wedding dress. To make matters worse, in order for her to hand-deliver the dress to Ladyshopper99, she must conquer her biggest fear: walking over a bridge. And, she does it, to the tune of Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah.” (RIP, again, Riss.)

But, she makes it. The dress is delivered. The wedding continues. Sophia survives. And she returns to the quirky mother-son duo, hinting at just how much she needs some adult guidance and supervision in her life. She uses those warm fuzzy feelings to reach out to her dad (to whom she was so rude in episode 1), although she still isn’t totally comfortable giving him any real details about her life.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Getting that clean dress back to the bridezilla on time, and crossing a bridge to do it.

Did we mention that this show takes place in 2006? Because this show is SO 2006 it hurts. It’s the height of flip phones, Ryan Atwood, eBay, and the ever-dramatic MySpace Top 8’s. Annie and Sophia get into a heated fight about Sophia’s Top 8, which does not include her BFFAE, Annie. And thus, we get our requisite flashback to the biggest moments in their friendship. In one scene, a naive Sophia has the Worst Hair in the World and the two meet at a Dodgers game, where they're in detention for stealing a baseball from a kid (Sophia) and flashing the Jumbotron (Annie). Then, we see them partying together with equally bad haircuts at a nightclub, while adorned in all sequins and metallics. Next, we’re shotgun in a trucker’s six-wheeler where the girls are hitchhiking to Coachella. Annie loses Sophia’s backpack, which is full of food, money, and well, just about everything they needed for their Coachella weekend of fun.

We also get a deeper look at Sophia’s psyche, and her sense of unrest in just about every situation she’s ever been in: college, social situations, most friendships. She’s never content or ready to take responsibility. We also see how good of a friend Annie is to her through all the bullshit. It’s a sweet and nostalgic moment, but then we realise it’s all over a MySpace Top 8 debate and the sentiment is kinda blown.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Putting Annie in that Top 8...?

Sophia and Shane are having sex on a bed of dirty cash, because apparently Sophia is raking in the dollar bills, y’all. (The timeline of the series is a bit unclear; so far as I can tell, she shouldn’t really have this much money to spare.) After their high-rolling love-making sesh is interrupted by Sophia’s strange choice of iPod playlist, Shane calls Sophia his girlfriend while telling her goodbye since he will be out of town for a tour. She chokes up at the word, and insists that she only wants a super casual (i.e. “cas”) relationship, which isn’t surprising to hear at all because this is Sophia — she’s allergic to commitment.

Speaking of commitment, Sophia is already dipping out of her job at the art school. She received her health insurance card in the mail, and doesn’t want to waste one more minute behind a desk because she has a clothing empire to thrust onto the world. The only problem is that no one is buying her latest batch of goods: honky-tonk country western prairie dresses. Her apartment is covered with them, and they just won’t sell. While she’s complaining (shocker) about the dresses not budging, she gets a little lesson in the business world from Dax (Alphonso McAuley), Annie’s boyfriend and Shane’s roommate. He’s in business school, and don’t worry he isn’t mansplaining how to run a vintage shop to delicate Sophia. He’s simply telling her cold, hard facts to prepare her for impending disappointment. But instead, Sophia relishes in hearing about the high percentage of new businesses that fail (95% according to Dax) because she is confident she’ll be in that 5% that rises above.

But wait — Sophia...decides to stick around her art school gig! Mostly because she realises that it may be a while before she enters that 5% of successful businesses. OH, and she has a new Starbucks half-caf, no foam, soy Caramel Macchiato addiction to feed.

With her clothes starting to collect dust in her apartment, she has her semi-regular freak-out session, mostly geared at herself in the mirror. It’s violent and it’s pretty gross, because her fit makes her hernia explode. She falls to the ground and vomits. Her dad picks her up from the hospital after a successful surgery and takes her home to her apartment, which is a mess from her meltdown — there are clothes and baby carrots everywhere. While she sleeps on her bed, her dad opens up, saying he always knew “his Sophia would be capable of everything” because of her creativity and wit. She and her dad keeping missing each other’s most vulnerable moments, which is sad because they really could use the encouragement to mend their relationship.

After her “brush with death” Sophia realises that she needs to actually quit the art school for good and really go all in on this Nasty Gal venture. She leaves her funny old security guard coworker a note: “Thanks for being the best and last boss I’ll ever have.”

Most #Girlboss moment?
Stepping it the fuck up and really committing to her eBay business.

Daily Candy (RIP) may be in LURVE with Sophia, but internet commenters are not. Annie tries to tell Sophia that the haters should be her motivators, and while Sophia is learning how to sell clothes, she still is far from mature. She tries to stiff her eBay competition (like Remembrances, run by the timid Gail) by buying Gail’s vintage clothes and altering them to up-sell. But, as Sophia learns, this goes against a very strict code that many vintage re-sellers stand by. They try to protect the integrity of old clothing, while Sophia massacres it with her alterations, and Gail wants her to stop.

Gail confronts Sophia at her apartment, attempting to explain why her and the other members of her vintage clothing online forum find Sophia’s actions offensive to their own carefully preserved collections. In an attempt to understand where Sophia is coming from (good luck with that, lady), she tells the 23-year-old to share her story about why she is in this business. To answer that, Sophia takes her to a bar and starts pointing out the Nasty Gal items being worn by the all the coolest girls in the joint: “You may be trying to preserve old memories, that’s fine, but I am trying to help my customers create new ones. That’s Nasty Gal.”

Sophia is really doing some work on Gail, and even helps her score a 1940s debutante dress from Mobias’ vintage shop (the same guy who chewed out Sophia earlier, and who is becoming an unwilling ally to Sophia’s schemes). Now that the two unlikely friends have bonded over tequila shots (Gail’s preference is surprisingly Patron Silver), dancing (in a mosh pit), and vintage shopping (at midnight with Mobias), they start to share the real reasons they love clothes so much. They’re quite different, as one would guess, but they’re also quite similar — they both love the stories that come with vintage clothing. Sophia’s more interested in the stories that are yet to unfold, and Gail in the stories that she dreams up about the previous owners. But, hearing Gail reminiscence, Sophia reveals that her mum left her and her dad when she was 12 and took all her clothes with her. It’s sweet and eye-opening, and results in a changed Gail leaving Sophia with that special debutante dress.

But Gail's vengeance returns when she logs on to eBay back home, only to see Sophia has listed an altered version of the deb ball dress, breaking their olive branch into a million little splinters. In the words of the soft-spoken Gail: "Fucking bitch."

Most #Girlboss moment?
Finding common ground with a competitor and welcoming change into her life. Sort of. It’s a start.

Brace yourself because it’s time for a “road trip!!” — long cigarette holder, vintage convertible Mustang, and all. Sophia has finally reunited with Shane (she is going to “fuck his dick off”) and seems to be embracing the idea of being a legit couple. The two double date on a weekend trip to Los Angeles to see one of Shane’s bands. While there, we also get further insight into Annie and Dax’s relationship, which includes a lot of petty arguing, meaning they are either soul mates or they should never hang out again. Shane even plays a song dedicated just to Sophia, which is adorable and annoying.

Then, in an effort to show their commitment to each other, Dax and Annie take acid together and have the trip of their lives in their hotel room. They were up all night discovering the depths of the universe, while Sophia and Shane are in the room next door illustrating just how awkward it is when couples shower together. Next up, Sophia hits the pool in her granny panties and bralette and then dines with Shane where he finally snaps about how self-centred and self-absorbed his girlfriend is. She accepts no criticism from anyone else, always puts herself first, and — as we know from watching eight episodes of her shenanigans — is unwilling to admit her flaws. Then, instead of listening to Shane, she starts blowing up at him (“Call me a bitch!”). She gets hung up on the fact that he isn’t treating her like a grown-up, which is what everything boils down to in the end.

Sophia wants the privilege, the money, and the status of being an independent and self-sufficient adult, but she lacks the discipline, the humility, and the professionalism to make that happen. It’s clear from her social interactions as well as her business dealings. Being called out on such a deep character flaw is never easy to hear, and Sophia does not take it well. Looks like the honeymoon phase is over. As Sophia crumbles, Dannie tightens up post acid trip. They have a heartfelt conversation about the status of their biracial relationship, and exchange their first “I love you”s.

But wait! Sophia changes her ways. After telling her boyfriend his career is a joke and he’s a pushover, she meets him poolside with a plate of fries and apologises. She even admits one of her biggest flaws: “I get really mad when people are right about me.” All is good again. But after spending a weekend away figuring out her love life, hopefully the business is still going strong.

Most #Girlboss moment?
She nearly didn’t have any, until she faced the hardest decision of all: letting herself be vulnerable to Shane and coming to terms with her flaws.

Sophia is getting closer to her Melanie Griffith Working Girl moment — she’s renting her own office space. Welcome to the big leagues, man. Except, there’s one big thing holding her back. She needs someone to cosign on the large space with her, and best person to fill that role is her dad, Jay. With the help of Dax, she makes very smart-looking bar graphs to illustrate her projected growth and financial plans for her company in the form of a Fancy Business Plan. (She’s mostly doing it for show and making it up as she goes, but hey, it’s something.)

She brings a wing man for dinner with her dad: Shane. He acts as a buffer and he “buffs hard.” And.. it works. He dad agrees to cosign the office lease, under the condition that the lease is in his name and not Sophia’s. She’s super pissed because her dad doesn’t believe in her, and huffs off. Taking matters into her own hands, she decides to rent out an old decrepit warehouse space by the water from a pirate-looking fellow named Burt (Richard Wharton). The setup seems unconventional, which makes it perfect for Nasty Gal.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Nailing down the first official Nasty Gal headquarters.

Okay, so Sophia has a headquarters, a dope array of vintage clothes, and a slew of cool-girl customers. What’s missing? Oh, yes — those pesky little “haters” are back again.

Nasty Gal is the subject of an internet witch hunt at the hands of the Remembrance store and other “like-minded” vintage store owners on their online forum. They hate that they are losing business at the hands of this unorthodox store, but they mostly despise how Sophia manhandles and alters the vintage clothing they so wish to conserve. Annie, being a great best friend and an even better unofficial Nasty Gal employee, takes things into her own hands by secretly joining the forum (which is dedicated to investigating the “ethics” of the Nasty Gal store) under an alias, and convincing the uptight store owners to be open to the idea of a girl like Sophia. It works, and leaves Annie with a thought — she should be Nasty Gal’s first official employee. She already does all the makeup for the photo shoots, assists with all the incoming orders and shipments, and even feng shui’s the warehouse with matching Zen frogs. But, to her shock, Sophia says no.

Annie acts out by re-joining the forum, dragging Nasty Gal, and then engaging in a bitter back-and-forth over AIM with Sophia (LOL, 2006 internet fights). Things get ugly when Sophia boldly claims, “I am Nasty Gal; everything YOU do could be done by an intern.” Way harsh, Soph. This is your best friend you’re talking to. “I quit this — us,” Annie tells Sophia.

Another grenade is launched when the vintage forum members come up with a plan to boot Nasty Gal off of eBay. They report her to eBay for a violation of the site’s guidelines and her account is indefinitely suspended. Fuck, man.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Sorry, babe. There isn’t one.

“Fuck eBay. Fuck Christmas. Fuck Annie. Fuck dad. And fuck you merry gentlemen!” It’s Christmas time and Sophia is in the dumps. In order to recalibrate her life, she decides to go all the way to Texas to buy back that vintage East/West jacket that started it all. She pays a biker couple $2,000 cash for the $9 jacket, and starts planning her revenge on all the online forum members.

First stop on the tour de Nasty Gal? Remembrance Gail’s house in Reno. And things get really vicious. Sophia threatens Gail, and then bops her on the ear. Gail grabs Sophia, constricts her with her arms (there’s a lot of snake metaphors happening in their conversation), and tells her that she is a “garbage person” which is why her mother left her — “I’d have left you, too.” (Sad!)

Next up, sad Sophia is off to Wichita, Kansas, for a screening of “Scrooge Dunnit,” a Christmas murder mystery play. It turns out, her mother is starring in it. It’s immediately clear that Sophia and her mum are cut from the same cloth the moment her mum compliments her badass punk jacket. Together, they head to a local watering hole for a post-show drink with the rest of the ageing cast, and her mum informs her that everyone thinks she is in her mid-30s (which, no offense but LOL), so she can’t very well introduce them to a grown daughter of hers. Instead, she tells everyone that Sophia is “Colette, her manicurist.” It’s pretty heartbreaking to hear Sophia’s mum tell her, to her face, that she keeps the fact that she has a daughter secret. And things only get worse. Sophia learns that her mom has been sleeping with the director of the play (and other plays) in order to get parts. Yikes.

Still in Wichita, Sophia and her mum steal a Christmas tree (because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree). They have a drunken, rambling conversation about why her mum left her and her reasons (which wouldn’t satisfy me) make sense to Sophia, because it turns out that she and her mum are literally the same person. They’re both independent, they’re both cynics, and they both live to hustle. As a viewer, you know things aren’t going to end well. These are two very immature women, ready to blame any of their problems on someone else.

It all comes to a head the next morning (Christmas morning) when Sophia’s mum has her own meltdown after findng out she didn’t get the part she wanted regardless of the fact that she screwed the director in the bathroom at the bar the night before. She screams and hollers, and Sophia looks on mortified. Not because it’s her grown mother acting like a kid, but because she does the exact same thing whenever something doesn’t go her way. The red ribbon has been lifted off her eyes — it’s time to grow the fuck up, Sophia, before you too are yelling like a lunatic in an empty playhouse in Wichita.

Following her mum’s freak-out, Sophia gifts her the iconic jacket for “the next time she needs to kick someone’s ass” and jets off to her next destination: Reno, again. Back to see good ole Gail. She thanks old-timey Gail for kicking her off eBay because now she has the confidence to embark on her own adventure: creating her own website, NastyGal.com

Most #Girlboss moment?
She became less of a garbage person.

It’s time to make a website, kids. Sophia is a woman on a mission, and with Annie by her side as her first official employee (they made up on New Year’s Eve), she’s unstoppable. Except for one thing: She doesn’t know how to make a website. Enter, Craigslist. While Sophia takes care of scouting vintage clothing from rather unorthodox places (like, the lost-and-found luggage at the airport via her neighbor who works for TSA), Annie enlists an Ivy League grad to build them a dope site, worthy of all their dope clothes. Sophia isn’t the only one coming a step closer to her dreams, though. Shane is in the studio, recording tracks with his personal band, now that he isn’t on tour managing other bands.

But, as Sophia nears the date of her website launch, she starts to…wait for it…freak out and blame everything on the world! Ugh, Sophia. I thought we were past this. First, she tries to fire their website designer, Kaavi, because she made a different (and better) version of the website than the one Sophia asked for. Second, she sees a similar product to one of her vintage items being sold in the front window of a fictionalised version of Urban Outfitters, and third, she second-guesses the entire brand. “Maybe I should just quit while I’m ahead,” she says, crying on the floor in the middle of the warehouse. “Dreams die.”

Annie tells her to buck up and get fucked, literally, by Shane as a stress reliever. Sophia agrees and heads to the studio to surprise Shane where she finds him being, erm, serviced by someone else already. Shane is cheating on Sophia! Dick.

Most #Girlboss moment?
Not punching Shane in the face right on the spot when she walked in on him cheating on her.