Back in July, I began reading the series Geek Actually. I last left the story where Aditi and Michelle were mulling over a poor working relationship, Christina was in a precarious work/love relationship, Taneesha fended off doxers, and Elli considered whether she’d found her calling. For this review, I’m summarizing episodes nine through thirteen, which is the rest of this season.

In these five episodes, we see the tensions that were stirred up at the beginning of the series become the main issues characters deal with. For Aditi and Michelle, this means struggling to balance their friendship and working relationship. Aditi, as an author, tries to follow her muse and use her voice but does so without regard to the position this puts Michelle in as her editor. Michelle supports her friend’s vocal writings when confronted by her boss but also comes off cold to Aditi when critiquing her work.

Elli revels in the good working relationship with her boss Ruby, who has helped her to identify her tendency to envision a fairytale life instead of dealing with the world around her. This realization also helps Elli to understand her asexual identity. Unfortunately, this good relationship comes to a halt when something tragic happens to Ruby.

Taneesha and Christina are exploring new relationships but Christina’s mix of business and pleasure takes a wrong turn as Vivi continues to put her in uncomfortable situations, which Christina never completely calls her on. The whole relationship turns when Vivi puts Christina in a dangerous sexual environment. Taneesha, on the other hand, is happy to explore a new relationship with Diego, until he weighs in on her doxing and work issues. After having a “your faves are problematic” talk with her brother and Diego receiving eye-opening information from the women in his family, the two give their relationship another shot.

The plot thickens when Elli, after weeks of being M.I.A., shares her sexual assault with her friends. Despite the different issues weighing on each woman, they all rally to Elli’s side and help her get to a better place. Returning home after her trip to support Elli, Taneesha is ready to confront Steve, her co-worker and the figurehead behind her doxing issues. This confrontation takes place about an hour before their job doles out their judgment and resolves the greater antagonization that Taneesha has faced. In the last pages of the final episode, Michelle confronts her boss, a white woman, about her desire to placate a sexist, white male, best-selling author by deflecting from Aditi’s work. Michelle asks her boss to avoid telling Aditi to change her writing so that it “broadens her audience,” which they all know to means “appeal to white people/whitewash the story.” She stakes her job on this strategy and her boss takes her up on it.

I enjoyed my overall experience of reading another serialized series, especially one that focuses on the professional and personal travails of a group of progressive and self-actualized women of color. I was most inspired by the group’s commitment to friendship, especially when one member of the group was in an awful place. The fact that they made sure to check in with each other regularly makes them, as the final episode of the series is very accurately titled, Squad Goals. I look forward to reading the next installment (or season) of this series.

I love this series! It's my comfort reading for when I'm travelling: the short length makes me feel like I can get stuck into a story even if I don't have much time, the chattiness is comforting, and it's an easy (though not dumb) read.

The characters, from my favourite to least favourite:

Michelle, a book editor who's just getting into BDSM after a divorce. She feels real to me, and deals with her problems like an adult. She gets into difficult situations through no fault of her own, and while often her hands are tied (no pun intended) and things don't go as she wants them to, she's not a pushover.
Taneesha, who works as a games company and ends up dealing with all kinds of Male Bullshit including getting doxed. I don't usually like descriptions of characters' clothing and hairstyles, but she's a badass black woman and I liked when she got dolled up.
Aditi, an author whose debut novel is about to be published. I thought I'd identify with Aditi most as she's a writer, but she frustrated me. She's such a brat, and whines whenever Michelle (her editor) asks her how her second novel is going because whhhhhyyyy should she have to write? (Because you're a writer, bitch. Get it done.)
Christina, a PA to a Hollywood movie star. She doesn't feel real to me, and neither does her boss/lover, Vivi.
Elli, a cosplayer. If I didn't know better, I'd think Elli was 12 years old. I couldn't relate to her at all and found her childish and annoying.

The books are a nice mix of all the characters, and towards the end I feel like they focused more on Michelle and Taneesha, which suited me because they were the best characters. I hope there's a season 2.

For all those who have a bit of nerd or geek inside of us all, you will love the Geek Actually Serials. I have been enjoying them over the past thirteen episodes and getting to know the characters and their lives. This particular episode I loved and hated, I loved the fact that the characters decided to finally take a step back from their lives and re-evaluate them up to do whether it be personal or work and that when Elli suffered rape at Comic-Con that they all came together to give Elli the support she needed. They were all their for their friend no matter what they were doing, they just up and dropped everything which I loved as it showed how much they cared. The part I hated was that the serial never had any strong resolution or ending. It was like ok, so this chapter of our lives is over and now we are off to do the next chapter, but you aren't invited to that part as this is the end of the Serial books. The rape part in this book got me thinking as currently there is a #metoo going around about women who have been at one point in their lives sexually harassed or assaulted and the number of #metoo responses is seriously shocking. The way the statistics are going, it will be difficult more to find a female that hasn’t than one that has.
This is a good read, but only if you have spent your time reading the earlier books and want to conclude the serial.

Part of me is sad that their redemption—except for Aditi—didn’t match all the suffering they went through. On the other hand, that’s more realistic, and that’s what this series was aiming for the entire ride, no matter how often I wished it to be a little more escapist.

PICK

TW for the aftermath of sexual assault.

Y'all, GEEK ACTUALLY ends strong. This finale brings all five friends together in the same physical location for the first time, and it did my heart good to watch them support one another. Squad goals indeed!

This ep also provides some closure for each character, but there're enough dangly bits that I'll hope for an S2. I want to see where these women go from here! #queerbooks

Squad Goals
Geek Actually, Book 1.13

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continuing the series


The Characters:

Aditi Sodhi, Christina Webber, Elli Kelman, Michelle Andrada, Taneesha Adams:


The Story:

I liked the conclusion of this season. It seems like all the ladies are in a good place and poised to move on to great things.

The Random Thoughts:

Soooo, when will there be more?


4 Stars

Meaningful culmination of their supportive friendship for the finale! These multifaceted women continue to astound and entertain with insight galore! Excited for Season 2!

This is such a great season finale for a serial! Can't wait for season 2 to follow up with the gang and see what happens in all their lives.

This installment was really good in that it wrapped up all the loose ends and everyone got a more or less happy ending, but honestly I'm just more glad it's over than anything else. I mean there was obviously something I liked about this series because I kept reading it, but it was overall not a very fun series for me. I think that if you want to read about women facing real-life discrimination and bad situations and coming out the other side as better people and with tighter bonds of friendship then this series is definitely for you. But I read as an escape from how awful the world is and this series really just made me upset more than it made me happy. I think this series is a great thing and I'm sure it will help a lot of people, I'm just not one of them.