Generation arrives at a moment when TV has no shortage of shows about, as Megan sarcastically describes it, "this secret life of teenagers' hoo-hah." It's lighter than some of its peers, but still self-conscious... Still, there's promise here.
There's so much going on in Genera+ion, and episodes can fly by in a disorienting flurry of loud colors and pop music, but it knows what it is and what it wants to say.
Genera+ion is very impressed with itself, and wants us to share in that sentiment, to be wowed by its inelegant envelope pushing, even though the pushing has been done much better by other shows in just the last 18 months.
Genera+ion is enamored with the superficial things that make these characters feel contemporary, without showing much interest in what makes them distinctive just as people.
Generation is, hopefully, a step in the right direction for representation and ambition in teen shows. Unfortunately, that's not an excuse to treat characters with disingenuousness, nor is surface-level progress the recipe for a good watch.
Genera+ion displays a few moments of world- weary teens that seem clichéd, but more often than not the show excels in avoiding the expected in favor of subtlety even with its most outwardly demonstrative character, Chester.
Watching it, I felt about as old as the dinosaurs... But even as a relic from the Late Cretaceous period, of this I'm sure: kids these days are, most assuredly, alright.
There are moments in Generation when you can feel the writers doing some hipper-than-thou flexing, but more often the show, created by Daniel Barnz and his 18-year-old daughter, Zelda, is an astute drama-comedy featuring well-drawn characters.
