11. Garbage Person
After eBay deletes her account for violating their terms of service, Sophia is not in a good place. Rather than make lemonade with the lemons life has thrown at her, Sophia decides the thing to do is visit her struggling actress of a mother, who has been otherwise absent all series.
This episode raises all sorts of questions; how does Sophia know where to find her mother? Exactly how much contact have they had since she walked out? Why did she leave Sophia’s father, who seems fairly nice and financially responsible? Why is Sophia okay with her mother telling people she is her nail technician instead of her daughter?
The concept of running away from one’s problems is not a novel one, especially not in shows like Girlboss that feature this much teenage angst. But this episode opens a can of worms, attempting to tackle emotional themes of abandonment, disappointment and failure in relation to a complicated mother-daughter relationship dynamic which was never going to be done justice in just one episode.
Verdict: Well-meaning attempt to flesh out Sophia’s psychological profile, which is confusing at best.