In 2001, “Legally Blonde” became iconic and quotable in a way that movies and TV shows rarely achieve today. This is partly because they aren’t given the chance. Today, too much content has become an iteration of itself, with more standalone stories being expanded into unnecessary franchises.
This superfluousness is exemplified in Prime Video’s new series “Elle,” an eight-episode prequel to “Legally Blonde” in which Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree) is a high school junior in 1995. Her mom, Eva (June Diane Raphael), and dad, Wyatt (Tom Everett Scott), move the family from Los Angeles to Seattle after her dad performs a nose job gone wrong on a celebrity. Essentially, it’s a (pink) fish-out-of-water story, but instead of Harvard Law, Elle must adapt to life in the Pacific Northwest.
Like the movie, the show begins with the journey of a glittery envelope bearing Elle’s name. It is being delivered in the lead-up to a moment that could be pivotal in her life. In “Legally Blonde,” it’s the night Elle thinks she is going to get engaged to her college boyfriend. In the TV show, it’s the evening of her 16th birthday. Also, like the movie, Elle first appears onscreen when she’s at her vanity getting ready.
The strong similarities between the first movie and the show continue as the pilot progresses, exemplifying a common pitfall of a franchise that leans too heavily on its predecessors. In this case, the frequent references to “Legally Blonde” come at the expense of expansion; there isn’t enough new story being told. From the pink color palette of the sets and wardrobe to the way Elle is stereotyped as “blonde” to meeting Bruiser as a puppy, everything is a botched attempt to achieve what the movie did well.
What’s worse is that the show tries very hard to be funny, but it isn’t. This is partially because of the poor writing and partially because the show centers on a protagonist whose “personality is pink” without imbuing that personality with meaning that is relevant in today’s world.
In 2001, Reese Witherspoon was able to capture Elle’s pink ethos with complexity because her portrayal was humorous, vulnerable and strong. She was a pioneer of lipstick feminism, showing viewers how hyper-femininity did not have to be anti-feminist, and the humor in the movie hyperbolized this overarching point.
Twenty-five years later, it feels unnecessary to retread that theme, especially after the cultural reappropriation of girlhood that has been happening since the 2023 release of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and the major cultural events that followed, including the pervasive making of Swiftian friendship bracelets during the Eras Tour and the wide-reaching popularity of teen shows like Prime’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” Within this cultural climate, Elle having a “pink personality” does not feel fresh; it feels redundant and diminishes teenage Elle to a caricature.
This lack of depth is ironic considering that the eight episodes themselves are so long. Their length averages 49 minutes and gives the show too much room to try to be both a comedy and a family drama without accomplishing either well.
At school, Elle is trying to fit in socially and impress the other students, who are engaged in activism. She also wants to get her first kiss and is crushing on a boy who is dating one of her only friends. At home, she doesn’t want to disappoint her parents but also wants more independence from them and is applying for an internship that will take her back to LA.
The problem isn’t the storylines or themes themselves. They are common ones for teen TV shows. The issue is the pacing, and the storylines are poorly balanced and stretch on far too long to fill space in the almost hour-long episodes.
Ultimately, Elle Woods’ positivity cannot outweigh the negatives of the show, and it is a prequel that should not exist, because the only thing it does accomplish is undermining the iconic status of “Legally Blonde.”
“Elle” is streaming on Prime Video.
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