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The sudden arrival of Maia’s old best frenemy, Tallulah (Odessa A'zion), a rising New York influencer, presents both an opportunity and a threat. If Maia signs Tallulah to Alyssa 180, her boss will have to promote her to manager. But bubbly, unstrategic, free-spirited Tallulah also has a tendency to suck up all the oxygen in a city, relegating Maia to the role of sidekick. I Love LA chronicles our Type A hero’s efforts to mix business with friendship, pinning her dreams of industry domination on an It girl who might be a bit too authentic to be a good investment. Sennott and A’zion (the daughter of Better Things creator Pamela Adlon) are perfectly matched, the former all nervous energy while the latter glides on charm and impulse. Some character development does take place over the course of the season. Maia questions how cutthroat she really wants to be; Tallulah chafes at the distortion of her image. And the show can be uproarious when it’s spoofing the norms of its subculture, from at-home vitamin IVs to virtue-signaling snackfood brands to unironic rhapsodizing over an influencer-branded Chipotle bowl. Guest stars are deployed sparingly but well. It makes for a fun but mostly forgettable hang. I kept waiting in vain for hints that I Love LA possessed more insight than its characters. Sennott never steps outside the frame to ask what kind of person flocks to the influencer sphere and why, or whether any meaning can be found in such apparently soulless work. Maybe existential soul-searching is too much of a luxury for a generation that will likely have to fight harder than any other still living to survive. But why make art grounded in your own experience if you’re not prepared to do some introspection?
