The show premiered on HBO Max on November 18 of 2021. Two seasons have been aired and a third has been ordered.
This series provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: One of the most important arcs of the entire second season largely focused on Kimberly trying to get the money to pay off her college tuitions after she loses her scholarship for cheating an Econ exam, going from asking for a loan to selling her eggs, having to get hormone shots and undergoing a hospital procedure. However, after five episodes, the issue is never adressed again afterwards.
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Separated from his girlfriend Maya, Leighton's brother Nico begins an affair with Kimberly without telling anyone involved.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- In the first episode, Nico gives Leighton a pep talk after she gets dejected from being dumped by her friends from high school.
- In "Cheating," Leighton confronts Nico for toying around with Kimberly's feelings (since he did not tell her he already had a girlfriend), and threatens to reveal the relationship to Maya unless he apologizes to Kimberly. When he does not, she makes good on her threat.
- Black Bra and Panties: Discussed when Kimberly asks her roommates which bra to wear is sexy. They immediately suggest the black one which she has.
- Blatant Lies: Bela, Whitney and Kimberly spy on Leighton and Nico privately arguing over her telling Maya about his cheating with Kimberly. When Leighton asks them if they were listening to all that, they insist they didn't. Jocelyn passes by and calls their bluff, saying she overheard them from the bathroom.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Leighton and Alicia are not on the same page about their relationship being public, yet the two make valid points when it comes to what the other wants. Despite dating her, Leighton still isn't ready to come out of the closet, not only because she doesn't want her life to change, but also finding terrifying the idea of her family finding out, especially given how conservative they are, but Alicia is also on point about feeling regressed to when she was closeted and that Leighton is ashamed of her for not being proud of her sexual orientation. This results in both of them breaking up.
- Cliffhanger:
- The season 1 finale. Kimberly is not expelled from Essex for cheating, but she loses her scholarship, meaning she has to pay if she wants to continue studying there. Roll credits.
- The second season finale ends with Bela at the Admissions Office asking to transfer to a different college after blowing up her relationships with Eric and the rest of the Foxy staff. Also, Whitney moves in with the Kappas after Kimberly lies to her about kissing Canaan.
- Coming-Out Story: A subplot is Leighton coming out to first Kimberly then Bela and Whitney as gay, after having been resolutely closeted, with her girlfriend Alicia dumping her as she hadn't wanted to keep their relationship a secret.
- Distracted by the Sexy:
- Kimberly any time she's around Nico.
- Later she finds Jackson pretty distracting as well, if he's shirtless especially.
- Do You Want to Copulate?: Kimberly gets hit on by her professor's husband casually telling her, "We should fuck sometime."
- First Girl Wins: Appears to be the outcome of the Leighton-Alicia-Tatum Love Triangle as of the Season 2 finale, with Alicia as the winner.
- Foreshadowing: Canaan gets on Kimberly for not doing her Econ homework in episode 1.07. In episode 2.09, the audience learns Canaan is an Econ major and is receiving an award at a banquet for his work in the field.
- Four-Girl Ensemble: The girls play around with this dynamic:
- Kimberly is the sweet, naive and responsible one. She is a Country Mouse who feels the culture shock at Essex the most, yet tries to be The Heart of the group and is even the first person Leighton comes out to..
- Bela is the boy-obsessed and snarky one. She describes herself as insanely sex-positive, although it's clear from the beginning that part of her obsession with boys is because she is inexperienced and eager to find out more. As an aspiring humorist and a very dramatic individual, she provides most of the series' funny one-liners,
- Whitney is a subversion of the tomboy trope as most of her storyline is related to her soccer extracurriculars but she doesn't disregard conventional girly things, like dressing up for parties with her roommates. Being under a lot of pressure due to her famous mother, she tends to be more focused on her goals than the others, and so is described as the "most normal" one.
- Leighton is the aloof and cynical one, or more generally, the Defrosting Ice Queen. She is a Dude Magnet but mostly a Chick Magnet, as she is shown from the beginning to Really Get Around with older women. Due to her opulent background, she sees many people as beneath her, although she is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Friends with Benefits: Bela has a relationship like this with Eric initially, sleeping with him but also other guys. When she sees him with another girl, Bela gets jealous though and realizes she'd rather really date him, which Eric agrees to.
- Hypocrite: Bela says when she sees other people, it's feminist and empowering, but Eric doing so is bad male behavior.
- The Immodest Orgasm: Kimberly's roommates are all turned off by her loud cries and graphic dirty talk while having sex with Jackson next door.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: In "The Truth," when Kimberly, Whitney, and Bela eavesdrop on Leighton's heated talk with Nico, this comes up:Kimberly: "I just hate thinking that they're fighting about me."Whitney: "No, I don't think this is all about you."Leighton: (to Nico) "Because you fucked Kimberly, that's why!"
- Funny Background Event: Evangeline can be seen smiling from behind just after Bela gives him a taste of his own medicine in retaliation for humiliating her by making a sexist joke about her.
- Interclass Friendship: Bela's father is a restauranteur, Whitney's mother is a senator, and Leighton is from a WASP family. Kimberly, on the other hand, grew up in a modest home and got into Essex on a scholarship. She nearly declines to buy a dress because it's expensive, and is worried when she learns that the Parents' Weekend meeting is held at a fancy restaurant that her family cannot afford otherwise.
- Lesbian Jock: Whitney's teammate Willow on the soccer team is a lesbian. We later learn Coach Woods is too, and she's married to a woman.
- Lingerie Scene: Most of the main quartet have one while they undress to have sex with someone. Some minor characters are also shown wearing only underwear as well. It's taken even further in the Season 2 premiere, where there's a party with every attendee wearing only underwear.
- One Head Taller: Leighton towers over Alicia, who says she's 5'2'', during their brief relationship.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Bela gets several after cheating on Eric and betraying her colleagues of The Foxy by taking sole credit of their entire work.
- Leighton gets one from a girl she accidentally gave an STD to.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Whitney's other coach does this when she finds out Whitney was the one sleeping with her colleague, refusing to tell her bosses about it. She was fired for it.
- Screw Yourself: Discussed when Leighton realizes her ideal woman's someone physically and mentally like her. Another lesbian who she knows says it's a twincest phase many go through. Later she dates Tatum, who is so a lot like her to the point they are indeed called "twins" by her roommates.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl:
- Several characters, like the girls' friend Jocelyn, do not seem to have much of a problem stripping off in front of people when given free reign to do so. Others, like Maya and Whitney's teammates, demonstrate no shyness whatsoever about being undressed in front of others in the showers or changing rooms, which is understandable as that's what's expected.
- Nico is a male example, as he knows that he is a Mr. Fanservice and relishes in it. To quote his reason for going inexplicably shirtless while preparing the frat party:Nico: "Oh, I'd make up a reason for why my shirt is off, but, honestly, it's because I know I look good without it."
- Spoiler: On July 10, 2023, almost seven months after the second season ended, Deadline released an article announcing that Reneé Rapp (Leighton) would be appearing in a "handful of episodes" of the third season through a recurring capacity, and then written off the show after that.
- STD Immunity: Leighton believed she had this due to only having sex with women, but then catches chlamydia. She's then told that no, having sex with women can infect her too. When she neglects to inform her sex partners like the doctor said to, one of the girls Leighton had given it to tells everyone later while she's seeking to pledge a sorority, embarrassing her publicly.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Leighton has tons of casual sex with women in Season 2. This results in her contracting chlamydia, a rare outcome in a show that's largely comedy.
- The results of Bela, a main character cheating on her boyfriend. The situation is played entirely straight with no one really taking Bela's side once the facts come out and she does not get Eric to forgive her.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Deliberately invoked and then averted with Whitney's coach. He plays this part to get into her pants and then to try and keep her quiet when he breaks it off. She does, but it comes out anyway, though not who on the soccer team he was cheating with.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Whitney is in one with Dalton, her assistant soccer coach, in the first half of season one. She later learns that he had dated another college student like her before while coaching at Ithaca College.
- Toplessness from the Back: Surprisingly common along with Shoulders-Up Nudity, given the show's subject matter. The series takes pains to almost never fully show any of the main characters' sensitive anatomy, though it does show several extras totally undressed.
- Twofer Token Minority:
- Bela is the only student of South Asian ancestry. She's the only South Asian in the cast aside from her parents, who are seen a couple times.
- Alicia is one of the two characters in the cast with East Asian descent, who's also into women.
- Jocelyn is a threefer - she's a woman, black, and disabled (she uses a wheelchair).
- Lily is the only explicit Latina in the cast, to judge by her last name of Flores.
- Willow is another threefer - she's a woman, black, and a lesbian.
- Evangelina is the other student aside from Alicia who's of East Asian descent.
- Brandi is a black lesbian who Tatum had previously dated.
- Jess is a black lesbian who Leighton dates briefly.
- Molly, a black lesbian too, who Leighton had sex with once (and Jess's ex-they run into each other).
- Uptown Girl: Kimberly and Nico. She came from a working class family and got into Essex on a scholarship, while he is a WASP who lives in Upper East Side, and whose ancestors funded one of the buildings in Essex.
- Wild Teen Party: No less than four parties are held at Nico's Theta Pi Delta fraternity in the first season alone.
