Yes, this Legally Blonde prequel is completely unnecessary, but it’s also so much fun

Elle ★★★★

I should have known better than to underestimate Elle Woods, but Amazon’s prequel series to Legally Blonde took me by complete surprise.

For a show that could sit pretty atop the streaming charts off the power of nostalgia alone, Elle is far funnier than it needs to be. That’s if – and it will be too big of an if for many – you can overlook that the entire premise of a prequel runs counter-intuitive to the beloved 2001 hit film starring Reese Witherspoon.

Starring newcomer Lexi Minetree and executive produced by Witherspoon, Elle is a fish-out-of-water story about a peppy, pink-obsessed and kind-hearted girl who discovers a whole world outside of her Barbie-like bubble of privilege. Sound familiar?

Set in 1995, Elle relocates the Woods from Los Angeles to the grey, grunge-obsessed Seattle, her dad needing to lie low after botching a celebrity’s nose job. (The soundtrack follows suit, too, as evident in Elle’s theme song, Garbage’s Only Happy When It Rains.)

Soon lost in a sea of dark flannel, nose rings and black hoodies at her new high school, Elle struggles to make sense of a world where Bikini Kill isn’t a swimwear brand and rhinestones don’t improve Nirvana’s smiley face.

“Didn’t anybody ever tell you we don’t do poseurs here?” says instant enemy and queen bee Kimberly (Chandler Kinney). “Seattle isn’t a costume and pink isn’t a personality.”

Still, Elle is insistent on winning over her classmates through sunny perseverance, even if it involves going to a gross grunge gig where people leave their coats out in the open. “A trust system,” Elle whispers, her entire worldview shifting.

The love triangles, friendship betrayals and more are enticing enough, but Elle’s propelled predominantly by two excellent comedic performances: a carefully studied Minetree, who mimics Witherspoon perfectly, and June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie) as Elle’s waspy mum Eva, who is continually horrified by Seattle’s culture.

Elle may be a completely unnecessary IP extension, but it’s a well-executed one, capturing Legally Blonde’s bright, fluffy sense of humour. To revive Elle Woods, showrunners Laura Kittrell (High School) and Caroline Dries (The Vampire Diaries) surgically removed the film’s comedic bones and shoved them into the body of a teen drama.

Sure, it makes no sense as a prequel (though with a second season already confirmed, maybe it’s all leading to a memory-erasing coma between now and law school), but why let that get in the way of a good time? Just pretend Elle is a soft-reboot, or something akin to The Carrie Diaries – a fun, slightly incongruent imagining of a beloved character’s teen years.

Elle streams on Amazon Prime Video from July 1.

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