Review: Birdgirl “ShareBear”

Overview:

Judy begins to find a balance between her work as Birdgirl and her new position as Sebben & Sebben’s CEO. This newfound confidence results in a potentially disastrous situation when the company’s new therapy teddy bears go berserk and threaten to expose all of Sebben & Sebben’s top secrets. Judy stands behind the volatile decision that she’s made with the company, which puts Meredith the Mind Taker (bwooo bwooOooo) in the unique position to solve this problem and prevent Sebben & Sebben from an avalanche of scandals, bad press, and teddy bear-related injuries. 

Our Take:

A purpose in life is fundamental. A lack of purpose is a depressing realization, but what can sometimes be even worse is the knowledge that it’s impossible to fulfill your purpose, ostensibly becoming useless in the process. Birdgirl looks at Judy Ken Sebben during a point in her life when she’s confused over what she’s meant to do. She wants to help people, but finds herself terrified of going about this in the wrong way and doing even more harm. Judy fears that a superhero who becomes the CEO of a company is just as problematic as a therapy teddy bear that blabs the secrets that people tell it. She’s unsure of where her purpose lies, but she’s determined to not let anyone down while she attempts to figure this out. “ShareBear” does an effective job at exploring why the role of CEO is so important to Judy and that in a strange way she feels like she can actually help more people through corporate acts than she can as a superhero. It’s just important that those corporate acts aren’t disasters.

Meredith is the standout character in “ShareBear,” but the entire supporting cast gels well and they feel increasingly natural in this episode. It’s too soon to tell, but I’m not against the idea of the Birdteam coming together in a rushed superhero pastiche for the conclusion of each episode. The characters themselves are so atypical that this should still feel original even if the show falls into a certain pattern with these habits. Surely the day will come when Birdcat gets to lead his own mission.

The broader focus in “ShareBear” examines Judy’s ability to balance and compartmentalize her unconventional life. This episode explores different insecurities than in the pilot, yet it’s also able to progress Judy’s doubts from the first episode. It’s helpful to gain a greater sense of empowerment in Judy with each new episode and her actions make Birdgirl’s world feel even more lived in. Judy is still a bouncing ball of nerves, but Birdgirl the series feels more comfortable with its character dynamics as well as the absurdity that puts them to the test. This extends to the humor in “ShareBear,” which contains an inherently comical plot, but there are also some smart and layered non sequiturs, like a virtual reality segment that prompts a debate on the nature of reality or the growing saga of Brian O’Brien, Sebben & Sebben’s consummate punching bag.

“ShareBear” marks a promising start to Birdgirl’s first season and it’s an episode that both refines the formula from the pilot and also gains greater confidence with the supporting characters beyond Birdgirl and the types of chaos that can occur in this series. “ShareBear’s” manic joke delivery allows the episode to feel familiar, but its scope is considerably different than Birdgirl’s premiere. The best thing for Birdgirl during these early episodes is to highlight as much variety as possible and show the many different hats capes that this show can wear. Six episodes can be extremely confining to a series that has such a distinct premise as Birdgirl, but it shouldn’t have to worry if what follows can continue in “ShareBear’s” unpredictable footsteps.