Review: Jeff & Some Aliens “Jeff & Some Pre-Teen Girls”

Girls, girls, girls.

Spoilers Below

Jeff & Some Aliens clocks in one of its finest episodes so far, and also one of its darkest. “Jeff & Some Pre-Teen Girls” explores pre-teen culture, childhood, and elaborates on Jeff’s (Brett Gelman) family. The episode begins with Jeff emphatically playing the bongos while his niece Julie accompanies on the flute. She reveals that she doesn’t want to enter the high school talent show with her flute performance. At this, Jeff is distraught, and sets out to convince her otherwise.

Season one episode three yields even more evolution and clarity on Jeff’s relationship with aliens Sammy, Jimmy, and Ted (Alessandro Minoli). Interestingly, while their continuing mission revolves around studying Jeff, there’s also a vibe of Jeff learning about his own culture. While impersonating a pre-teen girl in a hilarious manner (no spoilers on how), it’s clear that Jeff does not understand pre-teens. Jeff is just as much an alien, as in outsider not extraterrestrial, in the realm of pre-teen girls as Jimmy, Sammy, and Ted are foreign on Earth.

There’s something of a loss of innocence and childlike wonder in “Jeff & Some Pre-Teen Girls.” Julie loses interest in the flute. Instead, she focuses on her friends, boys, and remaining popular. The alien trio explain that their initial mission was the study of pre-teen girls, but that subject was far too complex. Therefore, they opted to concentrate on Jeff instead.

We once again see Jeff’s fitness-obsessed boss and incompetent co-workers. This cast of supporting characters is a welcome addition to any episode. Jeff’s neighbor and landlord shows up and there’s a comedic subplot where he misinterprets Jeff’s interactions with his niece. Arguably the highlight of “Jeff & Some Pre-Teen Girls” is its exploration of Jeff’s relations with Jimmy, Ted, and Sammy. Their interactions are threefold: Housemates, friends, and doctor-patient. The aliens battle difficulties such as successfully getting Jeff to listen to them. Despite their greatest efforts to study humanity, Jimmy, Ted, and Sammy clearly exhibit a lack of knowledge on human interaction.

Meeting more of Jeff’s family broadens the series cast and lends Jeff a fleshed out back story. In the pilot, we meet Jeff’s parents and in the second episode “Jeff & Some Energy Trading” his on-again-off-again girlfriend Linda appears. Like “Energy Trading,” I really enjoyed the alien tech. There are robots which can be controlled by a user, and it’s an almost VR-type setup. Neat gadget design feels inventive like devices plucked from Star Trek.

With “Jeff & Some Pre-Teen Girls,” I was struck with how Jeff & Some Aliens continues to offer societal commentary on a variety of topics. “Jeff & Some Energy Trading” concentrated on social media, whereas “Pre-Teen Girls” dissects pre-teen culture. Sure, characters are exaggerated and posted as tropes. But there are elements of truth within the humor and stereotypes.

Especially in this third series entry, the comedy occasionally wanders into uncomfortable territory. It’s not quite on par with The Goat or Who is Sylvia (a truly fantastic play and absolutely worth reading or watching). Thankfully, Jeff & Some Aliens remains light, swooping in with hilarity before any moments become too disheartening. That’s not to say Jeff & Some Aliens is without its depth; on the contrary, each episode definitely provides a dose of heavy commentary. However, this isn’t treading into Ingmar Bergman weightiness. “Jeff & Some Pre-Teen Girls” may be my favorite episode thus far for its unflinching social commentary as well as heightened sci-fi elements.