Review: Blank My Life: Goodbye New York, Hello Hell

A Web Series You'll Never Forget

By Ghia Vitale
@GhiaWasHere
QuailBellMagazine.com

Blank My Life: Goodbye New York, Hello Hell is a web series about a bi-curious millennial’s struggles with life after accidentally killing her best friend. It’s being released today (November 8, 2018). Alex Spieth is the writer and creator this series. She also stars as the main character, Susan.

Blank My Life: Goodbye New York, Hello Hell isn’t an ordinary web series. Throughout the series, Susan copes with accidentally shooting her best friend, Brendan (Benjamin Viertel). After attending his funeral, she moves all the way from New York to Socksville, Ohio with her boyfriend, Ronny (Donald Chang). The house they move into creeps her out and adds to the anxiety she has over her life. As someone who has experienced moving into a new yet still old house, I can confirm just how creepy the experience can be.

A lot of people in Susan’s position would be tempted to move and start over. Susan’s big move is a way of attempting to escape her issues. A lot of people try to fix their problems by changing their location, a move called a “geographical cure” by mental health specialists. When people resort to a geographical cure, they think a change in residence will change their life. The truth is as long as you’re dealing with issues, they’ll follow you to another place. Susan learns this the hard way.

Blank My Life: Goodbye New York, Hello Hell breaks stereotypes surrounding dead characters. Brendan literally haunts her throughout the series. Despite being dead, Brendan is still very present in the story as a ghost. You learn about his personality beyond him serving as a plot device. I enjoy how Brendan wasn’t in a stereotypical zombie-like stupor like many other undead characters are. I appreciate it whenever undead characters are as animated as the characters who are alive.

This web series also explores queer friendships and relationships. For instance, Brendan is a queer actor. As for Susan, I couldn’t tell she was queer until she met Genevieve ((rebeca) Rad), the receptionist at the school where Susan gets hired. The tension between them is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. From the moment they met, I could tell Susan was bi-curious. 

I can relate to how the interactions between queer femmes are presented in Blank My Life: Goodbye New York, Hello Hell. When Susan and Genevieve decided to hang out, both of them referred to their hangout as a “date” separately. As a queer femme, I think this is so realistic, I almost feel personally attacked by it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had chemistry with a femme, only to be confused as to whether or not our hangout was actually a date. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to tell whether femmes are being friendly or flirtatious. A lot of other wlw femmes tell me they experience the same thing. I appreciate how this series mirrors my lived experience.

I highly recommend checking this series out if you’re looking for something unconventional to watch. Blank My Life: Goodbye New York, Hello Hell is as far from cliche as it gets. The series shows as unique perspective you won’t find anywhere else.

Check out the web series on Vimeo as well as the pilot and the trailer. Get more updates on this series by following it on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.