As the pilot episode of The Girls On The Bus begins, Sadie McCarthy (Melissa Benoist) finds herself in the crowd with FBI agents approaching. She runs outside and gets stopped by officers. Sadie insists she didn’t do it. Today, the truth is whatever you want to believe. Seven months earlier, Sadie tells someone on the phone she’ll get to Iowa late tonight. She learns that the Bennett campaign flew her Yorkie first class. Once she reaches her office, her boss tells her to come see him. Sadie tells her picture of Hunter S. Thompson that it’s happening. Bruce Turner (Griffin Dunne) tells her he’s putting her on the old man’s bus. Dale is being sent with Bennett.

The newsroom is worried she lives and writes in a more emotional space. Bruce says she wanted Felicity Walker (Hettienne Park) to win and it showed in her work. The media is under attack so they cannot show a hint of bias. Sadie is told she needs to lead with her head instead of her heart. When she mentions Hunter S. Thompson, she’s told she needs to stop romanticizing The Boys on the Bus. Sadie pleads with Bruce to give her another chance. Bruce says she’ll need to prove she can write objectively and she has to land the first interview. Sadie is confident she can do that. Later, Sadie speaks to a woman about wanting to reach the White House. Lola Rahaii (Natasha Behnam) does a video about packing for the trip to Iowa.

Eric helps make sure Kimberlyn Kendrick (Christina Elmore) doesn’t forget anything. He proposes to her and she quickly says yes. Grace Gordon Greene (Carla Gugino) talks about what she wants while packing. Before long, Grace meets with Sadie at the bar. Sadie tells Grace she’s assigned to Caroline Bennett who reformed public schools as a governor. She just needs to get the first interview with Bennett to get back in Bruce’s good graces. Harold Gordon speaks about caucus predications. Sadie tells Grace he’s crapping on her reporting again. Grace says the right has arrived. Nellie (Leslie Fray) walks in with Kimberlyn. Sadie and Nellie take shots at each other. Sadie says hello to Lola and mentions that she loves her Instagram. The next day, the chaos begins.

Lola posts a video about her candidate and defunding the police. Grace gets a call from Annie who wants her to drive her to college. She tells Sadie to never have kids before questioning what Lola is doing. Sadie tells her about the new world of campaign reporting. Grace believes their business is dying. When Grace gets a scoop, she has to run. Bruce messages Sadie to ask for the copy and to tell her not to make him regret this. Sadie compares the election to The Bachelor. Hunter S. Thompson (PJ Sosko) warns her that’s not what her editor asked her to write. She deletes it. Meanwhile, Kimberlyn with the Liberty Direct News has difficulty getting interviews with locals. Her boyfriend calls to discuss their wedding. Bruce contacts Sadie later and reads her work back to her. He reminds her she needs to get the interview first. DC is hearing that Bennett just poached a new press secretary.

Bruce tells her to go through him. Sadie soon realizes it’s her ex. She tells Grace and explains why she can’t tell Bruce. She worries he could block her interview. Grace is with Charlie and Annie in Chicago. Grace urges her to find another story. Her dad Harold (Richard Masur) arrives and says hello to Charles. Sadie approaches her ex to see if he’ll help her get an interview with Bennett. Malcolm (Brandon Scott) refuses to help her. Sadie admits she liked him better when he was a bagman. Malcolm says hello to Kimberlyn. Sadie calls around to see if she can find anyone to help. Later, she learns that Liberty Direct News and Kimberlyn has the first cable sit down with Bennett.

Sadie checks her social media to find out what she likes to drink. In the morning, Kimberlyn gets a call from Nellie who is ill. Lola goes to the University of Iowa where she talks about the Green New Deal and other things. Sadie goes to Kimberlyn’s room looking for her. The housekeeper takes the coffee instead. Lola tells her viewers she’s trying to get them some face time with the candidate. Althea Abdi comes out of the university and ignores Kimberlyn’s questions. When the students harass Kimberlyn, Lola steps in. Sadie talks to Grace about Lola who goes to all the cool protests. Grace isn’t impressed. After the call, she tells her daughter she’s leaving. Sadie watches Lola’s stream and learns she’s with Kimberlyn. Lola soon learns she’s being canceled for standing up for Kimberlyn.

Kimberlyn worries she’s going to miss the interview because they can’t get a ride. She says women help women although she wasn’t sure Lola identified as a woman. She asks Lola if she’s even a reporter. Lola questions what a black woman is doing working at Liberty White Nationalist News. Kim says Liberty is racist because everyone is racist. She goes on to say it’s better than condescending Democrats trying to tell her she’s a victim and only they know what’s best for her. Lola says she’s not a Democrat. Sadie calls Lola and asks to speak to Kimberlyn. Sadie asks if she’s going to make it back in time for her interview with Bennett. Kim claims she has it covered. Sadie says her friend Billy is coming towards them on a pickup truck. Sadie wants to know where she’s scheduled to meet Governor Bennett.

Sadie says her story won’t publish until after Kim’s interview. Kim relents and tells her they’ll be in Room 211. Lola says behind because Kim is toxic for her brand. Sadie goes to the room and speaks to Malcolm who believes he’s wasting time with her. Bruce messages to ask Sadie if he should send Dale. Sadie tries to convince the housekeeper to let her use her cart. She uses the cart to gain access to Bennett who loved her obituary on the duck. Moments later, Sadie asks Bennett for five things she wants America to know about her. She also questions how she’s going to break their hearts. Bennett would rather answer her second question. Sadie writes that the experience made her remember what it was like to fall in love. She wishes she had resisted. Kim makes it to the motel and runs into Nellie. She becomes suspicious that Nellie was going to try to steal her interview.

Kenny and Kim go into the governor’s room. Later, Bruce reads Sadie’s work back to her. Bruce says it’s not objective but it’s good. He’s convinced the masthead to run it on the front. Kim speaks to her boyfriend about possible venues for their wedding. Kim isn’t happy about the criticism of her interview. Lola may lose her sponsor for helping Kim. Seconds later, Sadie learns that Caroline Bennett has been involved in a sex scandal. She blames Grace before scolding Malcolm for not telling her. Malcolm suggests she’s not dropping out because the allegations are unfounded. Off the record, she refuses even though he thinks they’re done. Sadie checks on him and apologizes for ghosting him. She admits she isn’t good at relationships. Sadie says it wasn’t him. Malcolm reveals he didn’t know anything until Grace reached out for a comment.

Bruce calls to tell Sadie her piece will be web-only. Sadie speaks to Grace and asks whether she took Annie to college to chase a source. Lola blames Kim for ruining her career when she arrives. Kim believes they’re riding a zombie bus to nowhere now that Bennett is finished. The next day, Althea sees Lola and says they should do a one-on-one at some point. Lola agrees before Althea leaves. Kim tells Nellie she’s going to do what the bosses ask her to do. She will exceed their expectation until she has any job she wants. Sadie runs into the “hot white candidate”. He offers to let her do a piece on him if he makes it to Nevada. Then, she rushes out to catch the bus. She explains that they started as competitors, but they ended as family. Their journey was about to take one heck of a turn and force them to risk everything to save their fragile democracy.

 

The Girls On The Bus Review

The opening episode of The Girls On The Bus created a somewhat interesting premise that can possibly get more interesting as it goes. However, the series is clearly not made for everyone. Many people are probably turned off by politics at this point so they’ll need to look elsewhere. This also seems to go extreme in every direction so that’s a minus.

On the other hand, it tries to be witty and fun although it is pretty dry. It’s a bit out of touch making it difficult to connect with ordinary viewers. The entertainment value just isn’t there so it’ll be tough to stick this out for ten episodes. After the first episode, it’s hard to find anything to care about because the characters are unlikable, the candidates are unlikable, and the politics are unlikable.

While not necessarily bad, The Girls on the Bus doesn’t do enough to justify sticking around for nine more episodes. This one scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Girls on the Bus can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.