Brigette Watches Hindsight, And So Should You

Becca is 43. She's about to enter her second marriage to her childhood friend, Andy, but she's not so sure. He's great, but there's not much passion there, the opposite of her first marriage to Sean, which was a steamy train wreck. On the eve of her wedding, she calls her old friend Lolly--who she had a falling out with years before-- hoping for advice. Everything seems off: her relationships, her job, and her thankless boss. She wishes she could just go back and change something. But what?

Becca passes out and then wakes up... in 1995. She's still friends with Lolly. She hasn't yet married Sean. And she remembers everything-- she knows she's from the future.

Thus begins Hindsight, a new dramedy from VH-1. You may be tempted to hear this premise and write it off as cheesy or silly, but it's pure joy. Here's why:


1) Watching makes you feel like you time travelled yourself. Seriously.

Hindsight is authentically 1995, and they ain't messin' around. Most period pieces don't do the greatest job of capturing the truth of the time. They play the most popular music, not the songs you remember hearing every day driving around town. They over exaggerate one fashion trend-- like permed hair-- but then other fashion trends are tailored to today. Not on Hindsight. Everyone looks how you looked in 1995. Everything sounds how it sounded in 1995. All of the cultural references are 1995. (In the scene where Becca first enters Lolly's apartment, she's watching the OJ Simpson trial.) If you were flipping through channels and didn't know this was a new show, you'd think you were watching a rerun of an old show.  Which brings us to...

2) The Clothes.

You WILL watch Hindsight and recognize clothes that you once owned. You will recognize clothes that you didn't even know you could recognize. (Becca's bras are like my Mom's from the 90's. HOW did I remember that?) The wardrobe is unapologetically authentic, which means it's horrible. Everyone just looks awful, and Becca, being from 2015, knows it. Which brings us to…

3) The Jokes.

So much comedy comes from the fact that Becca is from the future, where things are so, so different. She tells a disbelieving Lolly that Patrick Dempsy gets cute. She accidentally spoils that Monica and Chandler start dating on Friends. She tries to explain to Lolly that you can watch anything at anytime on your phone, to which Lolly picks up the hand held and goes "What? Like on this little screen?" She also knows things that will happen, which gives her an advantage when looking for a new job, like how computers rule everything in the future. She just totally gets Windows '95. Must be a damn GENIUS!

4) The strong female friendship

From the first scene with Becca and Lolly, I believed that they were friends who loved each other. I believed it so much that I'm not convinced they aren't best friends in real life. The chemistry and comrodery is real, and I'm already feeling anxious about the fact that their friendship, as we know, is DOOMED. (Unless Becca can prevent it!!!)

5) Becca-- actress Laura Ramsey-- looks exactly like Christina Applegate

I'm not sure if this is a reason to watch so much as it is something that adds to the 90's vibe. Also, when you watch, you'll be like, "dang, she looks SO much like Christina Applegate" and then you'll start thinking about how much you love everything Christina Applegate has been a part of like Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead and then you'll be like, "I really like this actress."

6) The music

I never really thought that I liked 90's music that much until I watched this show, and now I realize that I do, apparently. Much like the clothes, you'll have flashbacks to moments from your own life when you hear these songs. It will make you crave a Hindsight soundtrack. The choices are superb.

Spacehog's "In the Meantime" is the theme song. Remember it?

7) The mystery

Because the world of 1995 has characters and plots in and of itself, every now and then, you forget that Becca was sent back in time-- WHY? And by whom? A mysterious man keeps popping up (who looks exactly like Lee Thompson Young, RIP.) Becca's pretty much figured out that he's connected (or has she?) but he's not talking. Is he some sort of angel? A guide? What is Becca "supposed" to do differently this time around?

It's that last part that's making me like the show just as much as I do for its nostalgia, because so far, the answer seems to be that there is no "supposed to." We all think that if we went back in time, we know exactly what we would do differently, but Becca is actually less certain than she was originally. She has no clue what she's supposed to do, just that nothing completely works out. Her response to this seems to be that she's taking more risks. This means something…some lesson… that I can't…quite grab at…

I'm not sure where all this is going or what the overall message will be in the end, but I'm excited to find out. I'm diggin' it.

So if you haven't watched Hindsight yet, you should. It will make you miss 1995 when you didn't even know you missed 1995.  If you have started watching it, what do you think? Let me know in the comments below!