The girls speak directly to camera, addressing an unseen passer-by with a string of goofy tall stories.
The other A.J Langer isnt long out of her teens.
Then comesMy So-Called Lifes most identifiable (and thus parody-able) trait: Danes characters voiceover.
So I started hanging out with Rayanne Graff.
Angela Chase tells us, Just for fun.
Just because it seemed like if I didnt I would like, die, or something.
And so an entire teen lexis, built on exactly that combination of vagueness and hyperbole, was born.
Angelas voiceover isnt just an expositional gadget, itsMy So-Called Lifes whole personality.
hysteria weve been taught to expect from teen girl journals, her voice and cadence is introspective and inquiring.
Angela Chases punctuation of choice is the question mark.
That girl doesnt have an exclamation point in her entire body.
Played by A.J Langer, Rayanne colourfully enacts both parts of her wild child persona.
Youll have noticed something else about Angela Chases voiceover.
Personalities are like toasters.
School is like a drive-by-shooting.
(I mean, its true, obviously, but then what cliche isnt?)
Angela tells us in voiceover Im in love.
His name is Jordan Catalano.
Once I almost touched his shoulder in the middle of a pop quiz.
So you want to have sex with him?
Rayanne asks Angela in the locus of gossip and tears that is the girls bathroom.
Sex or a conversation, ideally both, Angela wittily replies.
By the end of the pilot, shes achieved the latter, such as it is.
Its Thursday Angela tells him.
Well, yesterday was Wednesday so… Thats how I know she answers.
Thats the extent of the exchange, but its a start.
Danes plays it beautifully, her face a combination of exhilaration and comic mortification.
More sophisticated teenagers than I was probably picked up on the scripts ironic humour at the time.
Did Angela pick up the phrase from Patty, or vice versa?
Either way, the scripts intent is clear: these two are much more alike than they think.
Listen to me, she sighs to Angela, I thought youlikedYear Book.
Your room is a disaster.
Do you think I ever dreamed that I would sound like this?.
I cant believe it.
We need a new conversation.
But when you think about it, how do you know if its even you?.
Its a stupid act.
Everybodys an act she replied, including you.
That idea is played out repeatedly in the episode.
The girls drunkenly swap footwear, which later makes Angela stumble as shes literally walking in someone elses shoes.
Its a callous perspective, but it certainly isnt a dumb one.
AndMy So-Called Lifewas never a dumb show.
he asks, Like guys she shrugs.)
Above all else, it was honest.
Jared Letos beauty aside,My So-Called Lifewasnt any more glamorous than our own lives.
The schools cheerleaders were as likely to be seen sobbing alone in the hallway as cheering.
Accepting that invitation for the next eighteen episodes was quite simply, a privilege.
Read more about My So-Called Lifes twentieth anniversary on Den Of Geek,here.
