For those who haven’t been introduced to The Z-Suite yet, it’s giving the comedic tone of The Sex Lives of College Girls with the setting of The Bold Type– except with more, sometimes slightly corny TikTok colloquialisms and social media slang. Three episodes in, the generational charade is waning, but there are performances still worth watching.
After the disastrous silent disco, Kriska gets chewed out for not taking her new CEO role she has zero training for seriously. She’s also been ignoring clients to focus on acclimating to her position, per her therapist’s instruction, and is behind on campaigns. After getting a to-do list that’s “five Cheesecake Factory menus” long, she appoints Elliot the new CFO and Clem the COO.
“I don’t like Chief, it’s giving appropriation. How about Cute Financial Officer.”
“Charismatic operations officer. It makes sense I’d be in charge of rizz.”
No one knows what they’re doing. Elliot is unaware of what a budget is — he’s not stupid, just always been too poor to need to budget — and Clem Zoom glitches in real life to avoid interdepartmental mediations. A pitch for an erectile dysfunction drug is due, but the Z-team has nothing. Luckily, Monica and Doug already created one.
Doug’s Christmas obsession continues to poke its head. Tiny Claus makes another cameo too. Elliot stalks Doug at a Christmas miniature store to solicit the pitch deck. How exactly did Elliot track him down at such an obscure location?
“Grindr. I set the filters to 40 to 50 years old and twink and you were the only one that popped up.”
Elliot offers to set Doug up on a new dating app Man Buffet, it’s all you can eat, and steals the pitch in the process. Kriska feels guilty pilfering the idea, shocking, but the zoomers attest they did their own research for it, and they’ll come up with their own slogan– the most important part. Together, they successfully pitch a campaign for the erectile dysfunction drug complete with Clem acapella singing “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones. (Don’t know why I didn’t come, get it?) Things may be looking up for the Z-suite.
Meanwhile, Monica is in the depression stage of grief. She’s eating cheese puffs, giving weird monologues about cabernet and wearing sweats, with a drawstring. The campaign scandal is still trending on social media, but the personal defamation is where Monica draws the line. Although, Doug gets the ridicule much harsher.
“Doug Garcia looks like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, if The Very Hungry Caterpillar had the face of Kim Jong Un.”
“I’m not even Korean!”
Monica’s bravado is restored, and the first step to restoring their reputation by reversing the cancellation, is to consult a publicist. The first suggestion of making a public apology, because, “God Doesn’t Absolve You Of Your Sins Anymore. TikTok Does,” goes horribly awry. In a tale as old as time, Doug doesn’t press the end button when the video apology is done. He presses the livestream button, and the world watches as Monica doubles down on her unadulterated loathing of Generation Z.
Next is the “drug addict approach.” Monica attempts therapy to show the world her desire to change, and is immediately booted out. The last solution is to wait it out and come back to the public eye once people’s memories of the stunt have faded. Staying low profile isn’t an option, especially because of the “networking event” Monica is attending tonight– or the bat mitzvah for the daughter of an advertising mogul that refused to employ Monica after the Vibezz incident. She crashes the stage, preaching on the double standards in the industry– if a man made the same advertisement she did, he wouldn’t have been made into a “sacrificial lamb” in the same way.
Downright sleazy businessman Bennet Buffy (Rhys Darby, Flight Of The Conchords) approaches Monica after her PDE (public display of embarrassment) and offers to talk about her next steps. Doug is disgusted at the prospect, but a plan is forming in the former Atelier CEO’s mind. “I’ve been stepping over less competent men my whole career. I can do it again.” The pair are going to start their own agency. Slay!
It’s clear at some point Monica and Kriska will team up. When discussing the details of the Gen Z characters with showrunner Katie O’Brien, the writer mentioned the necessity for Monica to see a version of herself in Kriska. There are no heroes or villains in this show, and each generation is shown as particular in their own way. No one is outwardly mean, they just all think they’re deserving for their own reasons. With all of this, we know a Crispy, sorry, Kriska and Monica alliance, or at least mutual understanding, is inevitable. Maybe Kriska will jump ship at Atelier for whatever new ad agency Monica is cooking up. Let’s face it, big boss Oliver put a 24 and a half year old in a major position of power with no formal training (yes, it’s a TV show, but that’s just insane)…he can’t be of very sound mind, nor a suitable leader to be working under.
Some shticks are becoming a little tired. Minnesota Matt isn’t contributing much, but annoyance. He’s desperate to prove himself to anyone in a position of power, but abuses the secretary by having her print photos of him in Dungeons and Dragons getup. His character archetype holds space with Ryan Howard from The Office, but more aggravating, and Jacob Hill from Abbott Elementary, but not at all lovable. Clem has some good one-liners, but they are teetering on the line of becoming a far too cartoonish stereotype. We’re invested at this point on where the Z and former C-suiters will end up. Hopefully there’s a bit more character development for each of them on the way.
New episodes of The Z-Suite debut every Thursday on Tubi.
Claire Waheed is a recently graduated freelance writer currently based in Texas. She loves all things pop culture and new adventures.