--- description: Syfy's supernatural teen dramedy follows a charming pair of teen-girl outcasts who accidentally open a portal to another dimension. title: 'Astrid & Lilly Save the World' Is 'Buffy' Minus the Male Gaze image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ff1b289b5cd998a/698a219c16d8841610c3a3ef/NUP_196491_00423.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Astrid & Lilly Save the World_ Is Like _Buffy_ Minus the Male Gaze  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Jan 26, 2022 12:01 PM CUT  Jana Morrison as Astrid, left, and Samantha Aucoin as Lilly in 'Astrid & Lilly Save the World' Jana Morrison as Astrid, left, and Samantha Aucoin as Lilly in 'Astrid & Lilly Save the World'Alex Stead/Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Jan 26, 2022 12:01 PM CUT Teen TV is a haven for outsiders. From [_Saved by the Bell_](https://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/06/the-enduring-legacy-of-saved-by-the-bell/ "undefined")’s resident nerd Samuel “Screech” Powers and the sardonic title character of [_Daria_](https://time.com/4687094/best-female-tv-cartoon-characters/ "undefined") to, more recently, [_Stranger Things_](https://time.com/5617328/stranger-things-season-3-review/ "undefined")’ brooding misfit Jonathan Byers and [_Euphoria_](https://time.com/5917975/euphoria-makeup-fashion/ "undefined")’s depressive drug addict Rue Bennett, they take a wide variety of forms. For every glossy mean-girl soap there is a cult classic in the [_Veronica Mars_](https://time.com/5630486/veronica-mars-season-4-review/ "undefined") vein. It makes sense—has anyone survived high school without ever feeling like they didn’t belong? Which might explain why, when it comes to portraying female freaks and geeks, Hollywood always seems to get away with casting actors who meet its superhuman beauty standards. By virtue of its charming leads, Syfy’s lovable supernatural dramedy _Astrid & Lilly Save the World_ (debuting Jan. 26) breaks that mold. Relative newcomers Samantha Aucoin and Jana Morrison play the eponymous best friends—two witty teens thrown together by the cruel calculus that so often relegates big girls to the sidelines of social life. Timid, sweet and self-conscious, Aucoin’s Lilly takes refuge in a bedroom plastered with posters of her pop-culture faves. Astrid (Morrison) is the bold, confident one, with a hyper-critical mom and a white-hot crush on gothy fellow outcast Sparrow (Spencer Macpherson). Together, the girls undertake nightly spy missions, prowling their suburban hellscape by car to keep tabs on their peers. So when they finally end up at a cool house party and resident jerky jock Tate (Kolton Stewart) declares them the “Pudge Patrol,” they retreat to do what any teen weirdo worth their Doc Martens would do in their place: ritually burn various items associated with him while howling at the moon. They think they’re just blowing off steam, but then Tate doesn’t show up to school the next day and a hunky stranger named Brutus (Olivier Renaud) materializes to inform them that their spell, such as it was, opened a portal to another dimension. “Who hurt you?” he wants to know. “This portal is no joke. Only humans with severe pain can open that portal.” Also, if they don’t close it—something only they can do—“humanity sort of disappears.” That quest entails vanquishing a series of monsters-of-the-week, with lots of campy special effects and story lines that draws parallels between the girls’ showdowns with evil and the battle to love yourself when you’re growing up different in a world that hates you for it. If that sounds a lot like [_Buffy the Vampire_ _Slayer_](https://time.com/collection-post/3101301/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/ "undefined"), minus [now-controversial creator Joss Whedon](https://www.vulture.com/article/joss-whedon-allegations.html "undefined")‘s sexualized male gaze, rest assured that creators Noelle Stehman and Betsy Van Stone know what they’re doing; Brutus even invokes Buffy’s mentor Giles by way of introducing himself. Offbeat running gags (Lilly’s chronic leg cramps and Astrid’s oversensitivity to foul odors are the first signs the duo is developing superpowers) and sharp, foul-mouthed dialogue (“I refuse to let some idiot chode-bag tell us who we are!”) keep the show fresh. But what makes _Astrid & Lilly_ unique is the authenticity of its lovingly written, endearingly portrayed outsider heroines. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6140312/astrid-lilly-save-world-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6140312/astrid-lilly-save-world-review/"},"headline":"Astrid & Lilly Save the World Is Like Buffy Minus the Male Gaze","datePublished":"2022-01-26T12:01:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:44:08.632Z","description":"When it comes to portraying female freaks and geeks, Hollywood always seems to get away with casting actors who meet its superhuman beauty standards.","url":"https://time.com/6140312/astrid-lilly-save-world-review/","keywords":["Television","review","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ff1b289b5cd998a/698a219c16d8841610c3a3ef/NUP_196491_00423.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Judy Berman","jobTitle":"TV Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/judy-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ff1b289b5cd998a/698a219c16d8841610c3a3ef/NUP_196491_00423.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Astrid & Lilly Save the World - Season 1","caption":"Astrid & Lilly Save the World - Season 1","creditText":"Alex Stead/Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6140312/astrid-lilly-save-world-review/","name":"Astrid & Lilly Save the World Is Like Buffy Minus the Male Gaze"}}]}] ```