The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia is an American comedy series, released on Netflix in 2020. It revolves around Ashley Garcia (Paulina Chávez), a Teen Genius who has a PhD at age 15.
At the start, Ashley moves across the country to work for NASA and live with her uncle Victor (Jencarlos Canela), who works as a football coach. Despite her genius intelligence, Ashley really wants to live the life of a normal teenager, and tries to do it with the help of her old friend Brooke (Bella Podaras). She develops a crush on two boys, initially Tad (Conor Husting), a not very bright football player, and later Stick (Reed Horstmann), the nerdy equipment manager of the football team.
The show debuted on February 17, 2020 on Netflix. The second part of the first season was released on July 20, 2020. In August 2020, the series was canceled and it ended with a Christmas special released on December 9, 2020
Tropes:
- Betty and Veronica:
- In early episodes, Tad is the Archie between nerdy nice girl Ashley (Betty) and Alpha Bitch Bella (Veronica).
- In later episodes, Stick is the Archie between nerdy nice girl Ashley (Betty) and Lovable Alpha Bitch Brooke (Veronica).
- Cool Uncle: Ashley really loves her uncle Victor, who is mostly the cool, easygoing type of adult.
- Cut Short: The season finale ends on a cliffhanger. At that point, the main couples are Ashley/Tad and Stick/Brooke, but at the end of the episode everyone learns about Ashley's secret feelings for Stick. Then the series was canceled. After that, there is only a Christmas Special, which is a filler All Just a Dream episode about Ashley having a dream about the possible careers of herself and her friends in the future, while the Love Dodecahedron is never resolved.
- Dumb Jock: Tad is a football player whose idiocy is Played for Laughs. While he has a few moments of hidden wisdom and intelligence, most of the time he is comically dumb.
- Extreme Doormat: Tad is initially pushed around by his on-and-off gilfriend, the Alpha Bitch Bella.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Despite being a Teen Genius with a PhD, Ashley would like to hang out with friends, date boys, wear makeup, and be like a normal girl. Before moving to California, she never had the opportunity to do this, because she spent her life studying and following her mother's orders.
- Lady Killer In Love: Victor starts off as a womanizer, but then he decides that he wants a serious relationship and falls in love with Ava. And after Ava is Put on a Bus, he falls for another woman with the same name.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Brooke is popular and can be selfish and shallow, but is usually a good friend of the nerdy Ashley, and later falls in love with the unpopular Stick. She also secretly likes to help homeless women.
- Nice Guy: Both Stick and Tad are good-natured boys, although Tad is also a Kindhearted Simpleton. Ashley is a female example, as she is a very friendly girl who never brags about being a genius.
- Only Sane Woman: Brooke is the most normal of the four main teenage characters. Much of the show's humor comes from Ashley and Stick having No Social Skills or Tad's stupidity, while Brooke is usually the Straight Man.
- Opposites Attract: The two main couples.
- Nerdy genius Ashley and Dumb Jock Tad.
- Nerdy and insecure Stick and popular fashionista Brooke.
- Uncle Victor is a football coach who is not very academic, while his girlfriend Ava is a scientist and an adult version of Ashley.
- Teen Genius: Ashley, but not in a stereotypical way. While she's interested in robotics engineering, she has not many TV Genius or Insufferable Genius traits (aside from the occasional Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness). She is very cheerful and open to other people, and acts like a normal Naïve Everygirl who wants to date boys.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Stick is initially in love with Ashley, who likes Tad. When Ashley realizes she prefers Stick over Tad, Stick starts dating Brooke.
