Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Sort Of’ On HBO Max, A Comedy About A Nonbinary Millennial Who Sticks With The Family They Nanny During A Crisis

What we’ve started to learn in the beginning of the 2020s is that everyone deserves to live their authentic life. If that means they dress a certain way, or consider themselves a different gender, or even decide they’re nonbinary, that’s all good; whatever gets a person closer to their authentic selves. But living an authentic life isn’t just about identity; it’s about having the support you crave and need. Bilal Baig explores this in their new HBO Max / CBC comedy series Sort Of.

SORT OF: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: In Toronto, Sabi Mehboob (Bilal Baig) approaches the restaurant where they’ll be on a birthday date with their boyfriend Lewis (Gregory Ambrose Calderone).

The Gist: Even though Lewis told Sabi to not give him a gift, they still do — Post Malone tickets — but Lewis just gets upset, saying to Sabi that they “just don’t see me.”

The next day, Sabi is distracted as they walk the kids they nanny, Violet (Kaya Kanashiro) and Henry (Aden Bedard), home from school. When they come into the house, the kids’ parents Paul (Gray Powell) and Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung) pull Sabi aside and tell them they’ll no longer be needed after the end of the month, since Violet is old enough to watch both of them. The idea seems more driven by Paul, who slips up when he says that he’ll definitely help Sabi because it’s hard for “someone like you” to find a job.

So Sabi is having a genuinely shitty day when their artist friend 7ven (Amanda Cordner) is taking a fellowship in Berlin, the “queer capital of the world,” and wants Sabi to go with them. Sabi, who lives with their sister Aqsa (Supinder Wraich) and is still closeted to their traditional Pakistani mother, really thinks seriously about going. “You need to be as super far from your stale-ass life as possible, for your general development,” she tells them. They consider it even more when 7ven points out that Lewis is on Insta with his old girlfriend.

Bessy visits Sabi at the bar where they work, as she has done in the past, and gives them advice about Lewis. She also asks them, somewhat cryptically, “Are you going to miss me?” After going to Lewis’s house, giving him an epic kiss, then dumping his ass, they call 7ven and leave a late night message saying they’re going to Berlin.

But when Sabi goes to get Violet and Henry for school, Paul tells them that Bessy is in the hospital after having an accident on her bike. That, of course, calls Sabi’s thoughts about their future into question.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? In a lot of ways, Sort Of has the vibe of Shrill or some other comedy about a millennial trying to figure out where their life is as they get into their 30s. But in this case, the main character is not just nonbinary, but from a traditional Pakistani family.

Our Take: Baig, who is queer and trans-feminine in real life, created Sort Of with Fab Filippo, and it’s a show where the star’s nonbinary status is present but often a secondary aspect of the story. Yes, a character like Sabi is unique on TV, even in 2021, but they stand out even more because Baig has written Sabi as a person that has integrated themselves into the family they take care of, and is emotionally invested.

The show is also interesting because Sabi is a person who is living their authentic life to a point, but in many other ways is still struggling to live the life they deserve to live. Despite walking around Toronto wearing the clothes they want, and looking the way they want, Sabi’s still stuck, and they know it. But they also have a connection to Vi and Henry, and to an extent the kids’ mother. And, given that they know that their relationship with their mother isn’t going great — especially after she pays a surprise visit and sees them in makeup for the first time — Sabi is looking for some kind of family support system.

It’s interesting to watch Sabi get dragged out of the stagnant life everyone thinks they are living and finally agree to go to Berlin, when Bessy’s accident helps them retreat back to what they really want. The reason why it’s interesting is, just because Sabi is living what many would see as an authentic, avant garde life, there are still some very traditional things that they want.

It helps that Baig is so dryly funny as Sabi. Under their flat affect responses to things, there’s real emotion, like when they cut Paul’s chitchat off and tells him that they’re not interested in talking to him at all. Sabi’s emotions are less buried than anyone thinks, despite Paul thinking that his soon-to-be-ex-nanny is walled off.

As the season goes along, and Bessy remains out of commission, we’ll likely see Sabi get closer to the kids, and to Paul, who finds out that Bessy was in contact with man named Penny (Darrel Gamotin). Will that ersatz family support system help them mend fences with their mother and figure out what they really want out of their life?

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Right after they get the news about Bessy, Sabi gets a call from 7ven, screaming about the Berlin news. “It’s not a good time,” Sabi says as they try to figure out how to talk to Bessy’s kids.

Sleeper Star: Supinder Wraich is great as Aqsa, who is “aggressively straight”, as Sabi calls her, but always is fiercely protective of Sabi and wants what’s best for them.

Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Sort Of has a laid back, funny vibe, which is mostly driven by Bilal Baig’s performance. Yes, the main character is nonbinary, but that’s only part of the story, which is what makes the show so entertaining.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Sort Of On HBO Max