The Mean Girls Sequel: Lilly for Target!
OMG! They finally made a sequel to Mean Girls and it’s called Lilly for Target! You guys. The original Mean Girls movie (2004) is a true classic and I’m thrilled to report that Lilly for Target was worth the wait. Just like Mean Girls, Lilly for Target is seriously popular–which is just another word for trending, right?
Quick Mean Girls recap: Regina George (Rachel McAdams) is the queen of the Plastics, the teen mean girl clique. For some reason Regina takes a liking to Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), who’s just arrived from 12 years of home schooling in Africa. (I don’t really see this happening because Cady is socially clueless and wears over-sized shirts that Regina would never go for but whatever.) So they’re friends until Cady falls for Aaron (cute guy who’s also Regina’s ex). That’s followed by all kinds of back and forth mean girl antics until finally, after hitting rock bottom, everyone sees the light.
Cady on the left, Regina George is far right. Followers in the middle.
We fans never thought there would be a worthy sequel. Until one day we awoke to the twitter chatter: Lilly for Target was out! And the reviews were… well, you’ve read them. Crazy, right? Here’s the full scoop on the show that has us all glued to our phones (spoiler alert):
1) Main character one: Lilly Pulitzer is the new Regina George. She’s, like, queen of the preppy people. And they don’t even know they’re subjegated, because she dresses and accessorizes them so well. Lilly got her start in Florida and now has high-end boutiques spread across the east coast and south. (Except South Dakota for some reason. So confusing.)
2) Main character two: Target is the new Cady Heron. Target’s like really cool in some ways (super nice staff, best housewares, accessories rule) but it lacks the consistent quality of, say, a high end Lilly-type. Like this shirt.
Target shirt. Like Grandma’s Nursing Home Couches, Circa 1994 Southwest Phase.
So you can see why Target is Cady–fun, charming, but not always with it. And yet: people like Target. Enough people to fill 1,800 stores.
3) The conflict: You saw it coming, right?! Lilly (the new Regina) was fine with Target (the new Cady) until Target innocently started messing with her special person–drum roll….the potential Lilly customer (yep, WE are the new Aaron/Regina’s ex)! Poor Target probably didn’t even know it was making Lilly mad by flirting and teasing us with all those awesome accessories at affordable prices. But Lilly notices everything. She saw how popular Target was getting with all kinds of people. And Lilly decided if Target was going to mess around with her people, she’d mess around with Target.
4) The revenge plan: So Lilly befriended Target. She said they could be a team. Yep, Lilly for Target = Cady joining The Plastics. Lilly swore if they hung out together–Lilly at Target’s house, best buds–the world would be more fun. Ha! As if. Because it wouldn’t be a show without a big old mess in the middle, would it? Which brings us to…
5) The hot messes:
Hot mess one: Lilly persuades Target to host an on-line party. Creates a really big buzz. And starts very late, when people would normally be asleep. Target doesn’t have a lot of experience with such parties (for the love of Pete, no one bring up Missoni). But Target’s nice and eager, so Target said ok. Bad idea. Because Lilly enlisted mean cyber girls, who kept emptying people’s on-line baskets and making that horrible colored wheel thingy spin on our computers. At 3:45 a.m., when it was too late for wine and too early for coffee. Things were seriously ugly in floral-clad homes across the nation.
Hot mess two: Target pushed back. Sometimes the site stayed up just long enough to buy an item or two. Things were looking better. Except Lilly for Target had a Plan B. She arranged for special store sale parties. At 8:00 a.m. ON A SUNDAY. That Lilly doesn’t mess around.
Hot mess three: So hoards of women, still recovering from the on-line debacle, drove and stumbled their way to Target. The problem? Lilly told EVERYONE about this party. It was out of hand. There were endless lines. And party crashers: people who looked more like resale merchants than true Target/Lilly fans. Uh-oh. This is like the part of Mean Girls when Cady kind of wanted mom and dad to intervene. Psst, Corporate: you’re mom and dad!
Hot mess four: What happens when a gazillion people flood a store with a VERY limited selection of specially priced Lilly items? Have you ever seen a preppy on crack? Forget Black Friday, Pink Sunday was seriously rough. Remember the watering hole scene in Mean Girls? When everyone runs around the mall fountain like wild animals? Yep, same scene, except at Target they were knocking over cardboard pink flamingo signs trying to get to the “giraffing me crazy” print pants. Word is that one mean girl sprayed her Chanel in another girl’s face just so she could grab the last x-small “boom boom” crop top (the EMTs did say she smelled real good). Basically, the first 20 people had baskets loaded with like 50 things each, which meant the remaining customers ended up with pom-pom pillows. And i-phone 5 cases.
Lily for Target at 8:03 a.m.
6) The low point: Well, Lilly made her point. People got seriously mad at Target. Trust had been broken. Target burned not only Lilly’s friends, but also its own pals, the ones who liked the awesome printed scarves and funky chunky jewelry and cool picnic-ware that Target shared way before Lilly came along. So now everyone’s mad at everyone. And instead of #LillyforTarget, they’re all #LillyforEbay. Yep, Lilly jumped ship and is now besties with Ebay. Those pom pom pillows? Originally $25 each? People want $124.99 for the pair on Ebay. (NOTE: EBay seems to attract a healthy share of Mean Girls. Just saying.)
7) The (happy?) ending: Of course just like Mean Girls, Lilly for Target has to have a happy ending. Mean Girls ended with everyone confessing their meanness and embracing their true selves. One part I almost forgot: Aaron (the boy both girls were fighting for, played by us in the Lilly for Target sequel) goes off to college and wipes his hands clean of all mean girls. Kind of interesting approach. Because (attention, Lilly, Target and Ebay), we might take one last look at the “see you later” print (sold out on-line and in stores) and go find a new “happy place” elsewhere. Or maybe we’ll curl up in our over-sized t-shirts and yoga pants and watch a good movie instead of shopping. You’re done with us, Lilly for Target? That’s ok, we’re done with you too. And don’t even get us started on that EBay chick. She’s just trouble.