Bonnie Blue is My Stepsister review

The setup

Bonnie Blue arrives at the family front door for a stay of several weeks, and her new stepbrother is told to be nice and keep an eye on her. She assumes he has seen her videos, because everyone has, and his denial does not convince her. He asks whether the famous number is real; she confirms it and tells him precisely where he would have landed on the list. He declines her invitation to look. She closes by telling him he is nothing special, then adding one ominous word.

Episode 2

The morning after, she is still annoyed that he shut her out last night, which she treats as a first. Episode 2 is quieter and sharper for it: she confides that family is the one line she has never crossed, he insists a step relation hardly qualifies, and she rules that it does. It ends with him spelling out what she is to him and her calmly agreeing, which plays less like a fact than a dare.

Who's who

• Bonnie Blue: the internet-famous stepsister, bored by men who stare and intrigued by one who will not
• The stepbrother: polite, unimpressed on the surface, and the first man who ever shut her out

Verdict: 6.0 out of 10

The surprise is how restrained it is. Instead of leaning on her fame for easy spectacle, the writing turns it into the problem: a woman used to being wanted, stuck under one roof with the only man who will not play along. The lines are clipped and confident, and the stepbrother's refusals are the friction that makes her interesting. Both free episodes are slight in running time, but they set up a power struggle with a clear question, and the paid rest has a real hook to pull on.

Episode guide