Calabasas Confidential Review
Date Created: 2026-05-29 20:06
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Calabasas Confidential Review: This reality show on Netflix stars Alexie Olivo, Emma Medrano, Ben Favaedi, Dylan Wolf, Emilie Nelson, Hercy Miller, Jemma Durrant, Jodie Woods, Kimora Lewis, Raine Michaels, Sterling Retzlaff, Nicole Sahebi, Preston Pippen, and Suede Brooks. This show is made up of eight episodes, each about an hour long, where a group of young millionaires go through experiences while making friends and connections in Calabasas.
Calabasas Confidential Review
The idea itself seems like one that Netflix was desperately hoping would be its next reality TV addiction. Former high school classmates who have made a name for themselves on social media all come back to their home town and meet up with some old friends, exes, and past vendettas. It’s party after party, after coffee meeting, after hook-up and argument, all of which seem like something straight out of a typical Instagram post. This show is trying to convince you that these relationships really do mean something, but it comes off feeling fake most of the time.
Netflix’s Calabasas Confidential comes across as a show aspiring to the same kind of popularity as Keeping Up With the Kardashians or Selling Sunset, but having no clue why the other shows were so successful. The constant themes of the show include loyalty, betrayal, and trust between its cast members, but the connections never really carry any emotional weight for the audience to invest in them. This is not because of an emotional connection; rather, it stems from beautiful people living in luxurious houses and complaining about whose ex-boyfriend texted whom.
First and foremost, the most problematic aspect of the Netflix reality series Calabasas Confidential is its repetitive nature, almost from the very first few minutes. In one of the episodes, one of the girls gets upset because her friend started speaking with her ex-boyfriend, but in the following episode, everything plays out exactly like before, but with other people involved. The problems with Dylan that Jemma has become a recurring theme through several episodes. Though it sometimes seems like she is truly frustrated, the constant returning to the same problem makes it eventually less impactful on the audience. The character of Dylan himself is the stereotypical reality-show villain, always trying to start a fight.
It gets monotonous because, although the show has such an immense number of characters, the creators don’t give them much personality to separate them from each other. Already by the middle of the show, there are a few characters that get merged into one. The characters all have similar clothing styles, mannerisms, and even similar reactions. Everything becomes repetitive, regardless of whether it’s just an unnecessary dinner scene or an edited party entrance shot in slow motion.
However, this aspect could have made for a fascinating topic had it been handled with integrity on the show’s part. On occasion, the Netflix series Calabasas Confidential manages to accidentally shed light on the reality of performative social media behaviour. All the actors in this show seem to be obsessed with their image and are worried about everything that happens to them in terms of their appearance on social media rather than in real life.
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Alas, the series fails to do much more than scratch the surface of this premise, choosing to stick to cheap dialogue and superficial relationship dynamics. One can clearly see that the fights being shown have been staged for the audience’s benefit. Even when characters are emotionally charged, they remain perfectly styled and photo-worthy. There is no messiness whatsoever in the series – all one gets is a perception of emotional turmoil, while what one sees more closely resembles auditions for TikTok virality.
Another big issue is the pace of the Calabasas Confidential reality series. With eight episodes of almost an hour each, it drags itself through unnecessary length. The content is not enough to fill that length of time. It seems as though most of the episodes revolve around similar sequences: someone talks behind someone else’s back, someone else gets irritated, there’s an awkward event for a bunch of people, and arguments ensue. Soon enough, you feel like you’re swiping endlessly through drama on Instagram rather than watching a reality show.
The cast is also not totally without charisma; however, the series refuses to give any of them the necessary development that will make their personalities compelling. The only characters who exhibit any form of uniqueness are Preston Pippen and Hercy Miller, whose personalities are not always forced into melodrama. At least Suede Brooks seems confident enough to make her appearances a lot more enjoyable, despite the fact that she, too, can be as dramatic as the rest of the cast.
The most shocking thing about this show is its emotional barrenness in spite of all the constant conflicts that happen. It seems that reality TV doesn’t have to have any depth or meaning in order for it to be good. Sometimes, entertainment alone will do the trick. Yet even with entertainment, Calabasas Confidential fails, since the conflicts here are not only childish but also boring after some time.
Netflix Calabasas Confidential Review: Summing Up
Overall, Calabasas Confidential is yet another boring entry into Netflix’s already extensive list of glossy reality TV shows. The show strives to give birth to larger-than-life characters and drama, but for the most part, these struggles all seem contrived and devoid of any real emotional substance. There might be some individuals who would love to see moneyed influencers bicker about nothing for several hours at a time, but for me, the show proved to be quite monotonous and lacking in any meaningful emotion.
