It isn't until a devastating -- and trending -- mishap on a company flight that Eliza realizes she needs to find real people she can actually connect with instead of just "friends" online. For this, she goes to Henry Higenbottam (2014's Henry Higgins), a marketing self-image guru at the same company Eliza works at who reluctantly agrees to "rebrand" Eliza's image.
As you might expect, Eliza is just as intolerable as she sounds, making endless pop culture references via hashtags, slang and "abbrevs." I mean, obviously the point of her character is to annoy rational-thinking people -- Henry being one of them -- although, here, it gets to be pretty gratuitous, to the point of near-ridiculousness. That's likely a fault of the pilot's overworked script, penned by showrunner Emily Kapnek (Suburgatory).Luckily, ABC was able to cast former Doctor Who companion and current Nebula, Karen Gillan, whose pouty lips were practically born to duck-face. As Eliza, the Guardians actress has solid comedic timing and charm, even if her dialogue is sometimes cringe-worthy. Unfortunately, the creators robbed Gillan of her magnificent Scottish accent, in place of a so-so American one. (#Bummed)
Meanwhile, Henry is played by John Cho (Star Trek, Harold & Kumar), who at this point in his career has fine-tuned a trademark look of exasperation. That comes in handy when playing off Gillan's eccentric persona, and their combined efforts are surprisingly enjoyable to watch -- especially toward the end of the first episode. At the start, their banter comes off as overly rehearsed, with the "comedy" purely fueled on Eliza's social cluelessness and Henry's never-ending condescension.
However, as the two characters spend more time together, they begin to let their guard down a little bit, and that's when the pilot achieves its most honest moments. (Even those though are mostly thanks to Gillan and Cho.) Needless to say, Selfie's leads are the highlight of the premiere. Between the two of them, they convey the show's heart (minuscule as it is right now).
Again, considering this is based on a movie (and before that, a five-act play), I'm not really sure how the show's premise could sustain itself for more than a season. While Eliza's character makeover (or make-under, in this case) is clearly a teardown of sort, there's only so much Henry can do before Eliza's transformation is complete. (There are also only so many dated buzzwords the writers can pull from Urban Dictionary.) In any case, Selfie is still probably worth a look, if only to test your resilience of IRL leetspeak.