At the start of her eponymous reality show “Earle Meets World,” the influencer Alix Earle promises that while “there’s a whole other side” of the creator economy “people don’t get to see,” her viewers are “gonna see everything in this show.” I hope for Earle’s sake she isn’t telling the truth, because if “Earle Meets World” really does contain the full scope of the TikTok star’s jet-setting lifestyle, it’s one of strikingly limited range. Rather than reveal Earle’s hidden depths or shed light on the nature of her viral appeal, the Netflix series goes to show that 30-second clips don’t easily expand into 40-minute episodes.
“Earle Meets World” is packaged as a family affair in the vein of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” with Earle’s “dadager” TJ as the Kris Jenner figure. (Individual Earles will hereby be referred to by their first names to avoid confusion.) But where the Kardashians, for all their shallowness and shameless consumerism, have a certain quotable star quality (“Kim, there’s people that are dying!”), the Earles lack a similar spark. Alix blew up while still a college student at the University of Miami, and her signature — besides a blonde, blue-eyed beauty — is a bland neutrality that lends itself to endorsing all manner of products. She’s not particularly funny, opinionated or inventive; she’s just a wealthier and more conventionally attractive version of the average consumer. But the same relatability that makes Earle a dependable brand ambassador also makes her everyday life almost painfully boring to watch, with the few juicy nuggets either overhyped, downplayed or both.
