'Ashley Garcia: Genius In Love' (2020)

Ashley Garcia: Genius In Love, otherwise known as The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia, is a 2020 Netflix original TV series that focuses on Ashley Garcia, a fifteen-year-old teenager who receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for NASA. This opportunity combines her love of space exploration and science.

Ashley Garcia is thrilled about this opportunity as it represents a chance for her to break free from her mother’s restrictions. Like many teenage girls, she yearns for the freedom to make her own decisions. Ashley’s mother is very strict about even little things, including social media. Ashley’s mother dislikes Ashley being on social media; this is shown in the beginning scene of the pilot episode, “Breath Mint.” While Ashley is creating a video for her social media, her mother knocks on the door and inquires about the person she is conversing with. Ashley responds, “No one.”

This Netflix series has a strong representation of Latinx, as Mario Lopez created the series, and Paulina Chavez plays the title character, Ashley Garcia. The show is bilingual, with some lines spoken in Spanish without English subtitles. The series has only one season which is divided into two parts, including a special Christmas episode.