Call Me, Beep Me

I watched Kim Possible because I was in love with her. Completely dumb about it. Rewatched the whole series dozens of times, all hundred-plus episodes, which tells you something about the grip she had. The show itself was competent—Kim and her best friend Ron stopping supervillains every week, Wade feeding them intel through the Kimmunicator, Rufus the naked mole rat doing weird comedic bits. But I was there for Kim: the red hair, the competence, the way she handled chaos.

The romantic subplot was its own kind of torture. Kim cycled through crushes throughout the series, nothing that stuck until Ron. They first kissed in some Christmas episode, though Kim was under the influence of a control chip at the time, so it didn’t really count. Later they got together properly, had an actual date to prom, a real kiss. By the end of the series they were a couple. The show ended with them together, which meant I’d spent three seasons watching someone I was theoretically in love with end up with her best friend. That sounds pathetic written out, but I was younger and the show was really good at what it did.

Now there’s a live-action film coming. Sadie Stanley as Kim. Disney Channel, which usually means it’ll be some overproduced, sanitized version of what made the original work, but the action footage I’ve seen looks decent enough. I’m not optimistic. Part of me wants to rewatch the animated series one more time before the film comes out, hold onto what it actually was before the real actors ruin it. The other part knows that watching it again won’t change anything—Kim’s still going to end up with Ron, and I’m still not going to get to chase supervillains with her across the world. Some things you just accept.