Decisions are at the core of most narratives. The emphasis on personal decisions are at the heart of our VOD and web series picks this month. The women behind these stories present characters making or facing tough decisions in a conscious effort to change their lives.

The VOD pick, Marina Rice Bader’s “Ava’s Impossible Things,” focuses on a heroine who is devoted to taking care of her sick mother and has put everything else on the back burner. When her mother makes a serious decision about her quality of life, Ava is forced to confront her past choices.

The selected web series also explore the fallouts of characters’ major choices. “Complaisant,” from Tiffany Jaide Hightower, is about two women from starkly different backgrounds who decide to look past their incompatibilities and start a life together. That choice is complicated by their pasts and sparks other obstacles and difficult decisions for the new couple.

Comic Iliza Shlesinger plays a version of herself in “Forever 31.” This series’ first episode, “Enough Is Enough,” depicts Iliza’s tipping point at her mind-numbing job as a correspondent for an entertainment news show. It dawns on Iliza that she is the only one who can change her life, so she decides to quit and pursue her dream job.

Finally, “The Young Hillary Diaries” is exactly what you think it is: a reimagining of the teenage Hillary Rodham’s life. This web series satirizes the current election by placing the race in Hillary’s high school, where she is the first girl to run for student body president. The catalyst for the story is Hillary’s choice to make an unprecedented bid for class president, and the series makes clear it’s not just for her: her decision is one that affects future generations and her future self. And, obviously, her peers must make a choice about her.

Here are Women and Hollywood’s VOD and web series picks for October.

VOD

“Ava’s Impossible Things” — Written and Directed by Marina Rice Bader

The titular heroine of “Ava’s Impossible Things”(Chloe Farnworth) isn’t really living. She has spent the past three years taking care of her ailing mother, Faye (Susan Duerden), at the cost of her own goals, relationships, and happiness.

Ava isn’t resentful about her life or what she’s given up for her mom, at least not consciously. She is devoted to Faye and connected to her by “unconditional love, a passion for the arts, a belief that magic exists, and an insidious disease,” according to the film’s website. Even so, Faye knows she is a burden and makes a decision that is heartbreaking for Ava, but gives her back her freedom. The news shocks Ava and she copes by retreating “to a dream world filled with old friends and long forgotten desires.”

Marina Rice Bader’s (“Anatomy of a Love Seen”) film is ostensibly about grief and loss; it examines the tragedy of terminal illness and how people can become obsessed with the road less taken. But “Ava’s Impossible Things” is also about the power of free will and the importance of women making their own choices — even if said decisions don’t make sense to others. Ava has a right to decide how she will spend her life. And so does Faye.

You can rent or buy “Ava’s Impossible Things” on Vimeo.

Web Series

“Complaisant — The Docuseries” — Written and Directed by Tiffany Jaide Hightower

“Complaisant” is marketed as a docuseries, but is really more of a mockumentary that follows two women who upend their lives in order to pursue a relationship with each other. What sets this series apart from other grand romances is that the story isn’t just about the women falling love, it’s about their efforts to stay in love despite the hardships surrounding their relationship.

You see, the characters are from completely different backgrounds — Leah (Candice Jean-Jacques) was a seemingly happy housewife and Jen (writer-director Tiffany Jaide Hightower) was an escort. As such, Leah and Jen have more things to worry about than who is going to do the dishes or who will pick up dinner. From the get-go, their relationship is threatened by “drug abuse, hidden secrets, [and] a very complex disease.” “Complaisant” explores the aftermath of choosing love over everything else in life. In this case, Leah and Jen make two huge decisions: whether to be together and whether the relationship is even worth it.

Rent or buy all episodes of “Complaisant” on Vimeo.

“Forever 31” — Created and Written by Iliza Shlesinger

If “Ava’s Impossible Things” and “Complaisant” deal directly with personal decisions, Iliza Shlesinger’s “Forever 31” is more interested in professional choices. The comedian plays a version of herself in this digital series from ABC.

The story kicks off when Iliza has a Network-esque freakout in front of her co-workers at “Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture,” an entertainment news show, and quits on the spot. Iliza decides she can’t keep doing a job that she actively hates and realizes she deserves better. “Forever 31” promises to cover “the indignities of dead-end jobs, hangovers, dating, infidelity, and all the rest of the absurdities of modern adulthood,” but its wheelhouse is obviously the struggles young women face in the workplace. Iliza is aware that women in show business have a hard time of it, especially once they hit their thirties. So, she has an epiphany: if she wants a dream career, she has to create it on her own.

You can watch all available episodes of “Forever 31” on ABCd, ABC’s digital platform.

“The Young Hillary Diaries” — Directed by Mandy Fabian; Co-Created by Celia Blundo, Jessica Cabot, and Mandy Fabian

This election already feels like a parody of itself, but Lifetime’s “The Young Hillary Diaries” takes it a step further: it’s a satire of the current political landscape set in the 1960s at Hillary Rodham’s (Jessica Cabot) high school.

The series presents a few aspects of the election — gender, the media’s role, the candidates’ previous experience, professionalism, and trustworthiness — and explores them through a teenage girl’s diary entries. For example, the character Hillary is the first girl at her school to run for class president, just as the real Hillary is the first woman nominated by a major party to run for U.S. president in a general election. Other aspects of the series might as well have been lifted directly from the headlines: Hillary’s opponent, whom she refuses to name — lest she give him more attention — brings up her period in order to criticize her. Because everyone knows menstruation is gross. Nasty even.

A new episode of “The Young Hillary Diaries” will be released every Tuesday and Thursday until the election on November 8. You can check out all available episodes on Lifetime’s website.