It’ll be hard to discuss “I May Destroy You,” a captivating new series on HBO, without a couple of big disclaimers, so going forward, consider yourself dislcaimed.
The first is an ordinary plot spoiler alert, because an event at the end of the first episode turns the whole show into something different from what the audience will expect based on the preceding 30 minutes. The second is a trigger warning, because that pivotal event is a sexual assault inflicted on the main character.
Halfway through its 12-episode run, “I May Destroy You” already is one of the most exciting and acclaimed pieces of culture to appear in this exceedingly bizarre summer. (And it may be one of the last, since the entertainment industry eventually will run out of content created pre-COVID.)
It tracks the complex lives of young, diverse, sexually adventurous Londoners via sharp comedy writing, an electrifying soundtrack and the authorial clarity of an artist — in this case, series star and creator Michaela Coel — realizing a distinct vision.
On the other hand, the premise often makes it a difficult hang. Multiple characters become victims of sex crimes that send their lives spinning into chaos, as they try to process various traumas while navigating the ordinary stresses of young, digitally enhanced urban life in an environment of relatable economic insecurity.
“I May Destroy You” begins with Arabella (Coel), a promising writer who is under intense pressure to finish a manuscript. In a series of scenes that will be anxiety-inducing for anyone who writes on deadline, Arabella settles in for an all-nighter at her publisher’s office, only to get distracted by calls and texts from friends begging her to go out. This will also be anxiety-inducing for anyone who was once cool enough to be distracted by social invitations, but is decreasingly so. Just hypothetically.
Anyhow, she joins friends for a night of clubbing and later winds up back at the office, with a book draft she doesn’t remember finishing, a cut on her forehead and several scenes missing from her memory. As she goes about the following day, blank spaces start filling in with more and more concerning details, ending with a disturbing image of a man assaulting her in a bathroom stall.
Coel will be familiar to some viewers from her earlier series, “Chewing Gum,” a comedy that ran for two seasons on the BBC and is available on Netflix. She’s said “I May Destroy You” is based on an assault she experienced when making that previous show.
As Arabella deals with the fallout from this incident, other events occur — in real-time and in flashbacks — that prompt examinations of sexual ethics and consent that feel more comprehensive than anything else I can remember seeing on television.
For instance, while sorting out her initial trauma, Arabella has a brief relationship with a male writer assigned by her publisher to help finish her manuscript. The juxtaposition of these characters feels like a provocation — he’s a young-ish writer with an academic pedigree and literary aspirations who’s just looking for work. She’s a Twitter personality who became famous for a book called “Chronicles of a Fed-Up Millennial” and can’t focus enough to finish a follow-up project. The mutual ambivalence is palpable, as is the spark.
But it’s only after their fling has run its course that she comes to understand his behavior constitutes abuse, even if it’s less overt than her initial assault. Her response is exhilarating, super-heroic and, true to the series’ title, righteously destructive, even if her target feels like a proxy for another villain.
The series is full of these contrasts that are jarring by design. It’s funny but upsetting. Blunt but nuanced. Ingratiating but confrontational. It’s a grab-bag of contradictions that add up to the perfect series for this moment. If “I May Destroy You” ends up being the last new show a lot of us see for a while, it’s one that will linger.
The Link LonkJuly 17, 2020 at 10:00PM
https://ift.tt/2OCus2S
Troy Reimink: 'I May Destroy You' is unsettling, funny and great - Traverse City Record Eagle
https://ift.tt/3eOfySK
Funny
No comments:
Post a Comment