The original post: /r/television by /u/VanillaIsActuallyYum on 2024-06-19 21:18:44.
It’s not just that the show was really well done, well-written, well plotted, incredibly well-acted; it’s also just a massively important show, one that I think highlights the wreckage that is brought onto a life both by poverty and domestic abuse, which I’m sure are closely intertwined (and this series helps to explain why).
I mean, without getting into too politicized of territory here, if anyone tries to argue that the poor should just “pull up their bootstraps” and get out of it, they really fucking need to watch this show. Alex had to work her ASS off just to keep her head afloat, and not just work hard but continually take risks and put herself and her safety on the line, JUST to survive. Even her brief flirtations with romance were there to show you that, even if she wants something like this, there’s no way she could possibly focus on something like that while simply trying to make sure her daughter survives. But yes, ultimately, the callous disregard that people treated her with, from those who really didn’t have a clue what she was going through, was also an incredibly important element of the story.
At any rate, man, Margaret Qualley is a national treasure. What a hell of a role that was to play, and she knocked it out of the park. Her mom (and lol that that’s her real-life mom too), her asshole husband, as much of a prick as he was, I gotta hand it to him how well he played that role, how he could so easily shift from “hey, I’m trying my best, take pity on me!” to being a genuinely manipulative shitcake, props to the actor, for real. And I love how real all of the dialogue felt, or really how real the whole show felt, with nothing feeling contrived or maybe too Netflix-y or gimmicky or anything like that. It felt like I was really watching someone’s life unfold, unfiltered, and not even really dramatized all that much, just showing how things really are for some people.
This show was at times very hard to watch because your heart just goes out to Alex and Maddie, and it’s so infuriating to see people continue to treat them so poorly in the face of everything they’re going through. I love that the show had people who started as assholes but came around eventually, others who started with compassion and ended with indifference, some who were just supportive all the way through, and others who never gave a damn at any point, all of whom you’re likely to find somewhere in your life. It really highlights how important it is to hang on to the ones who will be there for you and let go of the rest.
I’m going to be thinking about this show for a long time. If you haven’t seen it yet, for the love of GOD, do yourself a big favor and watch it. You won’t be disappointed.