Netflix is always releasing new originals, some of them good, some great, some terrible. None have come under fire like this one.
Netflix released Insatiable on August 10th, and it caused a stir.
The show’s cast includes Debby Ryan as Patty Bladell and Dallas Roberts as Bob Armstrong. Also, Kimmy Shields as Nonnie Thompson, and Michael Provost as Brick Armstrong.
The show features a high school senior, Patty, who was overweight. Patty ends up on a downward spiral after being bullied and ignored at this point in her life.
She gets in an altercation with a man and gets punched in the face. The punch breaks her jaw. And now she has to stick to a liquid diet. The liquid diet caused her to lose 70 pounds, dropping the weight. And suddenly this seems to be when things start to happen for Patty. Her lawyer from the altercation, Bob, is also a pageant coach and wants to coach Patty to fame. She gets the hot popular boy, Brick. And she starts to gain attention at school. Patty is ready for revenge.
And I think this sends exactly the wrong message, that things will only start happening for you only if you’re skinny and pretty.
Although throughout the first season of the series Patty still struggles with the fact she feels fat, “good” things still continue to happen to her only because she’s now skinny.
The show also includes things such as racial stereotypes, but there are some good things the show does contain. They open dialogues about gay relationships and Patty’s best friend struggling with her sexuality, something some kids can relate to. There is also divorces and how they affect others around them such as the children, another thing kids can relate to.
The first couple of episodes to me were offensive and didn’t hit the mark. I think after you get past the first 4 or so, the show seems to get a little better. Although the plot is all over the place and somewhat random.
One review on rotten tomatoes said, “You can certainly make something provocative and funny about our obsession with body image, perceptions of beauty and the shameless world of pageants, but Insatiable never really tries.”
Which I tend to agree with. From watching the first season it seems the writers tried to go for a show that would make fun of the fact that “only pretty people get good things”. But instead, it seemed to just hammer in that point. It did exactly what it set out not to do.
Another review from Metacritic said, “Insatiable is a harsh example of the best intentions yielding the worst results. ... Insatiable is unforgivably inelegant as satire. It fails not only to land its purportedly progressive message about body image and weight, but also its storylines tackling sexuality, sexual agency, classism, race, and transgender acceptance.”
Overall, I don’t think I’d watch Insatiable again. It misses the mark for me completely and as I watched I was actually quite confused. However, Netflix is releasing a season 2. It will be interesting to see if the creators and writers fix any of these issues’ viewers have a problem with. Or will they just continue their storyline? A lot of viewers were unhappy about this, according to Revelist.com over 235,000 people signed a petition to get season 2 canceled.
Some people are confused about why Netflix would renew a show that caused so much backlash, and surprisingly some are even excited for the next season.
There is no exact release date yet but it is suspected Netflix will release season 2 in August of 2019.
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