Could Insatiable be Netflix's worst show yet?
They say there’s no thing like bad publicity, but reports suggest that the press team at Netflix are battening down the hatches ahead of the release of their most controversial show to date: Insatiable.
The 13-episode dark comedy stars former Disney star Debby Ryan as Patty, a formerly overweight teenager who, after losing weight, becomes hell-bent on wreaking revenge on those who wronged her.
The concept proved problematic in recent weeks. A Change.org petition was set up to stop the release of the Netflix show that argued, “This series will cause eating disorders, and perpetuate the further objectification of women's bodies. The trailer has already triggered people with eating disorders. Let's stop this, and protect further damage.” At the time of writing, it has more than 225,000 signatures.
The release of the trailer two weeks ago instantly inspired ire for showing Patty’s life improve considerably following her weight loss. British actress and broadcaster was among those who poured scorn on Insatiable on Twitter, saying: “This is still telling kids to lose weight to ‘win’. The fat shaming is inherent and pretty upsetting”.
So it’s hardly surprising that the first reviews for Insatiable suggest it is one of the worst Netflix has ever made. Here’s what reports are saying:
No stereotypes are overlooked
Reviews suggest that Insatiable tries to be a satire, but, rather awkwardly, few of the jokes land entertainingly, leaving many to be just plain offensive:
We meet “trailer trash” characters with thick southern accents and tacky wardrobes, and the wealthy white collar strivers who are just as seedy and ridiculous under their fake veneer of elegance. We see the world of beauty pageants as being fake, charmless and ugly.
Insatiable tries extremely hard to throw edgy jokes at the wall, hoping that they will turn the show into a sharp satire of how our society shuns the weak – or something. But despite some late-breaking attempts to right the ship, neither the show’s punchlines nor its characters are sharp enough to transcend their clichéd foundations.
– Variety
It pits all of its female characters against each other, makes jokes about statutory rape and molestation, and is filled with a cast of thin women. Characters, both male and female, constantly call women words like “crazy”, “insane”, and “b----”, and one its main character calls another woman “a resting anus face of a wife”.
It paints fat people as either morally abhorrent or the butt of the joke
While the fact that Insatiable – contrary to creator Lauren Gussis's claims – doesn't deal sensitively with being overweight shouldn't come as a huge surprise. However, details in some reviews have shown that the portrayal of "Fatty Patty" is even worse than anticipated:
[Insatiable] reinforc[es] the same tired old jokes about fat people’s toxic relationship to food. Sad that it’s 2018 and fat people are still treated as less than human, as something monstrous, as the villains in our own stories.
– Buzzfeed
It doesn’t provide a sensitive and humorous reflection on the experience of binge eating disorder; it’s placing Debby Ryan in a fat suit for cheap laughs.
According to Buzzfeed, some of the lines include:
“You won your case. You got skinny! That’s enough”; “It gets better. Skinny is magic”; “I knew skinny was magic...the new Patty was more powerful, but with much smaller boobs”
The message being sent is less “losing weight doesn’t make you happy”, and more “being fat can cause you to turn into a literal demon who is never satisfied”.
– Variety
As well as having a central character who becomes popular and attractive after spending three months on a liquid diet, Insatiable is irresponsible in its portrayal of eating disorders. The Guardian reports that “one of the more offensive aspects of the series is that fatness itself is synonymous with disordered eating.”
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The best thing about it is that it’s over quickly
The one positive thing reviews are finding is that Insatiable is, ironically, made rather well for binge-viewing.
There’s a soap opera nature to the show that, for all of its problems settling on a coherent tone, makes the episodes move quickly
Insatiable’s best qualities are its quick-paced plot and the fact that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
