Chataboutgames t1_j5v1ezw wrote on January 25, 2023 at 7:35 PM

I do wonder if this show is going to look a lot different in retrospect. It's one of those shows that everyone has convinced themselves is very smart but there's actually little evidence of that in the show, and even the creator is largely flippant about the themes. What's funny is on every post the upvoted top level comment will have a wildly different take on the themes of the show, they're all contradictory and everyone agrees to them.

Ultimately it's just sort of a fun show that humanizes bad behavior and doesn't have a whole ton to say.

ScipioAfricanvs t1_j5vjpts wrote on January 25, 2023 at 9:26 PM

It's pretty on the nose. I don't think it's pretending to be smarter than it is.

Chataboutgames t1_j5vjz62 wrote on January 25, 2023 at 9:27 PM

Oh I don't think the show is, that's my point. I feel that particularly if you read Mike White interviews he's pretty straightforward about how he just kinda likes subverting expectations with these funny situations. I think the conversation/social media tries to frame it as smarter and deeper than it is.

Radiant-Anteater1404 t1_j5v9ho2 wrote on January 25, 2023 at 8:24 PM

You have a good point. I wonder if it's just on the smarter end of viral/hit shows, so the "smartness" gets overhyped. I'm comparing it to Stranger Things, Riverdale, maybe Wednesday or Eurphoria. I can see it being smarter than those. I love the show personally, but mostly because it's fun to watch.

Chataboutgames t1_j5vagq5 wrote on January 25, 2023 at 8:30 PM

It's that exactly. And honestly it didn't even go all that viral until S2. The conversation/fandom surrounding it got wildly different for S2.

Ultimately pretty much every question the show ever asks get answered with a muddy "people are people" sort of answer. S2 didn't say anything deep or profound about sexuality. Probably the closest it came was Imperioli yelling at his father for his inherited womanizing. It doesn't even really say much about the nature of tourism. Hell the most well meaning of the "rich set" in the first season ends up being the most destructive by far. In interviews mike White comes across damn near trolling people who want a really left leaning "rich people bad" message because they end up all being garden variety jerks rather than embodiments of evil wealth.

Then in S2 the very TikTok-y pathologizing came out. Every character was either a "sociopath" or an "incel" or an "abuser" or "closeted gay" or a secret rapist or something. Surprise surprise, aside from the outrageous murder gays plotline, every other character was aggressively vanilla in their sins.