Oh, Insatiable.
Where do I even start with you?
I think I'm like many others who only gave the Netflix show a go due to the almost-deafening roar of ''DO NOT WATCH THIS SH*TE'' that I seemed be faced with on every website.
Headlines ranged from ''Critics Say ‘Insatiable’ Is “Offensive” and “the Worst Netflix Original Series” to ''Insatiable Is Dreadfully Unappetizing.''
Our review? Avoid it like the f*cking plague.
So let's start from the start – what is the show even about?
It centres on Patty Bladell, a formerly overweight high-school student in Georgia who – due to getting her jaw broken by a homeless guy – had it wired shut and lost a load weight as a result.
Now slim, Patty may have shed the weight but her horrendous personality has unfortunately gone nowhere.
By chance, she meets Bob Armstrong, lawyer and disgraced beauty pageant coach, who takes Patty under his wing and propels her towards pageant fame.
Bob is pointedly flamboyant (everything is pointed in this show btw) and in the first few episodes, is mistakenly accused of being a pedophile. (Yes, really.)
One of the main problems with Insatiable is that is doesn't seem to actually like it's main character – so how the hell are we supposed to?
Patty continually acts like a selfish b*tch – her actions show no regard for anyone but herself.
Phrases like ''skinny is magic'' that are bandied around definitely damaging but it is also the jokes that are racist, homophobic and sexist that I struggle with.
One of the few redeeming features is the Alyssa Milano, in her role as former-trailer-trash-turned-southern-belle-housewife Coralee, wife of Bob.
She is clearly enjoying the role here, but her storyline is simply as Bob's glam other half, who fancies his rival (also called Bob, keep up) and is jel of his young protegee, Patty.
Milano has defended the show, telling Vanity Fair, ''the show is really a satirical look at what could happen if you do body-shame or bully someone and how that trauma affects their life. It’s also about how looks can be deceiving, an exploration of body image, about finding validation, and the desire to fill a void within ourselves.”
After over 200,000 people signed a Change.org petition to cancel the show due to what they said was a fat-shaming plot-line, creator Lauren Gussis gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter.
She explained that the show is not meant to be offensive in any way, stating, ''I wanted to poke at all those issues through comedy. But every single one of the issues that these characters struggle with -from eating disorders to body dysmorphia, to sexuality to needing outside power and validation, to wanting to be perfect, to mental illness – I have struggled with every single one of those things.''
She continued while ''everyone is entitled to their own opinion'', and in relation to the fat-shaming language that is woven throughout the show's narrative, she explains that it is the reality of what actually happens.
''I think we're in a real danger of censorship if we decide that we all have to tell stories in a certain way so that everybody else feels safe,'' she says.
Does she have a point? Should we be showing the brutal honestly that sometimes people do horrible things and say horrible things? Do we want to watch a show about that?
There are people who agree with Lauren, loved the show and have taken to Twitter to demand why it's taken so much flak.
One fan wrote, ''Insatiable doesn't fat same but instead shows that losing weight doesn't’t magically take away all the deep rooted problems that comes with body confidence issues.''
Another said, ''after watching more episodes, I wonder if a lot of people are upset with #Insatiable because it's holding a mirror up to themselves and forces them to see the reality of how cruel the world still can be….maybe they are even contributing to it in ways they didn't even realise.''
So what do I think?
I think that the show's intentions didn't come from a place of malice, and Lauren was aiming to explore issues like sexuality, body image etc. through satire.
My problem with it? It just doesn't work – and there are only so many jokes falling flat that I can take.
Netflix has a lot of worthwhile shows on it – Insatiable just isn't one of them.
