We also learn that Simon isn't the first pal to abandon her at a nightclub. This includes Biagio (Marouane Zotti), the handsome but distant Italian drug dealer who sells to Arabella before dating her. In the episodes that follow – all 12 of the series' installments were screened for this review – Arabella's descent to rock bottom is unpacked to reveal a not-so-distant past where she trusted too many strangers during her recreational drug binges. Just as Arabella prepares to shrug off her blur of a night, the faint memory of a man towering over her in a cramped bathroom stall emerges in her mind and she begrudgingly realizes he violated her.Īnd that's just the pilot. Despite this, she manages to bang out a rough draft for her literary agents. The next morning, she can't remember coming back to the office and doesn't know why she has a small cut on her forehead or how her smartphone screen got broken. Distracted by the allure of her drinking buddy Simon ( Aml Ameen), Arabella happily agrees to take a writing break filled with camaraderie and tequila shots. Coel is undeniably comfortable in her body and non-European beauty, and delivers a raw performance and story that unflinchingly examines consent, victim shaming, gender, race, class, imposter syndrome, and our over-reliance on social media through the lens of a Black Londoner.ĭiscover Your New Favorite Show: Watch This Now!Īuthor and hard partier Arabella's troubles begin when she attempts to pull an all-nighter to complete a pressing deadline for her second book. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Coel commands every scene she's in, especially during Arabella's most vulnerable moments, proving she is no longer the awkward fledgling from her breakout series Chewing Gum. But if we're lucky enough to pick up the pieces, we can help others afterward.Īrabella is grappling to find sanity and creative motivation after a man drugs and sexually assaults her, a similar experience to one Coel suffered in real life. Horrific things can and do happen on a global and even local scale while people's lives simultaneously fall apart for unrelated reasons. What makes I May Destroy You a worthwhile piece of television is that its main character Arabella ( Michaela Coel, who created, wrote, co-directed, and stars in the series) eventually figures out that one crisis doesn't supersede the other. Now more than ever, personal problems seem trivial as COVID-19 claims thousands of lives daily, children in South Sudan are starving, a civil war in Syria rages on, and rampant police brutality continues to be the sixth leading cause of death for Black men in America. The new HBO drama series I May Destroy You has a timely throughline that contrasts the crises of individuals with those of the world.
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