The Tamesis
After watching the first season in a few days, I moved on to watch the second, which launched in July. It continued in the same vicious, vulgar way. (Well, at least on the surface.) Of course, the family members are having their usual orgies: Josie is kidnapped by her mother from art college and attends a surprise wedding with her deadbeat boyfriend Seb before trying to institutionalize herself to escape him; Billie develops a tumultuous sugar baby relationship with the much older Graham. After Dave discovers that Deb lied about her ex-husband’s death, Deb desperately tries to win back into Dave’s good graces. Along the way, all of them continue to use self-help buzzwords and weaponized therapies to prove themselves to be terrible people. (In one memorable scene, Billie makes the argument that being a mistress is somehow feminist.)
However, such a brave girl Not as world-weary as I sound. You can’t help but root for Josie, especially as she attempts to spread her wings and explore her creative passions and sexuality in season two, even as she remains the family’s perpetual punching bag. You can’t help but feel a little sorry for Billie, whose endless search for approval from selfless men is undoubtedly a result of her upbringing, as we see her mother continue to trample her daughters to ensure she has a financial life raft. Even Deb is a victim of a quintessentially British class anxiety – not just to survive, but to deflect from the shame of being a poor single mother in a society that hates poor single mothers.
Photo: Courtesy of Hulu
