Previewing The Act

Last summer Hulu premiered Castle Rock releasing a new episode every week. There were two just outstanding episodes over the course of the first that spawned countless think pieces across the internet. And that was the last time Hulu released one of its show one episode per week instead opting for the Netflix model of releasing full seasons at one time. I never quite understood this other than the thought, well Netflix is successful is at so we should do it too. Except if you subscribe to Hulu, you probably to it to watch last night’s episode of NBC, ABC, and Fox shows.

Almost a year later, it looks like Hulu is rethinking its release schedule. The first drama to release every show at once was The First which was already canceled. I do wonder if it had been more successful if it was released weekly. Much like Castle Rock there was a truly great episode in the middle except there were no think pieces about because when a show is released all at once, when exactly do you write it? Instead most critics wrote about the show once, said there was one great episode but the rest was mostly, meh, and that was about it. Though The First is the only show since canceled, only Light as a Feather has been renewed. And really shows aimed at teenagers and younger are probably the only shows Hulu should release all at once.

So starting with The Act, Hulu is, at least for now, is going back to a weekly release schedule. (The Handmaid’s Tale and Harlots will follow this spring and both have released weekly in their first two season so I would assume that will continue though no word on Catch-22 which premieres before them.) And really it will be better for it because you may need a full week to pull process each episode because The Act is completely messed up. And I mean that in the most complementary way possible.

The Act is another in an every growing trend of True Crime limited series and this series may have found the most bizarre true crime story in America’s history. The Buzzfeed article that brought the story to the masses says it all: “Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter to Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom to Be Murdered.” Patricia Arquette (who is back in a bad wig after winning an multiple end year awards for another pretty bizarre true crime story, Escape from Dannamora) plays Dee Dee who has been abusing her daughter with Munchausen syndrome by proxy for years. Gyspy is played Joey King (Ramona and Beezus) who is not going to make it easy for Arquette to also take home the Emmy where she may just compete against herself and King. Really, these two going out it in every scene going for that Emmy is going to be as compelling as every March Madness game this year. I might just give it to King by a hair because she literally has none for this role because Dee Dee told Gypsy she was so sick she could not grow any and shaved her regularly.

That Buzzfeed title is not really that spoilery for those unfamiliar with the case because there are flash forwards in the premiere where we see a lifeless Dee Dee with multiple stab wounds in her back. This act took place in 2015 while the first episode flashes back seven years when two New Orleans are built a new how in Missouri by Habitat for Humanity after being displaced by Katrina. Gypsy gets medicine and food injected through her belly and wears a mask to sleep. She also has the largest medicine cabinet you may ever see. And of course early in the show Gypsy has to be taken to the Emergency Room, her seventh time that year and it is not even summer year.

But this is the time of a young girl’s life where they are starting to be old enough to think about best friends, boyfriends. Or so one would assume, it is unclear just how old Gypsy is. Dee Dee is really exploiting records being destroying in Katrina to put Gypsy’s age in doubt. But Gypsy is now smart enough to clear the browsing history. One friend that presents herself is AnnaSophia Robb (Race to Witch Mountain) who lives across the street with her mother Chloë Sevigny (American Psycho).

Each episode of The Act opens with the tag “Based on real event” but I also found it interesting that each episode end with, “While this program is based on real events, some scenes and characters have been dramatized or fictionalized.” Which kind of leads me to wonder what exactly is real and what is not? I remember watching Hidden Figures last year and was disappointed to learn afterwards that the best part of the movie, when Kevin Costner tore down the “Colors Bathroom” sign, never actually happened because that character he did that for did not actually had to go across campus to use the restroom she was allowed to go in. Fake or real, The Act is creepy as it gets and I cannot wait to see how it fully unfurls and actually write about it every week.

New episodes of The Act premiere on Hulu every Wednesday. The first two episodes are available now.