God help us if she needs to overreact to the right.
Yes, I know it’s her right. Camera left. Don’t start with me.
Impressions:
Uh… yeah. It’s hard to even know where to begin with this one. Any pretenses of it being a celebration of a conventionally unattractive person turning their life around with a positive attitude are dashed against the onslaught of jokes about how fat, self-centered, delusional, and ugly she is. It’s relentless. I’m not sure there even are any jokes but exclusively at her expense. And I honestly don’t know why. The BBC has been churning out soap opera mystery dramedies about frumpy gardener detectives for decades, not to mention stuff like Monk or Miss Marple. The streets are full of short socially maladjusted weirdos blundering their way through crime solving. Nor can you say it’s more schadenfreude, like Inspector Clouseau since it’s clearly aware that being abusive traumatized her, and yet it celebrates doing it anyway. Look at this ridiculous idiot and laugh.
It’s really not much of a mystery at all though, but that definitely would’ve helped to play up that side more than a couple passing remarks. It would’ve provided some direction and purpose to events instead of nonstop mockery. It’s so difficult for me to try to parse out the narrow line this is trying to walk. Your physical appearance doesn’t define you, your attitude does. But also, gawk and laugh at this ridiculous freak for thinking herself pretty and confident when she’s obviously out of her socially defined place. Well, assuming there even is a mindspace that is actually positive about this character, and it’s not intended to be 100% belittling and cruel. And even then, the comedy is overreactions and yelling. So this is quite the row to hoe.
Next Episode:
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