![]() In the first episode, which debuts today on HBO, Arabella returns from a jaunt in Italy (funded by her indulgent but nervous agents) to a deadline that’s long overdue. #Kwame on i may destroy you series#And as a black woman, she’s exposed on yet another level, whether to companies seeking out people of color for online kudos or to fans who desperately want her to mirror their own under-portrayed perspectives.Ī writer less volcanically talented than Coel might struggle to weave one of these themes into a 12-part series that she’s able to explore so many different layers of power while creating such a compulsively watchable show is striking. As a woman, she’s also inherently vulnerable when she sleeps with strangers. As a character, Arabella is brash and irresistible and sexually fearless. (As Lili Loofbourow wrote in The Week in 2018, “The world is disturbingly comfortable with the fact that women sometimes leave a sexual encounter in tears,” a dynamic that the viral New Yorker short story “Cat Person” had probed the month before.) But Coel, who created the show in part based on an event that happened to her, is also aware of how exploitation can play out in art-how one woman’s traumatic experience can easily be manipulated and transformed into sales figures or a social-media storm. The most obvious way to interpret I May Destroy You is as a brilliant, explosive consideration of modern sexual mores, and of how flimsy the line can be between gratification and exploitation. “You’d better get going, missy,” she tells Arabella. Susy’s eyes flicker with concern, and then burn with interest. Nothing is off of the table, and even seeing someone taking advantage of Arabella on social media has meaning that wouldn't ordinarily emerge.In the fifth episode of I May Destroy You, Arabella (played by Michaela Coel), an up-and-coming, internet-famous writer, explains to her literary agents and a sharklike publisher, Susy (Franc Ashman), that she’s just come from the police station, because she was raped. But by the time Kwame realizes he's been a victim, as well, Arabella is so deep in her own pain that she fails to see his, and just as she was unable to tell the guy who dumped her in Italy that she was raped, Kwame is unable to tell Arabella he was a target, too. There are layers of assault and the assaulted on I May Destroy You. There was a profound statement that hit me hard about assaults and reporting them when someone said belittling your problems makes the jobs of those you report them to a little easier. It's an emotional moment when Arabella talks at a support group admitting she's there to learn how not to be raped because the thought that she can't learn that and that at any time she could get dragged into the bushes and raped again is unfathomable. Getting rape opens an entirely new world for her in which she views what was differently than what is after her rape.īut relationships are not her own focus, as she cannot speak with Terry or their friend Kwame (Paapa Essiedu) with honesty because they haven't been changed in the same way.Īrabella seeks out like minded people who share her new reality because its easier to talk with aq stranger or an acquaintance who has gone through what you did than those you love who haven't. She eagerly gets involved with men, never allowing the crime to turn her away from her sexuality or her desires, but she also recognizes that behavior that she might have allowed in the past will no longer stand. She becomes more aware of herself and the differences between sex and making love. I'm not doubting that Coel could have explored what that means without being raped herself, but what she suffered clearly fuels Arabella, too.Īrabella's trauma forces her to question everything, and she goes through a period when she reconsiders drinking for fear someone will spike her drink again or she will not be in control of herself. #Kwame on i may destroy you full#What follows is a full exploration of sexual assault and rape and everything in between including areas that are rape adjacent or a little rapey, too.Īrabella makes no mistakes when it comes to her rape, fearlessly going to the police to report the matter, where she's met with two female officers who explain the ins and outs of rape charges.Īrabella's journey for justice is prevalent during the first season, but even more important is the spectrum of emotions Arabella undergoes as she deals with what happened. That's good because Arabella will need all the friends she can get after her drink gets spiked leading to a rape that Arabella cannot fully recall. Their love for each other is above all else. The two women are ride or die, and they're not the sort to allow something like Terry ditching Arabella for a threesome spoil their friendship. We first meet Arabella and her best friend Terry (Weruche Opia) on an Italian vacation. ![]()
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