Emmy Catch-Up: I May Destroy You

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

I May Destroy You: Season 1, Episode 9 “Social Media Is a Great Way to Connect” (B+)

Comparing people’s experiences and trying to judge the severity and impact of what they went through is never a smart idea, and that led to some real tension here. Arabella was definitely in overdrive in terms of the power she was getting from her social media presence and following, reclaiming an authority over how women are treated by men in society but getting far too sucked in by that to realize how she was hurting other people. Kwame talking to Arabella and Terry about what happened with Nilufer elicited a harsh reaction from Arabella that essentially accused him of being just as bad as a rapist, and the fact that they were all wearing Halloween costumes when it happened only made it seem more mean-spirited. It was good that Carrie recommended a timeout from social media for Arabella and a return to the real world, and the effects of that change were almost immediately felt when Arabella apologized to Kwame for the way she had spoken to him. Terry was in the middle of all this, trying to focus on the Paint and Wine event and unable to ignore Arabella being connected constantly to her phone, even when they had agreed not to do that inside. Being told not to vape was the last straw for Arabella, and I liked how Terry reasoned with the doctor that the logic that vaping was also bad for Arabella was not information that should be shared with her since it was a necessary distraction from worse things. Going back to the club shows that Arabella isn’t moving on with her life but merely redirecting her focus to that catalytic incident.