Rafaella

This series was very well done and did a wonderful job at portraying the cycle of trauma. However....there are a few disappointments as the story develops. I understand trauma bonds are a complex theme and hard to illustrate, however the main character's passivity makes it difficult to root for him. The arc of the stalker also seems to build up to a very weak resolution. As the show develops, she becomes more of a prop to the character's personal development rather than an active threat. She too begins to feel passive to a plot that so heavily relied on her. The protagonist flip flops in his desire to rid of her in his life and the audience is left feeling betrayed- if he doesn't care why should we? There were also many important scenes that were glazed over- he had s*x with his stalker and it seemed to have next to no consequences. She FINALLY becomes intimate with the object of her psychotic desires and she was practically unfazed. I struggle to understand the creator's focus on passive actions while more dramatic ones were dismissed. It is also hard to believe a stalker with prior convictions who physically assaulted his girlfriend and had multiple public outbursts was given so many allowances by the police. Ultimately it was the ending that soured the series for me. I was disappointed to see the main character once again empathize with the stalker in the final scene- the very thing that got him into this situation to begin with. I was hoping after everything his character would develop an awareness into objectively recognizing the stalker's actions as mental illness and detaching from this trauma bond and projection rather than feeling sorry for her for the millionth time. Also like many other reviews pointed out, the plot of the r*pe was unnesisarily drawn out- could've been another series in itself. This show felt like one step forward, two steps back at every turn.

If you need everything spelled out for you this movie isn't for you. I'm pretty sure most of the 1 star reviewers are fans of the Big Bang Theory and or Dancing with The Stars. This movie points to the realistic notion that America will be America's biggest downfall in the end- we are our own biggest enemy. It touches on misanthropy, class, hypocrisy, and our collective attitudes as a nation that will cause us to implode from within. This being said, I was not a fan of the ending either. It was symbolic yes but I needed more concrete closure considering their lives are on the line.

An all star cast, on HBO, alongside A24, with the director of Euphoria, must be a hit right? At this point they had to try hard to make something this bad. Are we supposed to be impressed with nudity? If you enjoyed this it's because you've either never seen a b00b or can't tell the difference between mid and great writing/plot. First it was the Bama Rush nightmare now this atrocity...is this the beginning of the beginning of the end for HBO? Where are the standards.