Timothy Peterson

This fascinating reimagining of Hollywood history works on many levels. Having a minimal experience of the realities of moviemaking plus a familiarity with Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon made me skeptical at first but I ended up binge watching in two days. The story is a compression of the struggles of people of all shades and persuasions to gain that valuable place of visibility in culture. It still manages to be a good story with twists and turns that had me guessing and cheering for hero’s and booing villains and it is unapologetic in declaring that, in the end, it is a fantasy and a dream but one that reflects the very real power of representation in culture. I guarantee this show will affect you in different ways and give you some perspective on lives which were hidden for a long time and what it means to have to live a lie, even in the most superficial town on earth. Great characters and some good performances but, in the end it is the Hollywood ending that gives this series its heart.