I write a lot about movies and television shows that I enjoy, and usually because they had some type of underlying value or character that I felt was important. However, Netflix's original show "Insatiable" starring Debby Ryan is the first show I can review that had no importance, just disappointment.
The show focuses Ryan's character, "Fatty Patty" Patty Bladell, who struggles with her weight and is constantly bullied for it, given her nickname in high school. When Patty punches a homeless man because he took her candy bar and he punches her back, she is left with her jaw wired shut and loses her weight due to a liquid diet. Patty now feels like even though she is skinny, she still is a hopeless case.
I thought maybe this show would actually address the topic of body image in a good way, the idea they had was great. Instead, they turned Patty into a revenge-seeking, crazy former fat person, and added a bunch of other stereotypical and borderline racist and homophobic characters as well.
Patty deals with normal obstacles as a high schooler, the struggle of finding a boyfriend to make her life complete, and what not, but it is all just so stupid the way the plot incorporates these. The whole plot mainly focuses on how she meets her lawyer Bob Armstrong for the case against the homeless man. Bob is a former beauty pageant coach struggling with his life and meaning, and he wants to make her into a beauty queen. She becomes obsessed with the idea that Bob is her soul mate, and tries to seduce him.
Later she drops that idea and it just gets weird as she then bounces from boy to boy. Patty goes from seeming kind of normal to just plain crazy, and I felt like her character could have been used in such a different way. They wanted her to enter beauty with a campaign to be an advocate for healthy eating and body image, but then it just turns sour and she becomes the face of a local fast food restaurant "Weiner Taco."
The storyline is just so mocking yet the writers obviously tried to make some characters stereotypical to prove a point. Honestly, there is just so much wrong with this series that it made me angry watching it. But I did watch to the end because it fueled my fire and I needed to know where the heck they planned on taking this series.
It just got worse and worse with each episode, with racist and homophobic comments and characters, like the Choi family and making fun of sexualities like bisexuality. I mean I am glad they are trying to be diverse, including biracial families, adoption, and different sexual orientations, but like come on, why did they have to make the plot so ridiculous? I understand they were trying to be funny, but it mainly just came off offensive.
And to top it all off, (spoiler!) Patty ends up killing her ex-boyfriend Christian, which he was a stalker and kidnapped someone, but what was so stupid to me is that Bob, WHO IS A LAWYER, helps her cover it up. Yes, I know there are corrupt people out there, but why are we writing characters like this? I am hoping that there is not a second season of this terribly written show, as much as I want to find something good about it, I cannot.
