Right now, Netflix is a swirling vortex of unanswered questions. There’s the query of the way it will reply to all its lately misplaced subscribers. There’s the difficulty of whether or not or not it'll begin to enable promoting on its platform. However most of all – miles above that, the best thriller of all time – is how the hell Anatomy of a Scandal acquired to be so common.
In case you haven’t seen it, Anatomy of a Scandal represents the most recent step of David E Kelley’s malicious plan to churn out extra obnoxious hour-long dramas about objectively terrible wealthy individuals than anybody else in historical past. This time, David E Kelley’s One Thought has moved to London; or a minimum of a cartoon model of London the place everyone seems to be a dribbling cut-glass bellend and the Home of Commons seems to have been made out of plywood in a rush.
And it's horrible. Anatomy of a Scandal is a courtroom drama that hinges on a twist so silly that it might solely realistically be met with a weary sigh. It’s so preposterously overlit and soapily staged that it appears as if all the collection has crawled into your tv’s settings and intentionally reinstalled movement smoothing out of spite. The one good performances are those who (like Joshua McGuire’s frazzled political adviser) appear to pay attention to the nonstop idiocy that surrounds them. It's actually not excellent in any respect.
Why then, regardless of all this, is Anatomy of a Scandal so common, at the moment essentially the most watched Netflix present on this planet? Glad you requested. Right here’s my principle. It’s due to the ultimate shot of the primary episode, which is maybe essentially the most gloriously silly factor that has ever been dedicated to tv. In case you don’t need it spoiled, get out now.
Anatomy of a Scandal is dreadful and hilarious. That is how the primary episode ends. pic.twitter.com/jj9cDBSEXq
So, episode one is all about charming MP Rupert Pal admitting to his spouse that he had a short affair with a colleague. He rides out the scandal however, simply because the fuss is beginning to die down, he's accused of rape. How does Rupert Pal, the star of this apparently prestigious and strait-laced authorized drama, react to the accusation? Right here’s how: by actually flying backwards by means of the air in sluggish movement, like he’s being flung backwards by an invisible explosion.
This occurs completely unannounced, by the best way. Rupert Pal flying by means of the air comes after a full episode of virtually complete nothingness. It’s like John Woo acquired wind of how boring the factor was going to be, and jumped out of a helicopter to gee issues up on the final minute.
Now, you’re not going to cease watching after one thing like that, are you? You’re going to sit down again in your couch, surprised past all comprehension, and maybe examine your drink like a disbelieving vagrant in a Nineteen Thirties cartoon. You’re going to take a deep breath and shut your eyes and assume “Did Rupert Pal actually react to a rape accusation by actually flying backwards by means of the air, in the course of the road, like a ragdoll, or have I simply suffered a debilitating blunt drive trauma to the bottom of my cranium?” And whilst you’re sitting there, questioning in case you have actually simply witnessed one thing as gormless as that, Netflix could have skipped the credit and began autoplaying the following episode.
After which – simply as you might have barely managed to scrape again the obliterated fragments of your exploded thoughts – it occurs once more. Though episode two of Anatomy of a Scandal is simply as dreary as the primary, it ends (once more, with out something even approaching a warning) with Sienna Miller tumbling backwards out of an imaginary elevate and falling in sluggish movement by means of an empty courtroom. No person is aware of why. There’s no clarification. There’s not likely very a lot of a degree. It’s only a factor that occurs, presumably to thrust you again into the identical cluster-migraine fugue state that you just’ve solely simply escaped, so episode three can sneak on to your display with out you understanding it.
In fact, by this level you’ve wised as much as the formulation. Anatomy of a Scandal is a nasty Channel 5 courtroom drama enlivened by deeply silly moments of heavy-handed fantasy sequences. So that you scrub by means of the third episode simply to see the way it ends, and it ends with the digital camera spinning round whereas the Aimee Mann track from Magnolia performs. So that you click on “subsequent episode” and instantly skip to the top and, like clockwork, Michelle Dockery is confronted by her youthful self.
By this level, you now not care concerning the plot of Anatomy of a Scandal. You’re simply fast-forwarding by means of episodes to see what batshit second of ill-fitting tonal weirdness goes to return subsequent. And, within the second when one character says “I can look you within the eye” to a different character, earlier than they’re instantly plunged into what can solely be described because the set of Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Something For Love (However I Gained’t Do That) video simply in order that they will look one another within the eye actually exhausting, you're lastly happy. You’ve watched a complete collection simply to see how silly it might get. And Netflix logged this information accordingly.
And that’s why Anatomy of a Scandal is so common.
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