SummaryBased on Sarai Walker’s book of the same name, the dark comedy follows Plum Kettle (Joy Nash) a ghost writer for her boss (Julianna Margulies), a fashion magazine editor, as she plans for weight-loss surgery and becomes involved with an underground feminist group.
SummaryBased on Sarai Walker’s book of the same name, the dark comedy follows Plum Kettle (Joy Nash) a ghost writer for her boss (Julianna Margulies), a fashion magazine editor, as she plans for weight-loss surgery and becomes involved with an underground feminist group.
The smartly written dark dramedy, created by Marti Noxon (UnREAL), is a delectable expression of feminist anger, a parable that eviscerates the patriarchy.
Dietland is a wonderfully absurd exaggeration of the rage that’s driving sea change like the #MeToo movement. The Harvey Weinstein effect is satirized here, his depravity and the victim’s fury filtered through dark humor, and that dark humor woven into a quirky yet compelling drama.
Dietland defies facile definition or a simple fit. At its most successful, it’s a lively walk through a woman’s struggle to redefine herself in a society telling her to disappear. But the hook, manifested in a mystery vigilante feminist hunting down rapists and child molesters, fails to solidify enough within the first three episodes to command our attention in a real way, beyond serving up the occasional static shock. At the outset of a show like this, any shortcomings in the secondary plot are excusable given the complexity of Plum’s interior world.
It’s clear after the premiere that Nash’s performance and character are compelling; far more compelling than some weird terrorist plot, a delusion-driven sex tiger, and some secret agenda to bring down a powerful media mogul. While that last point could develop nicely alongside Plum’s arc, putting all of the plot lines together turns them into distractions more than effective talking points.
If this were just a revenge thriller, or just a beauty-standards takedown, it might find its groove--but as is, Dietland is just too bloated to add to your DVR plate.
For every moment that strikes just close enough to reality to make a pointed mark, there are about five more that feel far more scattered to the winds. Dietland wants to be a satire and a drama and all that lies between depending on its mood, and that determination to be everything often has it feeling more like nothing.