Truth can set you free…if you can handle it.
Hulu has dropped three miniseries, eight episodes each, based on true events.
Is this OK? Is this good TV? Is this informative in a harmful way? Let’s take a look.
Pam & Tommy
Casting/styling for realistic looks: Amazing
When first-look pictures came out, I was shocked at how Sebastian Stan and Lily James looked.
Accuracy: Iffy
Look, this is about a celebrity couple and their sex tape. It seems like some parts are accurate, like their whirlwind beach wedding, but some things happened but not in the order portrayed.
The show is based on an article (and bits of Tommy Lee’s biography), but this is the type of show where we’ll never know the whole truth, especially without the consent of Pam or Tommy.
Pamela has spoken out on her approval of the show, Lily James seems to have gotten her voice right.
Rating: C
This is a super-stylized show (#iykyk), and it’s not for everyone. The saga of Pam & Tommy is a lot about sex, but they still should have some privacy for their own items.
This was a private tape, and it feels wrong to capitalize on it, even if it’s for cultural context.
The Dropout
Casting/styling for realistic looks: Only the styling
Amanda Seyfried has a unique look, so it’s hard not to see her as herself, and she only has a slight resemblance to Elizabeth Holmes.
But they’ve got the look of her down. The red lips, the messy hair, the black outfits? Check.
Accuracy: Good
This is based on the podcast of the same name, so it has more research behind it. Plus, the story has been in the news for a while.
The imagery of Seyfried as Holmes for her 2017 testimony looks accurate.
The facts are there, from what we know. You’ll never know private conversations, just like we’re still unsure how real the deep voice of Holmes is.
Rating: B-
To help interpret the different years, music is used. But it’s so incredibly distracting, especially in the first two episodes, which cover roughly 2001 to 2007. We get it, the music was different then; it’s fine.
In my opinion, Holmes is a narcissist, and I have more questions about her than answers, even after watching a few episodes.
It’s an interesting story of ambition, technology and capitalism, but it could be harmful for the trust in healthcare.
The Girl from Plainville
Casting/styling for realistic looks: Great for the lead, OK for everyone else
Elle Fanning looks like Michelle Carter for the most part, especially in the later years.
But the supporting characters don’t look like their real-life counterparts at all.
Accuracy: Mixed
There’s fact and fiction in this miniseries based on an Esquire article.
She liked “Glee,” and talked about it often. But the couple didn’t see each other that much before he died.
The key, though, is the text messages are real. They’re part of court record, so they’re detailed exactly as they were typed.
Rating: B+
As much as I found Elle Fanning’s portrayal gritting (probably because she’s playing a vapid 15-year-old at the start), it’s such an intriguing story.
I zipped through the first few episodes and haven’t stopped thinking about it.
It’s a little scary to focus on something dubbed the “texting suicide case,” but I think we see something beyond glamorizing suicide by instead focusing on grief and social media’s influence on society.
All of the episodes for all three series are on Hulu. It’s a lot of true-life stories, but remember TV isn’t real.