Ryan Murphy has increasingly become a producer whose series I look forward to, and though I didn't start this show the second it dropped on Netflix, it remained on my radar to come back to at some point. I've just finished the first season, and though I think I can understand why some people haven't liked - I have to say that I did enjoy it and will be back for the second season.
Payton Hobart (Ben Platt) is running for student President, which is the first stage of his plan to ultimately end in the White House. His opponent is popular and charming, whereas Payton is driven and ambitious. To win he need the perfect running mate. He settles on Infinity Jackson (Zoey Deutch) whose battles against cancer clutch at the schools heartstrings and make her a sympathetic candidate. That is until Payton receives credible information that Infinity's cancer is not real.
Even writing that synopsis seems strange, as there is so much more plot to this season than just that one strand.
Tonally I think is where "The Politician" is going to lose people. Initially feeling like it's going for the Wes Anderson-esque, bored rich people vibe, it's absurdist in the level of which Payton and his team are involved in the election, but, as I say, that's only one aspect of the show. There's straighter comedy with Infinity and particularly Murphy muse Jessica Lange, as her ruthless grandmother (although this goes to dark places too). However, there's also some earnest soul searching following a suicide. There are a couple of (welcome) diversions to show off Platt singing ability. Then back to absurdity with some murder plots. If you were to say to me that the show didn't know what it wanted to be, I'd be hard pushed to argue against that.
But, in the end, I kept watching. Much of which was down to the character of Payton, and the performance of Platt. In another show, he'd been sociopathic anti-hero, but he's much more nuanced here. Much more questioning of why he is like he is. The show's funny enough, for me anyway, from one aspect or another too. Then it all resets itself in the final episode of the run for what's to come in the second season.
It's not a show I'd blindly defend from all criticism, but one I'll be back for the second season of.
