I Hate Suzie

Immediately preceding the first series there was an interview with Lucy Prebble on British radio where she said in the course of writing the series her and Billie Piper wrote a list of things "they couldn't possibly say" but eventually ended up using everything. It's not necessarily easy to imagine which of the many brutally sharp observations on display here came from the list but the concept of it popped into my mind every time the show pushed things into deeply uncomfortable waters.

Piper plays a former child pop star turned sci-fi B-lister whose life crumbles after compromising pictures of her are stolen from her phone and made public. Each episode covers a perceived stage of grief and covers a myriad of subjects from the public to the private about what it is to be, essentially, Billie Piper. This feels like lived experience, in all its gut-wrenching, out-of-control anxietywhirl of nauseating honesty. There are no easy answers, there are no selfless people, there is no safe place. It's not an easy watch at all. It's like watching the slow autopsy of a living person but instead of organs the writhing body is stuffed full of mirrors that reflect everything that's horrible about yourself about society, about everything we never say and always see. It's that kind of a show and not at all for everyone. The second three-parter series "I Hate Suzie Too" is just as breathlessly terrifying, and has an ending I don't think I'll ever forget.

The cast are generally brilliant but it's the role of a lifetime for Piper. She's perfect for this kind of role (herself) and you can feel everything through her almost instantaneously, she changes like the weather, instantly and completely. Her and Prebble's unknowable list hangs over the whole endeavour - everything that should never be said, gingerly taken down piece by piece and crammed into the narrative until there is nothing left to say.

This series centers around Billie Piper as Suzie, and it seems there is very much of her own vita in it. Her youth as a Pop Star is just taken 1:1 into the story. Note that Billie Piper was once a really famous singer with several No.1 hits in the UK. Here we learn what might happen when we read about the life and scandals of some bigger and smaller stars (or better, celebrities), and what impact that has on their lives, from their perspective. Can that fill 8 episodes ? - Yes, with such a great cast, it can. But, it takes those 8 episodes to work out what is really going wrong. Or not. It's not easy to follow Suzie's ways of being Suzie. Though the script is very thorough when it comes to describe situations and the inner state of Suzie or her friend Naomi, it misses in being similiar thorough about her husband and providing at least a small background how and why they came together, as different as they are. So, the husband isn't as far a complex character like Suzie, he is just "a husband". He doesn't adore her or really love her, I could not find any sign of that. And maybe that is why things happen as they happen here, but I tend to think that this is not the case. As being said before, the show centers around Suzie, and it centers deliberately on her and indeliberately sometimes too much on itself. So, 7 stars from me for Bllie herself, the other cast members, and the good production values, which make this all in all a good show, but not a great one.

The low rating and the poor reviews are baffling, especially when this series has been well-reviewed elsewhere. Best guess? It's about a woman and her problems, and our society (US and UK alike) is just misogynistic enough to write that off due to lack of education about what women experience just by virtue of living in the world-- the very education this show seeks to provide.

Is Suzie a good person? Debatable. Does she deserve to have her most intimate moments leaked to the world? If you think so, this show may not be for you-- but then again, if you actually think that, then maybe dating or walking around outdoors isn't for you, either.

If you're interested in a blistering character study of a nuanced, complex person dealing with a nuanced, complex trauma, both in her personal and professional life, check out this show immediately. If you hate women and hate stories about them, you have the entire internet at your disposal.

Susie isn't exactly the anti-hero, but she isn't the hero either- no one is. All the main characters have flaws and are complex. I enjoyed the quirkinesses of this series which was unlike anything else I'd ever watch. It's not so much a comedy as a dark drama. Excellent acting throughout.

I thought this was a great show from start to finish. The story is told at just the right pace and was done so brilliantly.

I genuinely feel as though this could happen the way it plays out here and, probably has.

It seems very, unfair, in places - The way Suzie is treated from some of her friends and colleagues is horrible to watch in places but I'd imagine that in that world its to be expected.

Of course Suzie isn't completely innocent and that lends itself to not quite being able to feel completely sorry for her at the same time.

A sad reflection of the media and the role it can play in people's lives. A sad reflection of the times we live in.

You do find yourself rooting for Suzie though, to somehow get away from the mess she finds herself in and the people who surround her.

Hopefully they'll do another series.