The name of the show didn’t give too much away when it popped up in my Netflix suggestions. A quick Google search told me that the show’s creator also worked on one of my all-time favourite TV shows, Dexter. That bought Insatiable by attention and here’s what I’ve thought so far.
Note – I’m still watching and am only about halfway through season one.
What is Insatiable All About?
Here goes. Insatiable is all about Patty, a girl who loses quite a bit of weight after punching a homeless man and in return takes a punch back. She gets her jaw broken and wired, leaving her on a liquid diet and hence, during the summer break of school, she loses the weight which had led to her being bullied.
During the court case of Patty versus the homeless guy, Patty is assigned a lawyer who also happens to be obsessed with coaching girls in beauty pageants. After being falsely accused of sexual harassment with a pageant participant, he stops coaching until he meets Patty, who he sees as his opportunity for redemption. As you can imagine, all of this along with the host of characters in the show are living in a wild circus of plots and there you have it. That’s what Insatiable is all about.
This has very little to do with Dexter beyond the voice-over monologues. Even Dexter, the serial killing blood spatter analyst isn’t as controversial as Insatiable is.
The Insatiable Controversies
Before the show even started, the trailer caused havoc online.
After this trailer was released, over 200k signatures were gathered on Change.org citing fat-shaming and a potential negative impact on the mental health of young girls.
Seems like a fair point and there are some more sensitive topics in the show too. I could rattle them all off, but the big ones are:
- Bob being accused of molesting a child
- The statutory rape of a boy by a women
- ….
…actually, you know what. If you want to read about all the problems that people have found with Insatiable so far, just read this on Vox or this on Buzzfeed. I’ve got a different take on it.
The Furore Around Insatiable is Totally Over the Top
I’m a pretty big guy, hence I’ve tried to lose weight publically through Motivating Marty – I promise, that’s making another comeback soon. Now, I’ll admit I’ve been putting myself out there lately by commenting on the female birth control app Natural Cycles and by not being an American teenager, maybe I’m not in the best position to comment on the ins and outs of this show. But, not once while watching Insatiable did I feel offended.
Look, there’s some pretty rough stuff that comes out in the first half of the series, but it’s all tongue in cheek and taking the piss. Reading articles like the ones from Vox and Buzzfeed, I do get the feeling that these people are taking everything a little too seriously and are a little too willing to be offended.
Insatiable: The Verdict
Is the show fantastic? Not really, but it’s grand. Remember, I’m the guy that thoroughly enjoyed Kimmy Schmidt. I’m halfway through the first season and I’m feeling less compelled to view the rest of it. It’s a really interesting show because of how I felt watching Afflicted. That’s a show about real people and real problems, but very few people were triggered over that.
Insatiable is easy watching and personally, I think people are too fast to say this show is offensive before saying it’s just meh. There are reasons not to watch it, but fat shaming and the likes isn’t a reason for me. If you want some easy viewing that doesn’t take too much thinking to follow, this very well might be up your street.
