I admit honestly - I was not going to watch the new series from Ryan Murphy The Politician. However, after I turned on the first episode, watching the next was quite easy and all in all pleasant. The problem is that it's difficult to clearly say why this series was made and what the scriptwriters really wanted to tell us.
The main character of the series is Payton Hobart, a student of the last class of a prestigious high school. He has one dream - to become president of the United States. Because he spent most of his young life reading the biography of famous Americans, he knows exactly what to do. First of all - win school elections for the body president. It is not easy because just in this high school everyone treats these elections deadly seriously - public opinion polls are conducted, at school debates arguments are raised not only about school life but about the change of municipal or state law in general. In addition, they all behave as if were dealing with the truest policy in its national edition - including ideas on which candidates for vice-presidents to choose to get as many votes as possible. The campaign looks like it was about more than just a position in a school council. It is not surprising when we realize that information about being a school president can help a lot in getting to Harvard or another extremely prestigious university.
The story would probably be a typical teen series if it wasn't for the fact that everything is happening here with much greater intensity. The element that really sets the stage here is ... the suicide of Payton's rival - a boy named Rivier, who is perfect at first glance. Beautiful, popular and as everything indicates - wise and empathetic. At the same time the series does not stop very long over this tragic event because it rushes forward. Before the election is over we will see kidnappings, poisoning, attempted murders, romances, fraud, children thrown out of the house, changed wills. And this is just the beginning of the list. The Politician is a series that goes straight ahead, throwing events into several episodes of the first season that would normally calmly fill twenty-four episodes of traditional television production. Before we can bend over one disaster or the twist, the next ones are waiting for us. Screenwriters are not afraid of grotesque or absurdity, although they are full of emotional truth in the series. The whole and from the beginning must be read as taking place in a somewhat alternate reality where all the heroes are more or less exaggerated and serve more as symbols of certain attitudes or characters than as 100% real heroes.
All the while watching the series I wondered what exactly Murphy is trying to tell me, showing this caricatured reality. Of course, there is some reflection on the nature of politics, but they are neither so new nor so revealing that we could say that we had to discover it again and in addition in the world of school choices. Anyway, the best episode of the season treats the main characters a bit in the background, focusing on the kid who doesn't care about all the fuss - just like the whole school. Perhaps this is the only moment when the series pulls us out of this colorful exaggerated bubble and takes us into a somewhat more real world where young people are not interested in very school election, and their perception of reality is strongly limited by hormones. It is also not a series about modern America, because it takes place in such a specific and exaggerated reality - where almost all the characters are fabulously rich that it does not come into contact with what we can consider important for the whole country. It is also difficult to look at the series as a caricature of the establishment, because although these elements of caricature appear here at the same time - there is also a lot of heart to some characters.
Ultimately, it's probably best to look at the series from the perspective of the characters - especially Payton seems to be an interesting hero. He is a boy, talented, quite nice and extremely confident in his life goals. At the same time - it does not match the scheme of the classic asshole from the upper class. His most interesting feature is the lack of a good understanding of his emotions and how to feel them. It seems that when he really starts to feel something he is more lost than when he comes to shout or lie. But again - the series shows it in such an interesting way that this ignorance in your own psyche seems easy to understand and you can quickly attach to the hero himself. At the same time, until the end of the series I wasn't sure if I should support Payton or maybe not. Certainly his face as a politician was not something that attracted me very much. On the other hand - at first glance he seems to be much nicer and motivated by good ambitions (because somewhere there is a desire not only for a position but also to serve others).
Payton is surrounded by characters a bit more exaggerated than himself. At the top of this list we find Alice - his girlfriend, who in the manner of behavior and speaking resembles the first ladies of the first half of the XX century. She never raises her voice, never ceases to doubt her boyfriend, she is ready for many sacrifices, all in the name of supporting her man. Again - it would be an unbearable character were it not for the fact that in her relationship with Payton we see a lot - not necessarily healthy - understanding and affection (although interestingly - this series does not show any physical close-ups, except for one or the other kiss - as if the scriptwriter wanted to escape from these sex scenes with teenagers). Payton's "staff" advisers - McAfee and James - teenagers who are almost like adults and support their candidate to give them a job in the White House are also interesting characters. Their characters have been written as insanely loyal, which is a source of a great deal of comedy - especially when they behave disloyally. No less difficult to love them. Interestingly, the character Astrid, Riviera's girlfriend, develops throughout the series, who, after her boyfriend's death, undertakes his campaign to become Payton rival. Astrid evolves from a not very nice, rich heiress, to a girl who above all values freedom and the ability to decide about herself. And at the same time - just like Payton - it's difficult for her to clearly say what she wants in life, but she is sure that what she does now.
In the background of the whole election game we have an additional thread - the heroine of Infinity - a girl suffering from cancer, which Payton chooses as her candidate for vice president. This character is almost one-to-one rewritten from real history which rocked America a few years ago and based on which the HBO series was shot. Apparently Ryan Murphy was jealous that such a production did not hit him and he told it again only in his own exaggerated world. Again - although deciphering the references was not difficult, I could not get rid of the reflection that in fact the whole topic, strongly referring to reality, does not necessarily fit here. Well, maybe Murphy thinks that in every series he creates must have a role for Jessica Lang - and here she plays Infinity’s grandma who not only defends her granddaughter from the world but quite effectively uses her illness to gain a lot from compassionate people.
Acting series is at a very high level. Ben Platt - who is climbing to fame thanks to his popularity on Broadway, perfectly plays a lost teenager, though let's not hide - it's a little hard to believe that we're dealing with a high school student. But all these doubts are blurred immediately when Platt sings. Well, you don't listen to it with regret. Surprisingly Gwyneth Paltrow shines on the television series in the role of Payton's mother. Her character was written a little caricatured and a little with the intention - what would happen if such an exalted woman from the upper classes actually never lied. And this is brilliant - this excessive or actually initial sincerity of the heroine, combined with her calm voice, makes everything suddenly extremely comical. Plus Paltrow in this series has simply the most beautiful wardrobe in the world - everything in it brings a little bit to mind her famous white dress from Tom Ford in which she went to the Oscars a few years ago. You can't say a bad thing about the rest of the cast - everyone knows what they are playing and how to play it. Anyway, as in the case of Jessica Lang - she want be lost in Murphy’s series. Ultimately, therefore, the series, despite its flaws, gives a lot of satisfaction from watching good acting.
I must admit that for most episodes I had the feeling that this series is going nowhere. Ultimately, however, I was convinced by its first season punch line. I have the impression as if these first episodes were just such a necessary diversion that would lead us to a completely different place. Who knows, it may turn out that the next seasons will be watched with eyes wide open. In any case, already at this point the second season promises to be more interesting than the first. And because Murphy announced that it will be a bit an anthology series, it can actually be assumed that he will try differently to his heroes and the whole topic of the election campaign, especially since the rates are now higher. So I have a feeling that accompanies me surprisingly often when I watch the works of this showrunner - on the one hand I don't necessarily like everything, on the other, I suspect I will want more. I certainly haven't absorbed the whole season at such a pace for a long time. I also have a feeling that this might be the perfect title for the fall weekend when you really don't search for anything more engaging.
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