Santa Clarita Diet
Why you should consider or reconsider eating humans.
Although far from an avid television viewer(the exception being Seinfeld front to back, three times) I felt it was perhaps not only important, but necessary, to explore my reaction to this oddly satisfying Netflix original.
Without any prior impressions, my roommate began watching this show as I sat trying to study. Suspecting it to be no more than the usual Netflix drivel(perhaps it actually still is) I was shocked to find myself burning through the first season in a matter of hours.
“What is this?” I blurted out as Sheila Hammond(Drew Barrymore) began violently vomiting for no apparent reason, in amounts that were obscenely beyond the capability of such a small body. Following this, her personality alters drastically. Also, she gradually develops an insatiable diet for human meat.
In most cases, amid suburbia in particular, this dietary problem would simply be unsustainable. If not for the devotion and acceptance of Sheila’s husband Joel Hammond(Timothy Olyphant) it would likely never be considered. The two work as realtors whose skill-sets begin to fan out into more dangerous territories in order to satiate Sheila’s hunger. The initial barrage of questions the first episode presents is certainly not enough to whet anyone’s appetite.
Watching a once normal family scramble to adapt to these new circumstances makes for a sometimes comical journey. There’s almost something desirable about the family and their undying passion, in spite of intentionally supporting murder.
Amongst the sheer absurdity of these character’s actions we perhaps find a glimmer of ourselves. Either looking for that person who we would kill for, or maybe even already killing for someone. This can be taken to both literal and figurative extremes. There are various instances in which we see Joel truly pondering the emotional, physical, and legal implications of buttressing this relationship, and then moving forward in spite of these considerations. Who would you kill for?
And who would you kill?
Morality becomes blurred in this sense, as seemingly normal people quickly lose sight of what they once found unacceptable. Rather than killing with reckless abandon(generally), Sheila and Joel attempt to justify their actions by choosing people that are potentially detrimental to society, such as a drug dealer that also dates high-schoolers. These supposedly “bad” people can be quickly redeemed as Sheila and Joel sometimes begin to accidentally connect with those they originally considered food.
Sparing nothing to the imagination, the show may exist as another critique of our(my) cultural desensitization towards violence and gore. Or it could be a metaphor for a severely dysfunctional relationship. Whatever the case, Santa Clarita Diet offers many lenses with which to view it from. And if your particular lens has a penchant for zombies, chuckle-worthy dialogue, Drew Barrymore eating other humans, all with the backdrop of the suburbs of California, this might be next on the que.
-M
