TV Show Review: Hulu’s The Act
By Gabby Scanga ’21
On March 20, Hulu premiered a highly anticipated eight episode series titled The Act. The show is an American true crime anthology drama, based on the lives of Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King) and the murder of her mother Dee Dee Blanchard (Patricia Arquette).
The first several episodes shine light on Dee Dee’s abuse towards Gypsy; by lying about her daughter possessing several illnesses and disabilities. These illnesses and disabilities include; being highly allergic to sugar, being confined to a wheel chair, and having cancer. The duo even scammed Habitat For Humanity into building them a house free of charge, and used the Make a Wish Foundation for trips to Disney World.
If you are a squeamish person, the episodes are going to be difficult to watch. The audience instantly feels sympathy for Gypsy due to the repeated abuse and watching her lifestyle unravel episode by episode. Each episode is suspenseful and leaves the audience wanting more.
Gypsy eventually meets a boy named Nick on the internet, where she confides all of her and her mother’s secrets. The audience realizes that Nick has a multiple personality disorder, where he has at least three distinct and relatively enduring personality states, which is accompanied by memory gaps, beyond what would be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. One of his personalities is a vampire named Victor, whom is violent and “bad.”
One day Gypsy becomes fed up with the abuse by her mother, and asks ‘Victor’ to kill her mother, Dee Dee. After this episode, the series becomes impossible to watch. The most astounding thing about this short series is that this is a true story and that the real Gypsy is still in jail today serving a 10 year sentence. After The Act was released, it went viral. People online
everywhere were discussing not only the series, but also the real case. Gypsy was also interviewed on Dr. Phil and petitions have also been made to release her from prison.
Watch Gypsy’s journey and case unravel every Wednesday on Hulu.
