'UnREAL' Is The Darkest Show On TV Right Now
- sarahkloepple
- Jul 24, 2015
- 2 min read
A scripted series about the behind-the-scenes antics of a Bachelor-type reality show sounds as if it could be endlessly hilarious, right? Wrong—well, kind of.
Lifetime’s UnREAL is that show. It’s certainly funny, in a biting sort of way, but it’s mainly dark. That word doesn’t usually come to mind when we think of those infamous roses, the sparkling gowns, and the countless, empty incantations of "I'm here for the right reasons."
The Bachelor is almost too easy to mock—which is why UnREAL smartly takes a different approach. Created by Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro (a former Bachelor employee), the show centers around Rachel Goldberg, a producer for the reality program Everlasting, and the moral conflicts she faces between abiding by her ruthless boss (Constance Zimmer) and drawing the line when it comes to contestant manipulation.
Rachel, played by Shiri Appleby, is a dangerously good producer. She can push the designated villain into a ferocious rage spiral. She can convince a grieving contestant to ditch her parent-less younger brother for a hot date with “the suitor” and a fat check. But that’s not even half of the darkness that lurks in UnREAL.
Quinn, the tactless yet genius executive producer played by Zimmer, decides the unscripted storylines of each episode—she barks seemingly impossible orders that lead her producers to do things like switch out contestant medication (what!?) and purposefully leave behind incriminating evidence to spur dramatic arguments. The former tactic leads one of the women to commit suicide. So. Yeah. This show is vastly disturbing.
And it’s great.
There’s more drama outside the show than in. Quinn is sleeping with the sleazy (is there any other kind?) network exec, Chet. Rachel’s caught in a love square with her ex, cameraman Jeremy, his fiancee and—in a predictable yet inviting twist—the show’s “suitor,” Adam. But mixing that typical fluff with the grittiness of their jobs makes everything richer.
Sure, shows like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead market that same grittiness. But UnREAL is all the more gritty because it’s not either of those shows. It doesn’t need gun fights or a gore-fest to be dirty. Rachel, in UnREAL, is arguably ten times more menacing than Walter White or a flesh-eating zombie. Next to the airbrushed beauty of the Everlasting contestants, she lurks in the shadows with her dark, unwashed clothing, ratty hair and sleepless face. She whispers cunning, provoking remarks with frightening ease. She even writes a fake suicide note, for god’s sake!
But we root for her anyway. Because even though she’s conniving, she’s incredibly smart. It’s hard not to be impressed by her solutions to the many problems the show, and Quinn, throw at her. And more importantly, she doesn’t want to be this conniving. She misses the love shared between her and Jeremy. She appreciates the friendship she has with Adam. And she knows when to draw the line, even if she crosses it anyway.
UnREAL might sound like it’s not worth your time (hello, it’s on the Lifetime network). But I assure you, it’s clever, funny, and at times, suspenseful. Most importantly, it’s darker than you could ever imagine—for the “right reasons” of course.
