The First Reviews Of 'Insatiable' Are Here And They Are SCATHING

9 August 2018, 16:55

By Katie Louise Smith

It doesn't have a SINGLE good review - yet.

Netflix's new dark-comedy Insatiable is here - and so are the absolutely devastating reviews.

Insatiable, which was apparently meant to be a modern take on the darker side of teenage life, stars Debby Ryan as Fatty Patty, an overweight girl who winds up thin and "beautiful" after spending three months with her jaw wired shut. The show aimed to tackle fat-shaming through satire but was immediately called out for perpetuating toxic body image stereotypes once the trailer dropped.

In fact, just days after the official trailer for the show dropped to intense backlash, a petition was set up urging Netflix to cancel the show entirely, claiming that its fat-shaming would do more harm than good. (At time of writing, that petition now has almost 230,000 signatures.)

Maybe the trailer was just poorly edited and sold the wrong message? Maybe we need to watch the whole thing to see the bigger picture? Maybe it's not THAT bad? Well, the reviews are in and um, it unfortunately does appear to be THAT bad.

Without further ado, here is what some of the critics are saying about the show. SPOILER ALERT: It's not great. It's not great at all.

Vulture

"Well, I’ve seen all twelve — twelve, I tell you, twelve! — episodes of Insatiable, and it turns out the show is not as bad as you imagined. It’s actually worse. Like, worse in ways that you can’t even anticipate."

"Take episode one, which is easily the worst episode of TV I’ve seen all year."

Variety's Jen Chaney writes that the show is jam packed with all the problematic stereotypes you could possibly imagine and even throws in homophobic, rape and pedophilia jokes on top of the already offensive fat-shaming subject matter.

Variety

"But after watching all 12 episodes of “Insatiable’s” debut season, I can safely and confidently report that the show is much weirder than advertised — and, in many instances, much worse." - Caroline Framke.

Business Insider

“I don’t know who ‘Insatiable’ was made for, but it was certainly not me. After watching six episodes (of a 12-episode season) that all exceeded an agonising 46 minutes, I felt awful and gave up.” - Carrie Wittmer

BuzzFeed

“I crave stories that show fat people living their best lives, being happy, and most of all, being treated with respect and dignity. Like the hole in Patty’s soul, it’s a gaping void that can’t be filled. Not least because I keep being served hollow, harmful, and hateful shows like ‘Insatiable’.”

BuzzFeed's Jenna Guillaume also included some of the more questionable lines of dialogue that the show contains including: “It gets better. Skinny is magic”; “I knew skinny was magic...the new Patty was more powerful, but with much smaller boobs” and “I’m thinner, but I still need to lose like 100 pounds before I’ll get in a bikini.”

The Guardian

“In reality, ‘Insatiable’ isn’t skewering the ridiculous expectations placed on teen girls; it’s merely reiterating them. It doesn’t provide a sensitive and humorous reflection on the experience of binge eating disorder; it’s placing Debby Ryan in a fat suit for cheap laughs.” - Arielle Bernstein

The Guardian's Arielle Bernstein also points out that the show is also irresponsible in its portrayal of eating disorders: “One of the more offensive aspects of the series is that fatness itself is synonymous with disordered eating.”

The Daily Beast

"Having watched the first six episodes of Insatiable, we can say that the way it portrays body image is more nuanced that what the trailer suggests. But more nuanced certainly doesn’t mean good, or even valuable. Insatiable is a harsh example of the best intentions yielding the worst results." - Kevin Fallon

The Hollywood Reporter

"Insatiable is trite, way over the top (even for a series that appears to be trying to go there for comedic effect), unfunny and, running at 40-plus minutes per episode, a bloated mess that's labor-intensive to get through." - Tim Goodman

Vox

"Watch it before you pass judgment, people advised. I have now watched every episode of Insatiable, and I can tell you whatever you might be imagining from the trailer is nothing. The reality is much, much worse."

Vox's Constance Grady gave the show a one out of five. And that's that on that.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, show creator Lauren Gussis addressed the criticism of the show but urged audiences to give it a chance anyway. “I think that once people see the show, they will understand how deeply I understand all of the things they’re actually upset about,” she said.

Well, we know what the critics think of the show now... so we guess we'll just have to wait and see how the the internet reacts to the series as a whole. Something tells us it's not going to be good. It's not going to be good at ALL.

Insatiable drops on Netflix on August 10th.