In the Dark: Pilot

April 4, 2019 7:38 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

Murphy is a hard-living, hard-drinking, blind, disaffected twenty-something with a penchant for cigarettes and casual sex. (CW broadcast)

TV Line - The CW's In the Dark: Grade It!

Collider - Perry Mattfeld on ‘In the Dark’ & the Challenges of Bringing Her Complex Character to Life

TV Fanatic Review: Grounded in Reality, In The Dark is a Love Child of Past Network Favorites

Variety Review: ‘In the Dark’ on the CW - The new drama about a blind woman seeking justice through hangovers struggles to find itself.

posted by oh yeah! (6 comments total)

It's worth pointing out the actress playing the main character is sighted. "We went about searching for a blind actor immediately, and looked all over,” Nicky Weinstock, an executive producer, said about the casting search, adding they went to 29 different organizations for the blind hoping to find the show’s lead. “We saw many, many auditions, and ultimately we went with Perry because she was the best actor for the role in a really exciting way. Weinstock explained that part of the reason they loved Mattfield for the role was her commitment to accurately portraying a blind person." :|
posted by colorblock sock at 8:21 PM on April 4, 2019

That's shit. We should have moved beyond this in 2019.
posted by smoke at 9:14 PM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm not surprised that they went with charismatic sighted actress over any blind one. That said, they should know they'll get shit for it.

I plan on watching the show later, but am out of time this a.m. so will report in later.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:59 AM on April 5, 2019

Yeah, I roll my eyes at the idea that they couldn’t find a blind actress capable of playing the role - if The OA could find Ian Alexander when they needed a teen Asian trans actor, there’s surely a blind woman out there who could be Murphy. And I found Mattfeld’s looks kinda distracting - her “I just woke up this way” hair & makeup, I mean. (I think in one of the interview links she says something about not wearing makeup, but, come on, am I supposed to pretend I’m blind?)

And I’m leery of if the murder subplot means that all the black character aside from Murphy’s adoptive father are going to be gang members.

But I do admit to finding the episode very watchable otherwise, and I’ll probably keep with it for a bit (though I don’t plan on doing weekly threads).
posted by oh yeah! at 7:44 AM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I do find the actress playing Murphy to be compelling to watch somehow. I can't explain it. She's hot and a mess and a hot mess (damn, that screwing-the-married-guy scene) but you feel for her. And the scene where she finally hugs her dog, aww.

I wonder how much of all of this is her PTSD from being mugged and beaten two years ago, if she was more together before that or not.

I will keep watching.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:51 PM on April 5, 2019

I got over the lead actor not actually being blind as a person, and got really hooked on this.

It gets absurd and contrived by season 3, but the bad decisions rubbernecking (as a anti-corollary of 'competence porn' - mostly) kept me glued in.

Grittier and more sympathetic to me than 'Good Girls,' which follows a similar arc of being sucked into criminality and trying to get back out.

I found it interesting that Murphy (almost?) never says thank you, whereas most everyone else does.
posted by porpoise at 8:27 PM on July 11, 2022 [2 favorites]