I May Destroy You: It Just Came Up

July 7, 2020 7:22 AM - Season 1, Episode 5

Arabella reassesses a sexual encounter with Zain and opens up to Biagio about her assault. She is in danger of breaking the internet when she goes off script at a writing summit. Kwame is prompted to report his assault to the police.

AV Club recap
Vulture recap

posted by gladly (2 comments total)

It's tough, this episode, to see Bella start building strength (literally, those yoga poses!) and watch Kwame's attempt to report his own sexual assault. The agent/publisher meeting was such a great start to see Arabella's recognize what happened to her and show us that she couldn't let him get away with it.

I so admire writers who embrace their characters' online-ness in their shows. The texting, the diegetic music, and the heart at the end, were so perfect to let the audience see what Arabella got from posting her summit speech.

Poor Kwame though. He didn't get his own rape busters.
posted by gladly at 6:04 AM on July 10, 2020 [4 favorites]

In the AV Club recap, they mention how the scene from learning subtext about Zain from Sion to Bella calling him out onstage seems rushed. I, too, wondered if there was an off-screen agreement with Terry to not go on, or if it truly was stage-fright and then Bella made a split-second decision now that she had the podium.
posted by knownassociate at 6:50 AM on August 30, 2020