I may destroy you

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Television series
Original title I may destroy you
Country of production United Kingdom , United States
original language English
year 2020
Production
company		 FALKNA Productions,
Various Artists
length 28-35 minutes
Episodes 12 in 1 season ( list )
genre drama
Director Michaela Coel,
Sam Miller
idea Michaela Coel
script Michaela Coel
production Simon Maloney (1-6),
Simon Meyers (7-12)
First broadcast June 7 (USA); June 8 (UK) on HBO ; BBC One
occupation

I May Destroy You (English for I may / might destroy you ) is a drama - television series on sexual violence by and starring Michaela Coel . The British - American co-production premiered on June 7th on HBO and on June 8th on BBC One .

action

The author Arabella has become the voice of her generation ( millennials ) through a text about sexual self-determination of young women and has received a literary agent. Problems in completing her second book mean that she wants to spend one night working on the first draft, but a friend persuades her to go out to a nightclub, where she is drugged with knockout drops and raped, which she herself did after a film tear becomes conscious only late afterwards. She goes to the police and tries to process her experience in various ways, including through a self-help group. Meanwhile, she has another experience of sexual abuse through stealthing, and her boyfriend Kwame is also a victim of rape.

Episode list

No. German title Original title First broadcast in US / UK German language first broadcast (D)
1 - Eyes, eyes, eyes June 7, 2020 (HBO)
June 8, 2020 (BBC One)		 -
Arabella returns from Italy and is faced with a deadline for her new book. Because of writer's block, she instead goes to a bar with friends, where she gets drunk. For her, the night ends with a film tear, she only remembers the picture of a strange man in the toilet.
2 - Someone is lying June 9, 2020 (BBC One)
June 14, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Arabella tries to reconstruct what happened during the night with Simon's help and meets Simon's lover Alissa, who was there that night and tells her that she thinks her drink is knocked out was offset. Finally, Arabella reports to the police what happened, but plays it down by saying she is not sure and that the image of the man in her head is not a memory.
3 - Don't Forget the Sea June 15, 2020 (BBC One)
June 22, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Three months before: Arabella's friend Terry visits her in Italy. There you get to know the drug dealer Biagio. When they go out to party in a club, Terry manages to tow two seemingly strangers to each other for a threesome . Drunk Arabella is brought home by Biagio and wants to have sex with him while she is on her period .
4th - That Was Fun June 16, 2020 (BBC One)
June 29, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Arabella speaks to a therapist she has been paid by the publisher and meets with her colleague Zain, who is supposed to help her finish her draft. When they have sex, he removes the condom without her knowledge ( stealthing ), which he tells her afterwards.

Kwame arranges a sex date with a third party for himself and a friend Damon through Grindr . In his apartment, Damon only watches as Kwame pleases the third person orally , and then leaves. Wants to go and Kwame, the third party pushes him back on the bed and penetrated him against his will anal .

5 - ... It just came up June 22, 2020 (BBC One)
July 6, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Only when Arabella listens to a podcast the next morning that discusses stealthing does she question Zain's behavior. The police notify her that sperm was found in the samples they had taken, and she is supposed to tell Biagio about the abuse, as his DNA is needed for comparison because she had sex with him. One policewoman named her stealthing as an example of another form of rape. At the publishing house, she meets the boss Susy Henny and tells her that she was raped to explain why she is lagging behind with her new book. When she tells Biagio that her drink was knocked out with drugs, he blames her for why she left the drink unattended. Kwame reports what happened to him to the police, but hears that there is no point in taking a DNA sample as he also had sex with the man he agreed to. Instead, at a publisher's authors' summit, where Arabella is supposed to read an excerpt from her work, she gives a speech about what Zain has done and calls him a rapist. While he is about to leave the room, he is filmed on several cell phones and confronted by Terry. Her video goes viral and Arabella is hailed as a heroine,
6th - The Alliance June 23, 2020 (BBC One)
July 13, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Arabella joins a self-help group for abused women run by Theo, a former classmate.

2004: Theo has sex with her boyfriend Ryan at school and he takes pictures of them. When she refuses, he gives her money to take photos. In the toilet, however, she injures herself with a knife and then claims in class that Ryan threatened her with a knife and forced her to have sex. The principal calls the police and holds Ryan in his office. Through the photos Ryan sent his friend Marcus, Arabella and Terry can prove to the principal that Theo's story is wrong. Ryan is allowed to leave and Theo is suspended.

7th - Happy Animals June 29, 2020 (BBC One)
July 20, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Arabella starts a job at the vegan grocery delivery company Happy Animals , where Theo also works, and is filmed as an influencer for promotional videos. For Terry's birthday, Arabella gives a party to which Theo also appears, which Terry dislikes. Her friends explain to Arabella that she is being exploited with the promotional videos. Kwame meets Jamal there, who shows interest in him, but when Arabella locks her in a room, Kwame is overwhelmed, whereupon he finally reveals to Terry what happened to him.
8th - Line spectrum border June 30, 2020 (BBC One)
July 27, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Nine months after her first testimony, Arabella learned from the police that because the samples from Biagio and the sole suspect did not match the sperm sample found, the investigation would be closed. To escape the confrontation with the new situation, she flies to Italy to see Biagio, who locks her out so that she spends the night on the beach.

Because he has the feeling that he can no longer sleep with men, Kwame wants to try sleeping with a woman. He meets up with a friend on a date and then goes to her home where they have sex. When she later made derogatory comments about gays, he reveals that he is gay, which is why she throws him out.

9 - Social Media Is a Great Way to Connect July 5, 2020 (BBC One)
August 3, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Arabella is spending more and more time connecting with her fans on social media, hearing her stories and sharing her lives. At a Halloween party, Kwame shares with Arabella and Terry how his date with the woman went and that he was feeling uncomfortable. While Terry stands by him about the homophobic sayings, Arabella criticizes him for not telling the woman that he is gay before sex and judges that he is not the victim. Terry then accuses Arabella that it was just as problematic when she locked Kwame in a room with Jamal on Terry's birthday. On the advice of her therapist, Arabella deletes all of her social media accounts and turns to the belongings that the police took with them for the investigation and returned to her after the investigation.
10 - The cause the cure July 6, 2020 (BBC One)
August 10, 2020 (HBO)		 -
On the birthday of Arabella's mother, her father arrives too late and through a story brings up a childhood memory in Arabella of how she caught her mother's friend in his father's house as the lover. Finally, Arabella tells her mother what happened to her. Terry has an audition and Kwame arranges a meeting through Grindr, but the other doesn't want sex and all they have to do is hug.
11 - Would you like the sex? July 12, 2020 (BBC One)
August 17, 2020 (HBO)		 -
Terry starts a trans man to data. After a conversation with Susy Henny, during which Arabella cannot show any progress on her book, the publisher ends the collaboration and Arabella has to make repayments. She wants to meet the author of a new book by the publisher called Della, but Zain, who published under the pseudonym Della, appears at the meeting point. He helps her to structure her story. At the bar, Arabella sees the man from her memory and remembers how the rape ended.
12 - Ego death July 13, 2020 (BBC One)
August 24, 2020 (HBO)		 -
This episode shows three possible scenarios of how Arabella reacts to her rapist. First, she and Terry and Theo come up with a plan to get back at him. He manipulates Arabella's drink again (which she doesn't drink from) and takes her to the toilet, where Arabella confronts him and Theo injects him with his anesthetic himself. He runs away and passes out in an alley where Arabella beats him bloody. She takes the unconscious body with her and puts it under her bed. In the second scenario, they execute a plan from Terry. Arabella lets him take her to the toilet while pretending to be dazed. When she confronts him, he has a nervous breakdown and she takes him home, which is why the police that Terry called cannot find her in the bar. The police also show up at Arabella's home and take him into custody. In the third scenario, Arabella flirts with him and they have sex at her home.

Later, Arabella independently published her book Jan 22nd (after the date of the rape).

occupation

role description actor
Arabella Essiedu Author Michaela Coel ,
Danielle Vitalis (young)
Terry Pratchard Actress, Arabella's girlfriend Weruche Opia ,
Lauren-Joy Williams (young)
Kwame Acheamong gay dancer, Arabella's friend Paapa Essiedu
Biagio Drug dealers, Arabella's vacation romance Marouane Zotti
Ben Arabella's roommate Stephen Wight
Simon Arabella's friend Aml Ameen
Cat Simon's fiancée Lara Rossi
Alissa Simon's affair Ann Akin
David Man in Arabella's memory Lewis Reeves
Funmi policewoman Sarah Niles
Beth policewoman Mariah Gale
Julian Arabellas publisher Adam James
Demon Kwame's friend Fehinti Balogun
Zain Fellow author Karan Gill
Susy Henny Publishing Director Franc Ashman
Theodora Self-help group leader Harriet Webb ,
Gaby French (young)

background

Emergence

In August 2018 Michaela Coel held, the creator of the series Chewing Gum , the MacTaggart Lecture called keynote speech at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, revealing that she in a night in which on the script for the second season of Chewing Gum had written who had been sexually abused. On the same day, the BBC announced the order for a new series from Coel, with the working title Jan 22nd , exploring the subject of sexual consent today. In October 2019 it was announced that the series will be co-produced by HBO .

In the spring of 2017, Coel had turned down Netflix's offer of over 1 million dollars to create and lead her own series, while all ownership rights should be with the streaming service, and found new partners for the project after founding her own production company FALKNA Productions in the BBC and HBO . She also teamed up with Phil Clarke of Various Artists Limited, who was Head of Comedy on Channel 4 when she developed Chewing Gum . She wrote all twelve episodes at the same time, which took about a year and a half. Coel calls the series, in which her character is sexually abused after being stunned by knockout drops , "definitely not completely fictional" based on her own experience. While filming, Coel worked with Intimacy Coordinator Ita O'Brien and tested all sex scenes, including those in which her role was not involved, to create a safe environment for the actors. The series does not contain an original score , but only commercial songs, which were selected by music supervisor Ciara Elwis with Coel.

publication

On April 24, 2020 it was announced with a first trailer that the series would be called I May Destroy You . It premiered on June 7, 2020 on HBO and on June 8 in the UK on BBC One . Coel had decided in opposition to binge watching that it should not be published in one piece on the BBC iPlayer.

A second trailer was released on May 26th. On June 4, HBO launched a digital campaign called Gathering the Pieces on Instagram with live interviews on aspects of the series. Jackie Gagne, vice president of multicultural marketing at HBO, said, “As the show developed, we wanted to give our community the space and tools to take apart what they see as the show progresses, in case they hit one resonates in a personal way. "

reception

Flora Carr for RadioTimes awards four out of five stars after viewing the first four episodes and calls the series a biting and courageous look at the concept of consent. She predicts that many scenarios will be familiar and personal to viewers, and that critics will praise Coel for her courage and openness to approach her very personal story.

Judy Berman for Time writes that the series is ultimately not about Arabella's search for the truth, what happens to her, but that she understands how we carry our entire self-constructed narrative about ourselves with us, in which we put our prejudices, decision-making rules and misunderstandings put in until we are forced to confront them.

Andrew Crump for The Playlist awards the grade A-. He says Coel dresses the innate darkness of her subject in dry British humor and, where possible, in color. She herself is flexible and bendable, a gripping screen presence and an equally sharp storyteller: "The beauty of her work will captivate you, her portrait of the devastation caused by the aftermath of sexual abuse could destroy you."

For Allison Keene of Paste , who awards 8.5 out of 10 points, there are few series as difficult and important as this one. It is thought-provoking work that should make us rethink our own relationship with trauma experienced by ourselves or others, as well as the new cultural awakening to the many different types of sexual abuse.

Mike Hale of the New York Times finds the series touching and calmly hilarious. "Coel gets away with things that would be too risky for other writer-directors, and she does it consistently. Scenes that would normally be violent have weird, almost subterranean humoristic edges, without turning into overt satire." It is impossible to turn away from Coel.

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan awards five stars and thinks the series could be the best drama series of the year. It works on every level and succeeds according to every standard that is used. It is an extraordinary, breathtaking achievement without a wrong note.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ben Dowell: Michaela Coel reveals she was sexually assaulted while writing TV show . In: RadioTimes . August 22, 2018. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  2. ↑ Ben Dowell: Michaela Coel to explore sexual consent in modern relationships in BBC2 drama series . In: RadioTimes . August 22, 2018. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  3. ↑ Peter White: HBO To Co-Produce Michaela Coel Drama 'January 22nd' As Series Casts Rising British Stars . In: Deadline . October 23, 2019. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  4. ↑ Zack Sharf: Michaela Coel Turned Down Netflix's $ 1 Million Offer for 'I May Destroy You' Over Ownership . In: IndieWire . July 6, 2020. Accessed July 8, 2020.
  5. ↑ Kimberly Bond: Why Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You is your next much-watch show . In: Evening Standard . June 2, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  6. ↑ a b Flora Carr: Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You is a biting and brave look at consent . In: RadioTimes . June 2, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  7. ↑ Flora Carr: I May Destroy You cast say a “safe” environment was crucial for sex scenes . In: RadioTimes . June 2, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  8. ^ Reggie Ugwu: How 'I May Destroy You' Got Its Stunning Soundtrack . In: The New York Times . July 15, 2020. Accessed July 21, 2020.
  9. ↑ Kristen Lopez: 'I May Destroy You' Trailer: HBO Drops an Intense First Look at Michaela Coel's New Series . In: IndieWire . April 24, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  10. ↑ Peter White: 'I May Destroy You': HBO Sets Premiere For Michaela Coel Sexual Consent Drama . In: Deadline . May 8, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  11. ↑ Desiree Ibekwe: Michaela Coel: “TV is unforgiving - but I'm built for this” . In: Screendaily . June 3, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  12. ↑ Tambay Obenson: 'I May Destroy You' Trailer: Michaela Coel's New HBO Series Promises to Be Bold and Provocative . In: IndieWire . May 26, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  13. ↑ Angelique Jackson: HBO Launches 'Gathering the Pieces' Digital Campaign to Support Michaela Coel's 'I May Destroy You' (EXCLUSIVE) . In: Variety . May 28, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  14. ^ Judy Berman: HBO's I May Destroy You is an explosive portrait of a life disrupted by sexual assault . In: Time . May 30, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  15. ↑ Andrew Crump, 'I May Destroy You': A Superb Twist On Millennial Slackerdom [Review ] . In: The Playlist . May 30, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  16. ↑ Allison Keene: HBO's I May Destroy You Is a Challenging Odyssey Through Modern Dating and Sexual Consent . In: paste . June 4, 2020. Accessed June 4, 2020.
  17. ↑ Mike Hale: Review: Michaela Coel Is Riveting in 'I May Destroy You' . In: The New York Times . June 4, 2020. Accessed June 5, 2020.
  18. ↑ Lucy Mangan: I May Destroy You review - could this be the best drama of the year? . In: The Guardian . June 8, 2020. Accessed in 2020-0616.