The Politician

Television series
German title	The Politician
Original title	The Politician
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Year (s)	since 2019
Production company	Prospect Films, Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Television, Fox 21 Television Studios
length	28-62 minutes
Episodes	15 in 2 seasons ( list )
genre	Dramedy
Theme music	Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
idea	Ryan Murphy , Brad Falchuk , Ian Brennan
production	Kenneth Silverstein, Todd Nenninger, Lou Eyrich, Eryn Krueger Mekash
music	Mac Quayle
Initial release	September 27, 2019 on Netflix
First publication in German	September 27, 2019 on Netflix
occupation
synchronization

The Politician is an American television series that premiered on September 27, 2019 on the video-on-demand provider Netflix . It was created by Ryan Murphy , Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan , who worked together on the series Glee and Scream Queens . It is about Payton Hobart, a student who is aiming for a political career and wants to become US president, which is why he is applying for the office of student representative in the first season to gain initial experience in politics.

The second season, the shooting of which started in November 2019, was released on June 19, 2020. According to Ryan Murphy, a third and final season is also planned, but this will probably only be produced in a few years, when the main actor Ben Platt is a little older. in order to be able to credibly represent a potential candidate for the office of president .

action

Payton Hobart comes from a wealthy adoptive family. He lives in Santa Barbara with his parents Keaton and Georgina and his brothers Martin and Luther . He is one of the best students at Saint Sebastian High School and wants to be the student representative there in his final year of school , as he wants to prepare for the office of US President that he would like to hold later. As a running mate , i.e. deputy, he chooses the somewhat naive Infinity Jackson.

Payton struggles mainly with Astrid Sloan, his colleague, and Infinity's grandmother Dusty. Both want to prevent Payton from winning the election at all costs, the latter not shrinking from the use of force. In addition, Payton's colleague and former lover River Barkley takes his own life in the first episode, which Payton hits hard. Ricardo, Infinity's friend, doesn't like her commitment to Payton, which is why he seeks Payton's life.

Payton is also confronted with problems in his private life: his adoptive brothers Martin and Luther and his adoptive father Keaton don't like him very much. The former constantly harass him, while the latter makes no secret of the fact that he prefers his biological sons to Payton. His adoptive mother Georgina loves Payton dearly for it, but her marriage is strained by the many affairs Georgina has with both men and women.

characters

• Payton Hobart is the protagonist of the series. In his senior year of high school, with an aspiration for president of the United States from a very early age, he plans to get his first political experience by running for the office of student representative. He is highly intelligent and has one of the best grade averages in the school with a GPA of 4.3. He is extremely ambitious, but actually only wants confirmation that he doesn't get at home. His adoptive brothers Martin and Luther constantly annoy him with the fact that he has been adopted, his adoptive father Keaton is also not particularly fond of him, only his adoptive mother Georgina loves Payton and gives him affection, which is why Payton does not make any efforts to find his biological mother do. At the beginning of the series, his rival and former lover River Barkley committed suicide , to which Payton was completely dismayed. Payton may be cunning and pragmatic in his campaign, but he would never cheat in order to achieve his goal. Although Payton often acts without regard to the feelings of others, he is actually kind-hearted, sometimes fears that his ambition will turn bad, and can show remorse for his actions. When his rival Astrid Sloan withdraws from the election campaign, Payton automatically becomes the student representative. Later, some questionable methods become public in his campaign, damaging his reputation so badly that he is forced to resign. He also sustains a gunshot wound from an air rifle and falls into a coma due to sepsis , where he dreams of River. Keaton disinherits him and Georgina, and he also loses his place at Harvard University . For this reason he moves to New York alone and without money , where he becomes addicted to alcohol . After three years he meets his old companions who rebuild him, which is why he decides to run for the New York Senate . Payton also has a penchant for chess , which he plays both in Santa Barbara and in Central Park during his time in New York .
• Infinity Jackson grew up with her grandmother Dusty because her mother died when she was little, nothing is known about her father's whereabouts except for the fact that he and her mother were still teenagers when Infinity was born. Infinity claims to have cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy . However, she is not sick at all, but is poisoned by Dusty with medication. This or their isolation by their grandmother seem to have impaired their mental development, as Infinity is quite naive and childish for their age. Dusty claims that she has the intelligence quotient of a five-year-old, and Infinity also wants to live in Paris to see the rats from Ratatouille in her restaurant. When Infinity finds out that Dusty is probably responsible for her mother's death, she blackmailed her with her suspicion, so that she is forced to finally let Infinity lead a self-determined life. Infinity is energetic, a little weird and, unlike many of her classmates, nice and friendly, but can also be manipulative when necessary. She also lisps a little and has a rather weak voice. In addition to Ricardo, Infinity has another admirer, her classmate Andrew Cashman . He suffers from infantile cerebral palsy , constantly consumes marijuana and, with the exception of Infinity, expresses himself disparagingly to everyone around him. Like Ricardo, he is obsessed with Infinity and tells the headmistress that Infinity is not really sick, but that he is not believed, which is why he is detained .
• Astrid Sloan is initially River's girlfriend. When he dies, she runs for the office of student representative in order to preserve the memory of him. It was she who got him to apply to be a student representative. She does not shy away from manipulative and devious methods to make the choice for herself. For example, she proclaims at school that Payton (whom she called a fagot in second grade ) is homosexual , but this is neither true nor does it have the desired effect . However, the choice becomes less and less important to her as the season progresses, as she is not doing very well at home. Although she comes from a wealthy family, she feels lonely because she has hardly any friends. She also hates her parents Theo and LisBeth , who don't have a good relationship with each other. She criticizes her father for his superficiality, extremely high expectations and contempt for her, but that leaves him indifferent. She fled to New York for a few days with Infinity's friend Ricardo, but was brought back home. LisBeth, who is a drug addict and used to be an escort lady , criticizes Astrid for her disappearance and is not interested in her feelings. Astrid finally reports Theo to the FBI for fraud , he praises her for what she leaves behind ashamed. At the end of the season she goes back to New York and supports her former competitor Payton in his campaign for the New York City Senate.
• Keaton Hobart knows about Georgina's many affairs and the fact that she doesn't actually love him at all. Even though their marriage is bad, he wants her to at least pretend their relationship is happy. When Georgina finally wants a divorce, he jumps out of the window in despair, but survives. He threatens Georgina to disinherit her and Payton if she has another affair or breaks up with him. Keaton does not have a particularly high opinion of Payton and openly favors his sons Martin and Luther until they try to suffocate him while he is in the hospital to become the sole heir to his estate.
• River Barkley is initially Payton's only competitor in the election for the student representative. He also teaches Payton in Mandarin , he speaks the language as he lived in China until he was ten . He also once had a sexual relationship with Payton and is now with Astrid. In the first episode he shoots himself in front of Payton's eyes, especially since he wanted to kill himself the previous year. River's death hits Payton hard, he often remembers him in flashbacks . River's spirit also appears to him in dreams and functions as his conscience by stimulating him to act morally and conscientiously. When Payton is in a coma and dreams of River, the latter tells him that he was often depressed and that he had experienced more bad than good in his life, although it is not clear whether depression was actually the cause of Rivers suicide.
• Alice Charles is Payton's girlfriend. She is often quite emotionless, which benefits her when she has to take a polygraph test and passes it because she does not feel any nervousness or restlessness. Although she is usually cool and aloof, she can sometimes show her open and warm-hearted side. During the election, she publicly claims she is having an affair so that Payton can gain the sympathy of his classmates. Little does he know, however, that Alice has actually had an affair with Astrid's father Theo for several months. She finally separates from Payton when, after three years, she stands in front of the altar and learns that Payton is running for the New York City Senate, she leaves her fiancé to stand by Payton.
• McAfee Westbrook is a member of Payton's campaign team. She continues to support him unconditionally even after James and Alice have already realized that his visions will probably never be realized. She is polite and helpful in relation to the other members in Payton's campaign, for example she addresses the Haitian exchange student Pierre Toussaint , whose vote could be decisive for the election, by his first name in contrast to her colleague James Sullivan. McAfee is mostly more passive and like her classmate Skye Leighton often makes scornful remarks to others. She has an affair with Skye, but McAfee's sexuality is ambiguous. When she learns that Skye wanted to kill Payton, she is shocked and rejects Skye's offer to become Vice-President under Astrid and instead reports her to the police. Like James, she is also very intelligent and goes to Columbia University after graduating , where she receives a double degree in political science after just three years .
• James Sullivan is also a member of Payton's campaign team. In contrast to McAfee, however, he does not blindly support Payton and does not shy away from criticizing him heavily. For example, he suspects early on that Infinity is not really cancerous and ventures his anger when Payton's popularity ratings suffer when the truth emerges. He also often makes fun of Payton when he once instructs him because he didn't come ten minutes earlier than planned, as usual, James counters that he will put in a catheter so that he no longer has to go to the toilet. James is also very open and extremely rude towards his classmates, whom he mostly dismisses as unimportant. Like Payton and McAfee, James is also above average intelligent, allegedly leaving the team after Payton finds out he is having an affair with Alice, but this is just an elaborate plan to weaken Astrid's campaign. James is transgeschlechtlich and frequently is considered gay because his clothing and speech gay - stereotypes match, but he is heterosexual . When Payton has to resign, James refuses to support him, but becomes his roommate in New York three years later.
• Skye Leighton is Rivers first, Astrid's running mate after his death. Skye identifies as non-binary , but is regularly addressed by classmates with feminine pronouns, which she doesn't seem to mind. Skye does not shy away from expressing her opinion to others very directly, especially towards Astrid she expresses herself bluntly and derisively. The well-being of marginalized groups at school is important to her, which is why she is only involved in Astrid's election campaign. Skye doesn't like Payton very much and calls him a sociopath . When Astrid goes to New York and loses valuable time on her campaign, Syke leaves her team and supports Payton's election campaign. She later tries to murder him with rat poison , is convicted, but receives a rather short prison sentence of several months. When Skye travels to New York after three years because of her guilty conscience to rebuild Payton, he seems pleased with her mild punishment, takes her back into his campaign team and even befriends her properly. Skye has a thing for the musical Guys and Dolls by Frank Loesser . She is lesbian and more masculine in appearance and appearance, which is why she corresponds to the typical image of a butch .
• Ricardo loves his girlfriend Infinity more than anything and is downright obsessed with her. He is extremely jealous of Payton as a result of the fact that he and Infinity spend a lot of time together because of their election campaign. That's why Infinity's grandmother Dusty has an easy job when she tries to convince Ricardo to kill Payton. Ricardo is not very intelligent and sometimes childish and immature, which is why he cannot think of a suitable plan at first. When he learns that Infinity wants to play in the musical Assassins , he also wants to audition for a role, although his acting and singing talents are limited. For his role he studies the Iliad , which is in no way related to the musical , and through Philoctetes ' death he comes up with the idea of ​​shooting Payton. This fails, but Ricardo is not suspected until he tells Infinity of his act. When Astrid goes to New York for a few days, Ricardo follows her, where the two sleep together several times.
• Dusty Jackson is Infinity's grandmother and legal guardian. Originally from West Virginia , she looks nice, if a little old-fashioned. However, in reality, Dusty is rude, selfish, and elitist . She also suffers from Munchausen Syndrome . Since she has complete control over Infinity and also wants to show her fake care for her supposedly ill granddaughter, she administers various drugs to her. She reports the symptoms of poisoning as cancer, for example in the first episode she wants to reserve a table for the two of them in a restaurant. In addition, it is strongly suggested that Dusty Infinity's mother mixed lead scraps of wallpaper into the food, which is why she died of kidney failure because her daughter wanted to break away from her. Dusty is also very homophobic , she says she is of the opinion that gays would do nothing until Halloween and practice anal intercourse . She wants to have Payton murdered, but he survived the attack on his life, which is why Dusty is arrested at the end of the first season.
• Georgina Hobart is Payton's adoptive mother. She married the much older Keaton when she no longer believed in true love, which is why their marriage is not very happy. Georgina's childhood was also not very harmonious, her mother neglected her because she hardly had time for her daughter. Georgina therefore knew so little about her mother that she had to keep asking her nanny about her. Like Payton and River, Georgina is also bisexual and has numerous affairs, including with Brigitte , the family's riding instructor. In addition to Payton, Georgina has two biological children, the twins Martin and Luther. She doesn't really have a good relationship with them because they treat them badly, she calls them sociopaths. Payton loves her all the more and supports him in his campaign as well as he can, even if his ambition scares her at times. When she and Payton are disinherited by Keaton, Georgina Payton does not follow Payton to New York, but sets out on a journey to self-discovery that takes her to a monastery in Bhutan .

production

The idea for the series comes from Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk, who also produce it and actually developed it for Murphy's regular channel FX , but Murphy's contract with it ended before it was broadcast. Both Prime Video and Hulu initially wanted to acquire the series and placed bids for several weeks. Netflix ultimately won the bid, which extended the series for a second season just under a year before it was broadcast.

On February 5, 2018, Netflix announced that Ben Platt would play the lead role and that Barbra Streisand and Gwyneth Paltrow would also get roles on the series. A few months later, Netflix confirmed the cast of several main characters, including Zoey Deutch and Lucy Boynton . In October of the same year, Dylan McDermott was announced. A month later, Barbara Streisand announced in an interview with The New Yorker that she was leaving the series to focus on work on her new album Walls , she was eventually replaced by Jessica Lange , who was already working on Murphy's Series American Horror Story and Feud - The enmity between Bette and Joan contributed. Later that year, McDermott said in an interview with Sirius XM that January Jones would play his wife on the show. In March 2019, Netflix announced that Judith Light and Bette Midler would appear in guest roles on the series.

Most of the shooting took place in Orange County and Los Angeles .

Cast and dubbing

The German-language synchronization of the series is created at VSI Synchron based on a dialogue book and under the dialogue direction of Marianne Groß .

main characters

figure	actor	Voice actor
Payton Hobart	Ben Platt	Jeremias Koschorz
Infinity Jackson	Zoey German	Laura Elßel
Astrid Sloan	Lucy Boynton	Yvonne Greitzke
Keaton Hobart	Bob Balaban	Michael Pan
River Barkley	David Corenswet	Ricardo Richter
Alice Charles	Julia Schlaepfer	Anne Helm
McAfee Westbrook	Laura Dreyfuss	Friederike Walke
James Sullivan	Theo Germaine	Sebastian Fitzner
Skye Leighton	Rahne Jones	Rubina Kuraoka
Ricardo	Benjamin Barrett	Tim Knauer
Dusty Jackson	Jessica Lange	Traudel Haas
Georgina Hobart	Gwyneth Paltrow	Katrin Fröhlich
Dede Standish	Judith Light	Marianne Groß (season 1) Isabella Grothe (from season 2)
Hadassah gold	Bette Midler	Joseline Gassen

Minor characters

figure	actor	Voice actor
Andrew Cashman	Ryan J. Haddad	Konrad Bösherz
Pierre Toussaint	Kobi Kumi diaka
Martin Hobart	Trevor Mahlon Eason	Tim Schwarzmaier
Luther Hobart	Trey Eason	Max fields
Director Vaughn	Natasha Ofili	Eva Thärichen
Kris	BK Cannon	Sarah Riedel
Brigitte	Martina Navratilova	Andrea Aust
Theo Sloan	Dylan McDermott	Peter Flechtner
LisBeth Sloan	January Jones
Sherry Dougal	Jackie Hoffman	Kerstin Sanders-Dornseif
Dr. Brandt	Timothy Landfield	Lutz Riedel

Episode list

season 1

No. ( total )	No. ( St. )	German title	Original title	Director	script
1	1	pilot	pilot	Ryan Murphy	Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
Payton Hobart, a student at Saint Sebastian High School in Santa Barbara, wants to be accepted into Harvard University, so he speaks to a representative from the university about his wish. He mentions wanting to run for the office of student representative as it would increase his chances of becoming president of the United States. The representative is unimpressed and Payton is put on the waiting list. Payton lives in a wealthy family headed by Georgina. During his campaign at the school, Payton is supported by his classmates James Sullivan, McAfee Westbrook and girlfriend Alice Charles, the former acting as his advisors. When he learns that River Barkley, a popular classmate, is also running for office, he is surprised. Payton is friends with River, who teaches him Mandarin, and they once had a brief sexual relationship. Payton confronts him about it, shortly afterwards River commits suicide with a gun in front of Payton, which leaves him traumatized. After his death, River’s girlfriend Astrid Sloan takes on his candidacy and his running mate, the non-binary African American Skye Leighton. Since Astrid gets sympathy for her loss, Payton and Alice split up in front of their classmates, so that Payton's popularity ratings also increase. A little later, Payton hires Infinity Jackson, who is suffering from cancer, as a running mate, but Andrew Cashman, a not very pleasant classmate, tells him that Infinity is not really sick, which Payton would not believe.
2	2	The Harrington chest of drawers	The Harrington Commode	Brad Falchuk	Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
Georgina confesses to her husband Keaton that she is in love with her riding instructor Brigitte and that she wants a divorce. Keaton throws himself out of the window, but survives and is put into an artificial coma in the hospital. His biological sons Martin and Luther want to use a clause in his marriage contract to become sole heirs of his property. Payton finds out about this by chance and plans to catch them red-handed with his adoptive father, who has woken up again. Martin and Luther want to stifle Keaton, which Keaton thwarts and removes them from his will. Meanwhile, at a suggestion from McAfee, Payton is organizing a blood drive. This gives him Infinity's blood, which shows that Andrew was telling the truth. It turns out that Infinity is deliberately made sick by her grandmother Dusty.
3	3	October Surprise	October Surprise	Janet Mock	Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
Payton meets again with Harvard officials, who explain that if he donates a million dollar donation to the university for a new faculty, he will be removed from the waiting list. Payton replies confidently that he doesn't need Harvard, which is why the perplexed representatives give him an unconditional study place. He is happy to tell Alice about it, but catches her red-handed with James. However, it turns out that this is just a ruse, as James makes Astrid and Skye ridiculous with the alleged affair at an election event. Shortly thereafter, Astrid receives a videotape from Infinity's possessive friend Ricardo that Payton is supposed to make bad. This shows how Infinity describes a homosexual reporter as an "assfucker". Upon release, Payton throws Infinity off his team. This separates from Ricardo, whereupon he breaks into Astrid and apparently kidnaps her.
4th	4th	Gone Girl - The perfect victim	Gone girl	Helen Hunt	Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
Payton tells Infinity that her grandmother is likely to be responsible for her poor health. Infinity confronts Dusty with her suspicions over dinner, which leads to an argument between the two. Infinity finally leaves the dining room angry, which the domineering Dusty extremely displeases. The next day the whole school was talking about Astrid's kidnapping, but the audience learns that Astrid only ran away from her parents' house and persuaded Ricardo to come with her. Payton is interrogated by the police as he is suspected of having something to do with Astrid's abduction or even murdering her. He is allowed to leave when Georgina and Keaton appear and bribe the officer. A little later Astrid returns home and explains to her angry mother LisBeth that she only wanted to escape from her everyday life once, but LisBeth reacts with incomprehension and scolds her. Meanwhile, Skye becomes increasingly dissatisfied with Astrid's campaign, which is why she wants to join Payton's team. McAfee later visits her home and has sex with her.
5	5	The voter	The Voter	Ian Brennan	Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
On election day, Payton and Astrid's teams give everything they can to win over indecisive students, whom they have identified using an algorithm , for their candidate. One of these students, Elliot Beachman, is indifferent to the choice itself. He watches schoolgirls after he is approached by a member of Astrid's team, slaps James in the face when he is annoyed by the latter, and prefers to occupy himself with his e-cigarette during the last debate . At this Skye is officially declared Payton's new running mate, whom Astrid sharply criticizes. Astrid then declares the Haitian student Pierre Toussaint to be her running mate when Infinity and Ricardo enter the room, the latter announces that Payton had used her illness for his own purposes and that Astrid slept with Ricardo during her stay in New York. Then Payton has a private conversation with Elliot and tries to convince him to vote for him. When Elliot is about to get a ballot paper, he overhears Georgina criticizing that a student is not allowed to vote just because she forgot her student ID . That's why he leaves the building without casting his vote.
6th	6th	The attack on Payton Hobart	The Assassination of Payton Hobart: Part 1	Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Ian Brennan
It is still election day when Astrid Payton announced that she would withdraw her candidacy. This automatically turns him into the student representative, but he is disappointed because he cannot enjoy his success because he has not done something for it himself. For this reason, his self-confidence is crumbling, which is why he is unable to implement his election promises and implement new initiatives. That's why Skye wants to get him out of the way. Together with McAfee, she bakes a cupcake for him , which, McAfee doesn't know, has been treated with rat poison, which makes Payton sick, but does not die. Meanwhile, Infinity moves out to Dusty's horror, which is why the latter hires Ricardo to kill Payton, as she blames him for it. Ricardo dips an air rifle bullet into the bowels of a dead squirrel and shoots Payton so that he succumbs to sepsis.
7th	7th	The Attack on Payton Hobart: Part 2	The Assassination of Payton Hobart: Part 2	Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Ian Brennan & Brad Falchuk
Some of Payton's improper campaigning practices come to light, forcing him to resign and be replaced by Skye. In addition, his already safe study place at Harvard was canceled again. Skye offers McAfee to become her deputy, but she tells her that she knew about the rat poison in Payton's cupcake and has her arrested. Meanwhile, Keaton learns of Georgina's plans to run away with her former lover Brigitte, so he claims a mutual agreement that she and Payton will be removed from his will if she has one more affair. Payton suddenly becomes seriously ill, but Infinity learns from Ricardo himself of his attack on Payton, which she informs the doctors who can save Payton's life. Infinity and Ricardo then observe Dusty's house, when Dusty sees her in the dark, she thinks she is a burglar and accidentally shoots Ricardo at. He agrees to report Dusty to the police for her crimes, including poisoning Infinity's mother, from which she died. Shortly thereafter, Dusty is arrested. Meanwhile, Alice and James leave Payton's team while Astrid reports her father Theo to the FBI for his wire transfer fraud and he is arrested as a result. At the end of the episode, Payton and Georgina drive to the train station, Georgina tearfully says goodbye to her adoptive son and gets on a train.
8th	8th	Vienna	Vienna	Brad Falchuk	Brad Falchuk
Three years after the events surrounding Payton's candidacy, he went to New York University and shared a room with James. He works as a singer in a cocktail bar and is a heavy alcoholic. He receives a visit from Skye and Infinity, who have made up with him in the meantime. McAfee, who graduated from Columbia University with a degree in political science after just three years, is now starting an internship at Dede Standish, New York's top senator. Since Dede has not had a serious opponent for years, her current election campaign is very out of date. That's why McAfee gets in touch with James, the two put together a program for Payton that focuses on the poor condition of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority . When they present this to Payton, he hesitates. He visits Alice, who is to be married in a few hours, later the ghost of River appears to him and convinces him to run. When Payton returns to his dormitory, he is received there by James, McAfee, Skye, Alice, who no longer wants to marry, and Astrid. The latter works as a waitress for a catering service. At an event she found out that Dede was living in a polygamous marriage, which could play into Payton's hands. With the support of his friends and former competitor, Payton finally decides to run for the state Senate.
On September 27, 2019, all episodes of the season were released simultaneously on Netflix.

season 2

No. ( total )	No. ( St. )	German title	Original title	Director	script
9	1	Turnout counts	New York State of Mind	Brad Falchuk	Ryan Murphy , Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
10	2	Conscious unbundling	Conscious Unthroupling	Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
11	3	Break-up culture	Cancel Culture	David Petrarch	Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
12	4th	The lucky hit	Hail Mary	Tamra Davis	Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
13	5	The voters	The Voters	Ian Brennan	Ian Brennan
14th	6th	What's in the ballot box?	What's in the box?	Tina Mabry	Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
15th	7th	election day	Election Day	Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Ian Brennan & Brad Falchuk
On June 19, 2020, all episodes of the season were released simultaneously on Netflix.

reception

In the Internet Movie Database, the series achieved a rating of 7.6 out of ten stars based on 3,340 votes. On Rotten Tomatoes , it received a 56 percent review rating based on 73 reviews and an 86 percent audience rating based on 355 votes. In Metacritic , an average value of 64 gave 100 based on 28 reviews.

“A huge boom! This is what Netflix will have thought when the renowned series developer Ryan Murphy (...) turned the corner with the concept. And that's probably what the main actor Ben Platt thought, Gwyneth Paltrow, who can be seen as Payton's philanthropic mother, or Jessica Lange, who plays a senior citizen covered in makeup. (...) Instead of the expected booze, The Politician has just turned into soap clothes. The gags are rarely as snappy and over the top as one would expect from a political satire. Elegant references to reality (...) are disenchanted with an explanation. And the tiredness of the high school format (...) almost gives the series the rest. The production is saved by the young actors, above all the main actor with the googly eyes. As a student interpreter, Ben Platt may be a little too old. But he looks so deadly serious that even dreary scenes are drawn into the amusing absurdity. (...) And the whole thing seems even more weird because Payton's advisors James, McAffee and Alice (Theo Germaine, Laura Dreyfuss, Julia Schlaepfer) are in no way inferior to their boss (...) when it comes to the end-of-funny-face . The miracle of the series that occurs in the last episode can only be explained by these four actors and a surprise guest: The wonderful Bette Midler suddenly appears. (...) The unexpected effect: We forget how much we got bored in between, we really want to see Payton's troop on their way. "

- Matthias Hannemann : Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Lucy Mangan rated the series five out of five stars in The Guardian and wrote that The Politician was "another dazzling Murphy triumph." The series contains Murphy's trademark, a “hurricane of action” that first “casts its spell” and an hour later “leaves them breathless and stunned”. The actors are "glowing", especially Ben Platt , whose character Payton Hobart switches effortlessly between sincerity and insincerity. The newcomers such as Julia Schlaepfer and Lucy Boynton (whose roles she compared to Barbara Bush , Hillary Clinton and Ivanka Trump ) and the experienced actors such as Jessica Lange are also great. The latter is "gorgeous monstrous" in her role as Dusty Jackson. The genius of the plot consists in Murphy's method of explaining the "big through the small". Nothing in the series is what it seems at first glance. In the pathological inhibition of the youthful characters, the real world and its politics would become visible. The characters' personalities and attitudes would first be constructed and then torn down again, then alternately filtered, adjusted, illuminated, darkened, complicated and simplified again. Mangan concluded her criticism by saying that in the case of The Politician, the medium is the message and vice versa.

Emily Todd VanDerWerff, a Vox editor , described The Politician as "a rosette stone that is needed to understand Ryan Murphy's entire series chronicle." The series is about what it means to be queer and to "suppress this personality trait in order to survive". It is also about a culture that decides that some voices are more important than others, even if these voices belong to "walking creases". Nevertheless, the series is also a "chaos". At first glance, the production could be compared to Glee , as both play in a high school and dealt with sensitive topics, but still remained family-friendly. What they have in common is strong fluctuations in tone, ranging from mischievous irony to complete sincerity. However, the series is not really like Glee , as it includes storylines and discards them again soon afterwards. It is also strange that Payton does not look like a figure, but the projection of a politician. This is because the series treats politics from the cynical point of view of Generation X , who were indifferent to elections. Therefore, The Politician depicts American politics of the past, but not the present, in which young activists like David Hogg or Greta Thunberg are political leaders. But because the series is set in the present, this perspective is brilliant. VanDerWerff closed her criticism by saying that The Politician was a “mess” and “confused in its political message”. However, the series is not so much about politics, but about the fact that Payton, unlike his queer, physically impaired or non-white classmates, is accepted by society as long as he suppresses his bisexuality. Payton's inner emptiness is a “weak political comment”, but a good reflection of a world that calls on people to “erase themselves in the name of a meaningless social project”. The series, like many of Ryan Murphy's best series, is about the "sadness that is triggered by the slowing down of any otherness". VanDerWerff rated The Politician four out of five stars.

Nominations

Golden Globe Awards 2020

• Nomination : Best TV Series - Comedy or Musical
• Nomination : Best Actor in a TV Series - Comedy or Musical, for Ben Platt

Web links

• The Politician in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The Politician at Netflix
• The Politician at Fernsehserien.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steve Greene: 'The Politician' Trailer: Ben Platt and Gwyneth Paltrow Fight Deadly Political Animals on Netflix. In: IndieWire . August 19, 2019, accessed June 19, 2020 . 
2. ^ David Opie: The Politician season 2: Release date, cast, plot and everything you need to know. In: Digital Spy . November 11, 2019, accessed June 19, 2020 . 
3. ^ Anita Bennett: 'The Politician': Netflix Unveils Season 2 Release Date For Ryan Murphy Series. In: Deadline.com . May 18, 2020, accessed on June 19, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Tom Reimann: 'The Politician' Season 2 Will Still Premiere This Summer, But Season 3 May Be Years Away. In: Collider. April 29, 2020, accessed June 19, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Ryan McPhee: Ben Platt to Star in Ryan Murphy's The Politician for Netflix. In: Playbill . February 5, 2018, accessed October 1, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Netflix Nabs Ryan Murphy Series 'The Politician'; Ben Platt Set, Barbra Streisand & Gwyneth Paltrow In Talks To Star. In: Deadline.com. February 5, 2018, accessed October 1, 2019 . 
7. ^ Lesley Goldberg: Ryan Murphy's 'The Politician' Enlists Zoey Deutch and Laura Dreyfuss. In: The Hollywood Reporter . July 16, 2018, accessed October 1, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Reid Nakamura, Jennifer Maas: Dylan McDermott Joins Ryan Murphy's 'The Politician' at Netflix. In: TheWrap. October 11, 2018, accessed October 1, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Rachel Syme: Barbra Streisand Can Hear Herself Again. In: The New Yorker . November 4, 2018, accessed October 1, 2010 . 
10. ↑ Denise Petski: Dylan McDermott Confirms Casting In Ryan Murphy's 'The Politician' Netflix Series, Says January Jones Will Play His Wife. In: Deadline.com. December 3, 2018, accessed October 1, 2019 . 
11. ^ Jean Bentley: Ryan Murphy's 'The Politician' Enlists Bette Midler. In: The Hollywood Reporter. March 23, 2019, accessed October 1, 2019 . 
12. ^ Ra Moon: Where is The Politician filmed? The Saint Sebastian High School city location. In: Atlas of Wonders. September 26, 2019, accessed October 1, 2019 . 
13. ^ The Politician. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on September 30, 2019 . 
14. ^ The Politician: Season 1. In: Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved October 4, 2019 . 
15. ^ The Politician. In: Metacritic . Retrieved October 4, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Matthias Hannemann: Because he knows exactly what he is doing . In: faz.net . September 27, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
17. ↑ Lucy Mangan: The Politician review - Ryan Murphy's student politics show is a born winner. In: The Guardian . September 27, 2019, accessed October 4, 2019 . 
18. ↑ Emily Todd VanDerWerff: Netflix's The Politician is a mess. But it may be a deeply meaningful one. In: Vox . September 28, 2019, accessed October 5, 2019 . 
19. ↑ Kimberly Nordyke, Jennifer Konerman, Annie Howard: Golden Globes: Full List of Nominations. In: The Hollywood Reporter. December 9, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .