The Act (Limited Series Review)

The Act
2019 Hulu
Limited Series
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Gypsy Blanchard is a brave young girl. Suffering from a seemingly endless amount of disabilities, she still puts on a toothless smile as her mother Dee Dee, pushes her around in her wheelchair, taking her to charity events and award ceremonies. Head-shaved, feeding port in her abdomen, breathing mask on at night, Gypsy's trials never seem to end, but she and Dee Dee continue to inspire everyone around them with their resilience. At night, Gypsy and Dee Dee sleep in the same bed, until Dee Dee's sleeping medication finally takes hold, then Gypsy takes off her breathing mask, looks over at her sleeping mother, gets out of bed and walks to the kitchen. It's all an act.
Hulu's 2019 Limited Series, The Act, which tells the true story of of how Dee Dee Blanchard both physically and emotionally abused her daughter, Gypsy, trapping her under the weight of myriad false medical diagnoses, is suitably horrifying. As Dee Dee, Patricia Arquette gives a performance on par with Vera Farmiga's storied work as Norma Bates in the A&E Series, Bates Motel. She's cloying, overbearing, monstrous, terrifying, and strangely human, such a massive presence, there seems to be no choice but to orbit around her. As Gypsy, Joey King is near unrecognizable, head shaved, fake teeth, diminutive stature exaggerated, and her voice small, tiny, and childlike. On par with Arquette, King's performance is a tour de force.
With such sensational material, though, a steady guiding hand is needed, to keep the story from falling into melodrama, and especially considering just how extreme the true story is, sensationalism and camp. Showrunners, Nick Antosc and Michelle Dean, do a great job of steering the show, keeping the artistic value high, while telling the story as close to what really happened as possible, not hyper-focusing on its most grotesque details. Dee Dee and and Gypsy feel like real people, no matter how messed up they are, and in the case of Dee Dee, how sociopathic she is. The focus on Dee Dee and Gypsy's neighbors, who are essentially victims of the Blanchard's empathy siphoning, helps to create a general sense of empathy throughout the series' eight one-hour episodes. The ensures that The Act stays centered on the fact that this actually happened, and that Gypsy (and eventually Dee Dee) aren't the only ones harmed throughout the awful situation. Chloë Sevigny and AnnaSophia Robb both do an excellent job as the mother and teenage daughter across the street, who go through the emotional rollercoaster of feeling deceived and used, then feeling empathetic themselves. This is how a true crime dramatic series should be done.