To anyone outside of the United States, the presidential election or really any form of election might seem quite foreign. Unless you study it or are already highly invested in it than you might not know what is truly going on, or maybe it’s just me that doesn’t truly understand every piece of the puzzle. Nevertheless what I understand and what a lot of people in their teens (not me) and early twenties (me for like a few more weeks) understand is the pressures of school and becoming the best versions of ourselves because society wants us to be like that. This is where The Politician shines.
The Politician, a new Netflix series from Ryan Murphy the creator of Glee and American Horror Story, is kind of like the mixture of those two TV shows the more I think about it. The series follows Peyton Hobart (played by Ben Platt) a boy who has planned his life out so that he will become the President of the United States in the future. His first task is to win his high school election with the help of his team (friends) which begins his journey towards the White House.
The series which is listed most places as a comedy/drama is easily more drama than comedy most of the time. Ryan Murphy, along with writers Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk, have created a show that finds it’s feet halfway through. I say the series is like a mixture of Glee and American Horror Story because it is just that, its a gleeful setting mixed in with the aspects of American society and expectations that can be horrors for the teenagers trying to live their lives. The Politian is less about politics in its first season than it is about how demanding the world is of students while they’re trying to develop.
The Politian shines a light on the effect that pressures from parents and getting into colleges can have on students and how students pay more attention to their futures instead of the here and now. It is unfortunate that the series doesn’t pick up on its own message much until the last half of the first season. I found myself wondering why the show existed and feeling like the series was missing something until the show brutally starts to rip and tear it’s characters apart emotionally one by one and you realise it was all set up all along.
While The Politician has it’s funny moments, I wouldn’t regard it as a comedy. There are some great comedic moments scattered throughout but the laughs you’ll find are more to do with yourself realising that people like these characters really exist. Realising this early on will help to bring some much-needed appreciation to the series. A warning plays at the start of the season but by the time the emotions and tough moments really hit you’re already way passed remembering that there was a warning at all.
The show’s bright and everything being perfectly aligned through the lens of the camera aesthetic is appealing and begins to crumble and shows it’s purpose later on. This perfectly made society the kids live in is filled with pieces waiting to break. The Politician has a lot of build-up and despite the show being well made it might lose some viewers before the series hit’s its stride halfway through. A second season is already in the works and at first, you’d question why but some twists and turns made me excited for what’s to come from this fresh series.
I never really managed to get into 13 Reasons Why, I like a lot of people my age and younger have gone through modern schooling and how tough it can be mentally on yourself. A show like 13 Reasons Why shouldn’t have to feel really relatable but its story and characters should do. The Politician, in my opinion, is a lighter yet more accurate display of what it’s like to be a student in the modern-day world. It is probably the best representation I’ve seen in recent years, but you’ll only see it if you stick with it till the end.
A great TV show can often be realised by its theme song and introduction. The Politician’s introduction is the creation of Peyton, a boy filled with ideas, inspirations, issues, a heart surrounded by darkness and a life that has been perfectly planned out. It’s theme song, Chicago by Surfjan Stevens, it’s a song about getting away from your life, about having so much planned out for you and realising it’s not what you truly want. The song perfectly relates to the realisation the show is trying to give it’s viewer’s, escape from your every day planned out life and live a little, everything can be how you want it to be and it shouldn’t be what others should think you should be. The Politician is a well-crafted look at the world’s future leaders.