The following content has been sponsored by HBO.
There are many reasons why HBO’s “I May Destroy You” is one of this television season’s most talked-about shows. The award-winning, Emmy-nominated limited series from writer-director-star Michaela Coel provides an unflinching look at consent, race, and friendship, somehow combining trauma and humor in edgy, exciting ways.
As London-dwelling Millennial Twitter star–turned–feminist novelist Arabella, Coel walks that line brilliantly, taking audiences on the harrowing journey of her sexual assault and its complicated aftermath. Coel’s eyes—sometimes searching, sometimes fixed in an intimidating stare—guide us through flashbacks to that chaotic night, her Hackney school days, and sun-kissed Italian beach breaks. That the Emmy nominee also created “I May Destroy You” and directed nine of its 12 episodes makes her performance all the more astounding; Coel sets a new bar for storytellers who double as creator and star, proving that an actor can understand their material so thoroughly, it’s like they’re living inside it.
Embarking on his own tumultuous journey of sexual liberation, exploitation, and the often gray areas in between is Kwame, embodied with three-dimensional nuance by the Emmy-nominated Paapa Essiedu. At first only hinted at, and then fleshed out with sometimes humor, sometimes horror, Kwame’s story provides this series another lens through which to see modern-day hookup culture and heartbreak. Essiedu is masterful in his every riveting close-up, his face revealing as much as it hides; he’s the kind of actor who, even when doing very little, can hold an audience in the palm of his hands.
Nominated for nine Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series, “I May Destroy You” is available to stream now on HBO Max. As Arabella says in the clip below, we should probably pay attention. For more, visit www.hbofyc.com.
