to be sorted later #41
in which this is mostly a Michaela Coel lovefest
In the midst of the hellscape that we called the year 2020, a television show came out on HBO that centered on a young woman confronting trauma and exploring the topic of consent.
That show was “I May Destroy You,” created, written, co-directed, executive produced by — and starring — Michaela Coel.
I loved it. I especially loved it after watching and loathing a movie that came out earlier that same year, also made by a woman and centered on a young woman confronting trauma, exploring the topic of sexual assault and consent. We don’t need to talk about that movie here.
“I May Destroy You” was television perfection for me, made even better with a London setting. Even so, after finishing the series, I didn’t think it would be a show I’d return to for a rewatch. It was … intense.
As Skye Arundhati Thomas writes for Frieze:
“‘It’s triggering,’ a friend says to me, describing the television show I May Destroy You (2020). ‘It’s also – cathartic.’ In the second episode, Arabella – played by writer, director and producer Michaela Coel – is at the police station, trying to report a crime that she is only able to recollect in flashes of images: a bathroom stall, a man’s nostrils, fumbling at an ATM. She has woken up after a roofied blackout with a bleeding scar above her eyebrow and a smashed-up phone. ‘You can’t even call it a memory,’ she says, wondering if she made it all up. But a forensics team finds bruises on her knees and a small cut in her mouth. Funmi (Sarah Niles), an officer assigned to the case, uses the word ‘assault’, which makes Arabella balk, and snap back: ‘We should refrain from talking about things like they’re facts …’.”
So here we are in 2026, in a different hellscape, sure, but it’s been 6 years, and you’re wondering how the hell I got here.
It’s because Michaela Coel is in not one, but two movies coming out this month!
I hadn’t thought about “I May Destroy You” in some time, and I found myself wanting to revisit Arabella’s world. I watched it again, in renewed awe of Coel’s artistry. It’s not just how Coel captures her character Arabella’s experience, but how she celebrates Arabella as a real, confused, complex, flawed, funny person. I also adore (and was often worried about) her friends Terry and Kwame, and her endearing oddball of a flatmate, whose name escapes me and I refuse to google it!
The finale specifically is also a master class on writing, healing, and the complex dynamics of friendships. If I can’t convince you on this, perhaps Fleabag can? (Here’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge congratulating Michaela Coel for winning the Wall Street Journal Magazine’s 2020 Television Innovator Award.)
When I’m not rewatching television series and yet again mentally revisiting 2020, what am I even doing?
“to be sorted later” is a series in which I attempt to have fun on the internet again, namely, by sharing the latest things I am watching, reading, listening to, hating, loving, discovering, and otherwise sorting through in any particular week or season.
What I’m Sorting Through, Currently …
An Artistic Experiment
Back in February, my brother suggested we try a collaborative painting — I’d make the collage as a first layer, then he paints over it (or vice versa). I was equal parts flattered, excited, and freaked out by this idea, as I hold Jay’s art in extremely high regard and I wasn’t sure if my collage work was really worthy of such a task.
Self-doubt aside, I was pleased to have a new creative project. This timed well with a visit to the MCA Chicago, where I found some unexpected inspiration from a new-to-me artist, Firelei Báez:
“My works are speculative propositions, meant to create alternate pasts and potential futures, questioning history and culture in order to provide a space for reassessing the present.” — Firelei Báez
I got to work.
I was going to tell you more, here, but then I remembered I also have a column dedicated to collage! Stay tuned for the return of “Death & Spritzers”!
In Pursuit of … Whatever
My TBR list is even more out of control — and exciting! — than usual, with a new novel from Emma Straub topping the pile, plus a short story collection from another favorite, Rachel Khong, Zelda Fitzgerald’s collected writings borrowed from my mom’s library, and a re-read of childhood favorite The Secret Garden because oh-my-gawd, my niece Polly is going to play Mary!
Am I dead? I cannot wait: “Himesh Patel To Star Opposite Danielle Deadwyler In ‘X-Files’ Reboot From Hulu And Ryan Coogler”
“The Drama is the movie version of a social media troll trying to provoke and ending the post with ‘Thoughts?’” | Please read Brooke Obie’s review of “The Drama” for Black Girl Watching.
On repeat:
previously:
