Tori
This review may contain spoilers
I Hate Everyone Involved In The Making Of This Show (trigger warning)
Unlike what happens in this show, my trauma will never be erased or undone.
What the fuck is the point in a show where the main character inflicts unspeakable harm on everyone around him, who does not grow or learn anything at all, and instead gets to live happily ever after without sacrificing a god damn thing?
If the point was to leave me traumatized, disgusted, and afraid, then congratulations... you succeeded. As much as I try not to blame the actors (at least not entirely), I can't look at New without seeing Alex. I can't forget what happened on this show. I would do anything if it means I'll never have to think about this show ever again.
To be absolutely clear, my problem with this show is not that the protagonist makes a pile of shit look good in comparison. I can handle watching a deeply unlikable villain as the main character of a show. My issue is what this show is saying, or rather what it is deliberately refusing to say.
The first 15 minutes of Episode 1 were... an unforgettable experience. It was a wild way to start a show but I still gave this an honest chance. There was a lot about this show that impressed me. I wanted it to be good. But once I had watched Episode 6, I realized those first 15 minutes perfectly encapsulated what it feels like to watch The Warp Effect.
The show opens with Alex. He's a virgin that's tired of being a virgin, so he is with a sex worker hoping to .. fix that. Because of a promise he made to his mom, he ends up getting cold feet in the middle of their foreplay. "Let's stop" he says. She ignores this and jumps right back on him. He stopped her, and she kept going anyway.
Less than 10 minutes later, and only 12 minutes into the first episode, we get a beautiful scene of a sexual education class. The wide shot shows a chalkboard with "CONSENT" written across the entire thing. Juxtaposed with the scene of Alex and the sex worker, it's so ironic that I'm almost laughing. The absurdity of it rivals the sex ed class in Mean Girls ("don't have sex because you will get pregnant and die"). It's almost funny..
But the show never acknowledges what happened between Alex and the sex worker.
Fast forward to Episode 6. We finally get to see everything that Alex did on the night of that party, all the reasons why everyone in his life hates him. Because this is a MyDramaList review and not an essay or dissertation, I'll do my best to keep this short.
If you've been watching the show up to this point, wondering why Jean slapped Alex and why she hates him so much, this episode answers that question pretty quickly.
He raped her.
That night at that party, Alex raped Jean. They were both incredibly intoxicated. Alex was lucky enough to blackout and forget what he did to her. Jean did not forget. I felt sick to my stomach.
The Warp Effect initially impressed me by having open conversations about a wide range of topics like puppy play, nonmonogamy, and nonbinary lesbians.
But after watching this episode and everything that follows, those first 15 minutes of Episode 1 feel like a sick fucking joke. This show doesn't care at all about consent. This show isn't interested in unpacking what that rape did to Jean. It doesn't even care enough to show us Alex's reaction after learning about the horrific thing he did to a person he cared about. This show won't even call it rape. There's no weight to the reveal either. Most of the episode isn't even about the rape or Jean, and I felt insane because everything else that happened at that party feels insignificant in comparison. They drop this earth-shattering revelation on us and then barely mention it for the rest of the show's runtime.
But of course, in the final episode, Alex gets sent back in time to before the party happens. He gets to undo every single mistake he made that night. Jean, who (even after ten years) couldn't be touched by a man, has her trauma simply.... erased. Alex treats her well and they live happily ever after.
And what am I meant to gain from this resolution? What is this show even saying? What the fuck is the point of all this then? If he just gets to redo everything, why did we do this show at all?
People don't get to erase the choices they made and start over from scratch. If you fuck up, if you hurt someone, there's no undoing that.
The Warp Effect is an unforgettable show, in that I will be haunted by the memory of it until my dying breath. This show has done irreparable damage to my psyche. I hate this show with every atom in my being, with every fibre of my soul, with every single piece of my heart.
What the fuck is the point in a show where the main character inflicts unspeakable harm on everyone around him, who does not grow or learn anything at all, and instead gets to live happily ever after without sacrificing a god damn thing?
If the point was to leave me traumatized, disgusted, and afraid, then congratulations... you succeeded. As much as I try not to blame the actors (at least not entirely), I can't look at New without seeing Alex. I can't forget what happened on this show. I would do anything if it means I'll never have to think about this show ever again.
To be absolutely clear, my problem with this show is not that the protagonist makes a pile of shit look good in comparison. I can handle watching a deeply unlikable villain as the main character of a show. My issue is what this show is saying, or rather what it is deliberately refusing to say.
The first 15 minutes of Episode 1 were... an unforgettable experience. It was a wild way to start a show but I still gave this an honest chance. There was a lot about this show that impressed me. I wanted it to be good. But once I had watched Episode 6, I realized those first 15 minutes perfectly encapsulated what it feels like to watch The Warp Effect.
The show opens with Alex. He's a virgin that's tired of being a virgin, so he is with a sex worker hoping to .. fix that. Because of a promise he made to his mom, he ends up getting cold feet in the middle of their foreplay. "Let's stop" he says. She ignores this and jumps right back on him. He stopped her, and she kept going anyway.
Less than 10 minutes later, and only 12 minutes into the first episode, we get a beautiful scene of a sexual education class. The wide shot shows a chalkboard with "CONSENT" written across the entire thing. Juxtaposed with the scene of Alex and the sex worker, it's so ironic that I'm almost laughing. The absurdity of it rivals the sex ed class in Mean Girls ("don't have sex because you will get pregnant and die"). It's almost funny..
But the show never acknowledges what happened between Alex and the sex worker.
Fast forward to Episode 6. We finally get to see everything that Alex did on the night of that party, all the reasons why everyone in his life hates him. Because this is a MyDramaList review and not an essay or dissertation, I'll do my best to keep this short.
If you've been watching the show up to this point, wondering why Jean slapped Alex and why she hates him so much, this episode answers that question pretty quickly.
He raped her.
That night at that party, Alex raped Jean. They were both incredibly intoxicated. Alex was lucky enough to blackout and forget what he did to her. Jean did not forget. I felt sick to my stomach.
The Warp Effect initially impressed me by having open conversations about a wide range of topics like puppy play, nonmonogamy, and nonbinary lesbians.
But after watching this episode and everything that follows, those first 15 minutes of Episode 1 feel like a sick fucking joke. This show doesn't care at all about consent. This show isn't interested in unpacking what that rape did to Jean. It doesn't even care enough to show us Alex's reaction after learning about the horrific thing he did to a person he cared about. This show won't even call it rape. There's no weight to the reveal either. Most of the episode isn't even about the rape or Jean, and I felt insane because everything else that happened at that party feels insignificant in comparison. They drop this earth-shattering revelation on us and then barely mention it for the rest of the show's runtime.
But of course, in the final episode, Alex gets sent back in time to before the party happens. He gets to undo every single mistake he made that night. Jean, who (even after ten years) couldn't be touched by a man, has her trauma simply.... erased. Alex treats her well and they live happily ever after.
And what am I meant to gain from this resolution? What is this show even saying? What the fuck is the point of all this then? If he just gets to redo everything, why did we do this show at all?
People don't get to erase the choices they made and start over from scratch. If you fuck up, if you hurt someone, there's no undoing that.
The Warp Effect is an unforgettable show, in that I will be haunted by the memory of it until my dying breath. This show has done irreparable damage to my psyche. I hate this show with every atom in my being, with every fibre of my soul, with every single piece of my heart.
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