A stage hypnotist encounters the father of a girl he killed in a car accident. On this, Tim Crouch’s glitteringly clever play really delivers – while also being extremely moving. It's an acutely odd story, and one that will keep you absorbed despite already knowing how things wrap up.What makes a great play? A lot of critics, academics, and playwrights themselves will point to form matching content. The former teen star is shockingly great at showing the stages Gypsy goes through, from vulnerable naïf trapped under her mom's oppressive, abusive thumb to vengeful internet flirt using whatever connections she can to get out of a truly impossible situation. King's helium-voiced performance, however, is the biggest surprise here. It's in her best interest for Gypsy to remain ill, as this ensures an ongoing influx of cash donations and compliments, and the contrast between Dee Dee's public persona as a self-sacrificing caregiver and the emotionally manipulative sicko she is behind closed doors is truly discomfiting. The Act might not have a whole lot to say about the case that hasn't already been covered in the (multiple) documentaries or articles, but what it lacks in analytic substance, it makes up for in emotional truth.Īrquette's Dee Dee is a pathetic, deeply disturbed woman desperate to hold on to her daughter by any means necessary - both because of the pity and adulation it brings her and the sense of security Gypsy's 'condition' gives her. Was this series truly needed, given how ubiquitous the Blanchards' story has been in the media landscape of late? Maybe not, but standout performances by the always-solid Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee, and a mesmerizing Joey King as Gypsy make it a compulsively watchable guilty pleasure. Adult characters smoke and drink, and there's some rough language as well.

There's a brief shot of an erect penis shown when a character receives an unexpected 'dick pic' online, and someone is nude in the bath.

Viewers should expect mature content, from simulated sex and masturbation to a copious amount of abuse (both emotional/verbal and physical). The details of this case have been well-documented elsewhere The Act lightly fictionalizes the tale, showing the years of abuse and abnormal behavior that led up to its violent conclusion: Dee Dee's brutal murder at the hands of her desperate daughter and her online boyfriend Nick Godejohn. The show examines the dark realities of Munchausen by proxy syndrome, a psychological disorder wherein a caregiver or parent fabricates or even induces illness or injury in a person under their care (in this case, Dee Dee's daughter, Gypsy Rose). Parents need to know that The Act is a true-crime miniseries based on the story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the mother-daughter duo profiled in the much-lauded 2018 HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest.

The act the true story