Transparently
borrowing from reality for its cliché and predictable story, “Political
Animals” attempts to enter the world of political television shows alongside
“The West Wing” and the more recently successful Netflix Original, “House of
Cards.” There is a strongly feminist through line in the narrative, which is
ironic considering how sex-obsessed and exploitative nearly every episode of
the miniseries seems to be. This show wants to have its cake and eat it too,
but by trying to be everything and please everyone, it just ends up a jumbled
mess of incoherent angry feminist rants amidst poorly constructed real-life
recreations. In the end, it just feels like a de-fanged feminazi version of
“House of Cards.”
The series jumps
around with flashbacks that are entirely unnecessary, especially when they
reveal information that doesn’t really need to be shown once we have been given
back-story enough to understand what happened in the past. If you followed
Hillary Clinton’s failed attempt at running for President or her embarrassing
marital issues while in the White House, there are no surprises here for you.
Sigourney Weaver plays Clinton
I have no
problem with a miniseries about the first female president, or one which
appears to be heading that way. The problem that I had with this series is
two-fold, and the first has to do with the angry feminist ideals written into the
story. Elaine is not a proud female as much as she is a sexist woman who hates
men and even admits that she wants to become president because she is tired of
the egos of men. I found this personality equally egotistical, not to mention
sexist and spiteful in the way she speaks of men in a way that would never be
allowed were a man speaking about women. This type of double-standard goes
completely against the feminist ideology, not to mention the fact that this
series insists that every character is also sex-obsessed. There are far too
many unnecessary and exploitative sex scenes, which seem to be inserted just to
give it more edge. For example, what reason was there to have two separate
scenes in which Elaine’s son discusses his impending nuptials with his fiancé
during sex? These scenes could have been shot dozens of other ways. The sex
doesn’t fuel the plot in any way, other than to titillate audiences as if they
were all as sex-obsessed as former President Clinton… I mean, former President
Hammond.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
Disc Features: 0/10
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