Anatomy of a Scandal

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1 season

Watch it for...

A storyline that feels like it was ripped-from-the-headlines about consent and power that keeps viewers guessing until the very end!

Synopsis

Sophie enjoys the good life as the wife of a powerful politician. But when her husband is accused of sexual impropriety with a subordinate in his office, Sophie’s entire life unravels. Friends abandon her, the media hounds her, and her children are subjected to cruelty at school. She’s forced to confront her own past through a new lens when revelations continue to come out about her husband, their time in college together, and how they are both implicated in abuses of power and social capital. As Sophie sits in court at her husband’s trial and is bombarded with irrefutable evidence, she finally learns the truth about what she has willfully ignored for so long.

Alissa's recommendation

I feel that as a society we’re just beginning to talk about the imbalance of power that exists in so many relationships that seem consensual. Even though this show is set in the UK, it feels relevant to the U.S. political system and addresses many of the nuances that exist in those types of relationships. It also dismantles the “boys will be boys” trope without being too heavy-handed, which made me happy to see. The courtroom scenes that were juxtaposed with the characters’ differing memories of the events in question were really fascinating and I thought so well done. I also found it interesting that Sienna Miller, a woman whose relationship with Jude Law fell apart in a spectacular fashion, chose to star as a woman whose marriage implodes publicly. I hope that this show gets people talking about sexual politics, consent, and how much we really know about someone…even after sleeping next to them for decades.