Watching Gypsy
PASADENA, CA — FEBRUARY 11, 2018: Patricia Arquette, right, and Joey King, star as mother and daughter in Hulu’s “The Act.” The anthology series looks at the real-life case of Dee Dee Blanchard (Arquette), a Missouri single mom who lied that her healthy daughter Gypsy (King) had brain damage, cancer, etc. and gained charity from it — until her daughter killed her. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
January 13, 2021
If you aren’t already familiar with the case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, this series tells it all. Gypsy’s mother, Dee Dee, falsely claimed that Gypsy was suffering numerous illnesses and disabilities until Gypsy arranged for her boyfriend to kill her in 2015.
I first learned a little bit about Gypsy’s story in my AP Psychology class. We were discussing one of our topics in our lesson and how it related to Gypsy’s story. We watched a short video on her and moved on with our lesson. I am very intrigued in crime stories and such, so I knew I wanted to dig deeper and hear the whole story.
The Act has been on my list for quite a while now, but I was too caught up in my other shows and movies that I’ve been binge watching already, so I often forgot about it. I kept telling myself that as soon as I finished watching a movie or series, I’d watch The Act, but that never happened. I recently finished quite a few series, and I was taking a little break so I could stay away from the screen, but also to deeply think about what I wanted to watch next. As soon as I realized it was my perfect opportunity to watch this show, I started right away.
Right off the bat I didn’t know what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t the storyline that I became obsessed with. Any viewer can watch the first episode and can instantly tell that the makers of this show spend a lot of time with their research. It all felt so real. Everytime I think of Gypsy, I keep thinking it happened a long time ago, but really, I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that it was quite recent.
I was kind of uneasy about watching The Act. All I knew was that I just had to be mentally prepared for whatever was thrown in my way. With that being said, I want to point out that the music in this show was incredible and fit the moods that were presented perfectly. Especially the sounds of a screeching record. The creators used this sound so much during tense moments, especially a lot toward the end, and it was like an itch you couldn’t scratch. It just made the intense scenes so much uneasier, and that is what I like to call great cinematography.
