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The first episode of Netflix’s new dramedy <\/span>The Politician<\/span><\/i> sets itself up as a series that feels like it could go in a number of directions. However by the end, it doesn\u2019t feel very different. From start to finish it\u2019s a bit of a mess, unsure of what it\u2019s trying to present and tries to be a few things to a few different people. While it has several elements to the show that are really effective, as a whole it falls short.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Politician<\/span><\/i> is led by the incredibly engaging Ben Platt as Payton Hobart a teenager running for student council president as a means to kick off a political career that he hopes will end in The White House. He\u2019s an adopted child of Georgina Hobart played by Gwyneth Paltrow – who has high billing in all of the marketing materials – the matriarch of an incredibly wealthy family and goes to a high school full of other kids from incredibly wealthy families.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the mind of the writer and director behind such hit television series as <\/span>Pose<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Glee <\/span><\/i>among countless others<\/span>, Ryan Murphy\u2019s stamp is felt in every scene of the show and in every word of dialogue. Usually a fan of this stylish, purposely over-polished quick witted series, The Politician<\/i> often feels a bit misplaced for Netflix. This was <\/span>because every little conversation and action in the show is framed as if it\u2019s a part of Hobart\u2019s campaign for class president. This is the case whether he\u2019s making a speech or speaking to any student as he walks around school. This may be an interesting idea, however, the show sets itself up to tackle issues like mental health and suicide. But talking about running mates and political points during a service for a fellow student who has killed themselves comes off as tone-deaf.<\/span><\/p>\n

It feels like this political discourse presented in The Politician <\/i>is supposed to feel like a tongue-in-cheek comment on the way politicians conduct themselves whenever they\u2019re in public but it actually does a bit of a disservice to the much larger ideas surrounding it. The series would have been much more effective if it wasn\u2019t presenting these topics but instead they became a bit distasteful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The only time this overly-polished style isn\u2019t used is when Payton is at home speaking to his mother where his guard drops and feels much more real. If The Politician<\/i> was a bit more willing to drop the act at other points throughout, it would have been a more engaging watch. But because everything else is presented as part of the show\u2019s overly-slick, almost sickly style, it feels a little too much.\u00a0<\/span>Those moments of realness highlight the best thing about the show which is without a doubt Ben Platt as Payton. He has several sides to him and is able to switch quickly and seamlessly between the ‘politics\u2019 of it all – it was just unfortunate that he wasn’t allowed to do it more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Exploring the navigation of teenage or adolescent is something that\u2019s been a staple of TV with different devices used to frame it with hugely varying degrees of success. Even just recently we\u2019ve seen <\/span>Sex Education<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Euphoria<\/span><\/i>, two series which have been met with huge success and critical approval. <\/span>Although it tries something new and different, it’s unlikely that <\/span>The Politician<\/span><\/i> will be one of the more memorable series.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Find me on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> as @Martin_Izzard and at TalkAboutMovies.co.uk<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget to follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> and like us on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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