Their performances are disciplined and exceptional.Īs Dee Dee, a Louisiana native, Arquette speaks with a gentle, born-on-the-bayou lilt that makes her “mother of the year” backstory all the more believable. They’re also playing women who are Characters with a capital C, yet both of them resist the temptation to tear their teeth into the scenery. Arquette and King are completely convincing in that regard. An eight-episode series about two people who are codependent to the point of causing each other physical harm simply wouldn’t work if we didn’t believe the depth of their love and mutual reliance. The Act is fascinating for a number of reasons, but a chief one is the performances of its two leads, Patricia Arquette and Joey King. The Act understands that the why in this tale, to the extent that we can know it, is as important as the what. But The Act takes its time to reveal the depth and extent of the lies Dee Dee told, how Gypsy’s frustration with her mother would eventually escalate, and what may have been motivating both of them. Fairly quickly thereafter, flashbacks imply that Dee Dee’s care for her seemingly frail, wheelchair-bound daughter, Gypsy, may not have been as doting and selfless as it appeared. The fact that Dee Dee Blanchard was killed in her home in 2015 is made clear right from the beginning of the first episode. By now plenty of people know the bizarre details surrounding this uniquely dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship.īut even if you know how their whole story of abuse, fraud, and murder plays out, The Act, a new Hulu limited series co-created by Nick Antosca and Michelle Dean, author of that previously mentioned BuzzFeed piece, still delivers extremely compelling television. The tragic, disturbing saga of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard has already been the subject of a massive BuzzFeed long read and two documentaries, including one, Mommie Dead and Dearest, that aired on HBO.

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