by Mari Pizzini– With COVID-19 seeming to have sapped up a lot of joy and excitement, I decided I wanted to watch some feel-good television. Ironically, I settled on the Netflix original show “Feel Good.”
“Feel Good” centers around the life of Canadian comedian Mae Martin and George, who becomes her girlfriend. Within the first five minutes the two have a whirlwind relationship; they meet, kiss, and eventually move in together.
At first, their relationship was hard for me to believe. I’ve never been a “fall head over heels immediately” type of person, so the show felt forced. As I continued watching, I saw what those first five minutes actually provided: the lack of foundation for this semi-important relationship.
Beyond that, the show discusses some pretty heavy topics. Martin is a recovering drug addict, and many of the scenes take place in her support group or with her sponsor. Her fragile parental relationship is the center of many scenes, but so is the love between Martin and her parents.
Beyond drug use, “Feel Good” also touches on the difficulties of sexuality. George feels fear and struggles to come out to her friends. Martin admits that she may be transgender or nonbinary, however she doesn’t mention pronouns. Both feel they are hiding part of themselves in their relationship.
I was surprised to learn that “Feel Good” is a semi-autobiographical show about the life of Martin. I didn’t learn this fact until I saw in the credits that Martin actually stars as herself. Honestly, that gave the show more of an edge. There was some skin in the game when I realized, “hey, this isn’t some made-up version of the struggles of sexuality and drug addiction. It’s rooted in truth.”
The six episodes all average around 25 minutes, making the show a pretty quick watch. The dynamics of Martin and George’s relationship constantly had me on the edge of my seat.
It may not have been the feel-good type of show I was looking for, but it did make me think. Overall, I’d give “Feel Good” 7 stars out of 10.
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