Netflix's new series 'Insatiable' is a 'train wreck' with an 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes - and only one critic has enjoyed it

Carrie Wittmer

Aug 9, 2018, 23:13 IST

Netflix

Netflix's new original series, "Insatiable," generated accusations of fat shaming in the weeks before its release.

Critics and audiences alike were offended by the trailer, but many considered giving the show a chance to prove that it was not as offensive as the trailer suggested. But it is, according to critics (including me).

Critics have said the message the show is trying to send does not come across at all. In addition to fat shaming, the series includes other misguided plot points and jokes, such as a storyline in which a main character is falsely accused of molesting a child.

The TV series is a mess, and currently has an 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Only one critic liked it: CNN's Brian Lowry.

Here's what critics are saying about Netflix's controversial original series "Insatiable":

"Throughout its 12-episode run, 'Insatiable' crawls its way through a series of tired, stale gags, punching ever further downward, to finish with the most subdued of whimpers in its finale. 'Insatiable' is not only cruel and fatphobic; it’s boring, too."

"'Insatiable' is clearly striving to be an edgy satire of our image-obsessed culture and our constant need for more, but the candy-colored veneer of the series never offers viewers an actual escape from the toxic tropes it attempts to skewer."

"'Insatiable,' on the surface, behaves as if it has tone - 'Look at me, being all unquantifiable and zany! I'm a TV version of whack-a-mole!' But without substance, all that clanging and banging is unsatisfying."

"'Insatiable' is an equal-opportunity train wreck. It doesn’t merely traffic in stereotypes about fat people; it does the same thing with regard to the LGBTQ community, Southerners, women, Christians, conservatives, African-Americans, and probably some other groups I’ve neglected to mention."

"But despite some late-breaking attempts to right the ship, neither the show's punchlines nor its characters are sharp enough to transcend their clichéd foundations."

"['Insatiable' is a] painfully misguided show, a train wreck of terrible jokes, unpleasant characters, gross stereotypes and idiotic storylines."

"The lack of care this series has for its characters is topped only by the lack of respect it has for its viewers; its veneer of edginess almost as thoughtless as its later attempts at playing 'woke.'"

"Much of 'Insatiable' is just indigestible."

"Within the first 30 seconds, I experienced a familiar sinking feeling in my gut. Disappointment set in as I realised the show wasn’t going to be what I thought it was at all – that it was going to be something that hurt."

"It was a savvy move considering the hyper-awareness and policing around women's bodies, but even with those pillars in place-personal experience, satire, criticism-Insatiable struggles to find its story."

"'Insatiable' is a harsh example of the best intentions yielding the worst results."

But there is one critic who enjoyed the series:

"'Insatiable" is an unexpected little gem, a series so floridly over the top as to feel like a send-up of 1980s soap operas on 21st-century steroids. Everyone, seemingly, is hot for someone they can't have or who's utterly oblivious to their interest, in a Netflix series that throws together teen beauty pageants, raging hormones and closeted desires in one surprisingly binge-worthy stew."

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