In the great tradition of shows with “wives” in the title, the new drama of Netflix “The Hunting Wives” is a salard soap centered on women who behave badly. But something is significantly different in this eastern city of Texas, where the wives of a candidate for the conservative governor, the sheriff of the county and the local Megachurch reverend carry firearms in their handbags. And despite their alleged traditional values and their Maga policy, several of these women are engaged in extramarital affairs – with each other.
Based on the novel by May Cobb, executive creator and producer Rebecca Cutter “The Hunting Wives” widens the premise “Single White Female” of the original, transplanting Sophie de Brittany Snow in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to meet the NRA when he arrived in the red state with her architect, Graham (Evan Jonigkeit). Former “political advertising” on the democratic side, Sophie immediately escapes the toilet for an Xanax and meets Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), the captivating and inhibited wife of the new boss of Graham and Potential Politician, Jed Banks (Dermot Mulroney).
The moral posture is the name of the game in this city of Texas, where everything is larger – including the Charades. Most of the titles on the “hunting wives” turn around Margo larger than life of Akerman, who, even in a bad wig, leads Sophie alongside the rest of her legion with her female tricks and her tight attention. She and Jed have an “arrangement” (“open weddings are for the liberals,” she says Sophie). “I don’t sleep with other men, and if Jed and I see a girl we love, we go.”
But Ms. Banks is not the type of rules, so she has dalliances with more than what her husband accepts, and Sophie drops her liberal convictions to be with Margo faster than she can get her bra. Soon, Sophie keeps her husband’s secrets, just like the rest of the women, until the murder of a local cheerleader threatens to blow the carefully maintained covers of each. Of course, ethical non-monogamy and sexual fluidity exist in Texas (the Bi-Curious skirt club based on members has regular events in Houston, Dallas and Austin), but unlike the “deplorable” coastal elites, residents of the fictitious city of Maple Brook would not dare to evolve this kind of thing in polished conversation.
The hypocrisy abounds in “The Hunting Wives”, which made its debut at n ° 3 on Netflix last week with 5.2 million views and climbed to n ° 1 on the graphic of the top 10 of the top 10 of the platform. With all the attention that the show receives, the reactions of viewers have turned out to be feverish, fans through festive lines questioning their sexuality after having attended the effects of Margo on Sophie (as well as Callie, another friend and sapphic lovers who will jump once Sophie will come in town). The bisexual nature (the accent on sexual nature) of the program was a central objective of most of the criticisms and comments of the fans, but, interesting, there is much less homophobic reaction than there is a criticism of the secret affair of Margo with the 18 -year -old son of his friend and the local reverend. Viewers, conservatives and liberals, are mainly invested in the world of “hunting wives”. It’s Margo’s world, Reddit sons to Tiktok Hot Takes, and we all live for it.
Akerman felt love for his deliciously duplicity character and said that she noted that Margo’s contradictions are ultimately representative of humanity more broadly.
“I think we, people, have a certain vision of the functioning of society and marriage and how we should be and what asked us,” she told NBC News. “This [show] tests these limits. Absolutely, I have the impression that humans are fluid people. We do not need to be placed in a single category, and I think it is normal to slip this scale and ask you and be everything you want to be, instead of what people tell you.
Cutter, the designer and Showrunner, said that she wanted to play with the paradoxes, to follow the satialization line of the conservative culture of “hunting wives” without vilifying the characters, a spell made in a way even when they murdered people. Cutter points Sophie while the resident liberal breaking her own moral code to be with Margo.
“She is not exactly someone who defends what she believes either,” said Cutter. “There is therefore hypocrisy and bad behavior on both sides.”
On “The Hunting Wives”, women with romantic and sexual relationships with each other are tacit bad behavior. Although Jed does not care about his wife’s sapphic tendencies, his decision to present himself to the post of governor requires a new type of discretion and restraint which puts more sanctions in Margo than for his predilection for the three. Margo is the key to his public character as a good old boy with a classic Christian wife, and although no purely simple anti-gay states, in parallel with the derogatory mentions of abortion and immigration, Cutter said that homophobia was intentionally infiltrated but implicit.
“In the Christian world, there will be a level of” it’s not ok “, that everyone is transgressing,” said Cutter. “I think that in this line,” open weddings are intended for liberals “, it is as if we codies it differently, even if the actions are the same.”
As reinforced as it may be, “The Hunting Wives” reflects a very real population, which can be uncomfortable for certain viewers who find it difficult to find the pleasure of engaging with characters whose personal life differs from their political motivations. On the other hand, the men have been rewarded several times for having played anti-heroes on the screen without the same type of control that has criticism Call the “Vulgar” series or question its ability to be called a “queer spectacle”. It may be frustrating to recognize that people’s sexual lives do not always align themselves with their public characters and their voting habits, but “hunting wives” confront the ways whose management is often a cover for self -destructive secrets – and no political party has a monopoly on this subject.
The Conservative and Toured Dear Texas provides a solid setting for a series like “The Hunting Wives” to play with conventions – which ultimately makes most viewers to participate in eight fun and sexy episodes.
“We are so polarized as a nation,” said Cutter, “and it is not a serious spectacle. So I think that in the end, people just appreciate the ride.”
Having been successful only two weeks after its beginnings, the fans hope that a second season is imminent. Is there a world in which an openly gay “hunting woman” joins the ranks? Cutter said she hadn’t thought about it: “It’s a great idea.”