4 out of 5

Covers season 1

Director: Guy, maybe

It’s possible I’m new to the whole ‘adult’ teen drama thing (I never watched My So Called Life), but My Mad Fat Diary was incredibly effective – very well acted, believable enough, and bold enough to face some pretty dark issues without over-shooting it Glee style or giving us some kind of cheeky but insight Sex & the City style VO recap.  Is there a voiceover?  Sure – of one Rae Earl, played by Sharon Rooney, bringing to life the 16-year old self that the non-fictional Rae presented via her published diaries under a similar title to the show.  Is it all legit?  Are the boys really this cute?  Who cares?  While there’s a nigh-Juno-ness to the pause-and-reflect nature of the show, as well as Rae’s totally teened-out lingo, it’s not so forced and completely irregular as Diablo Cody’s slang-stained script, instead mostly sticking to clever comparisons that make use of acceptable UK kid talk.

We start out as Rae is leaving the mental hospital.  The reasons for her being there are vague, but depression linked to her general outlook (that she’s, y’know, crazy and overweight) seem likely.  It’s a successful introduction to her friend Tix – who has trouble maintaining a healthy weight, naturally – and instead of seeming like a forced TV relationship, the bond seems understandable and legit, Tix’s wide-eyed view of the world a good balance for Rae’s negativity, while both being soured by their experiences at an in-patient facility.  And after some chit-chat with various handsome doctors, we get a voiceover of another main theme of the series – boys.  What I liked about this is that, despite the constant talk of between-leg-gushing, I never felt like I wasn’t supposed to be watching this show ’cause I’m a boy.  This balance of a seemingly honest representation of a female point of view with dialogue and scripting that play it all rather straight – not too depressive, not too flowery, not too sarcastic, not even too moody – is absolutely the show’s strongest selling point (for me), and allows those moments of true hilarity or tragedy to really swing you around to highs and lows.  It’s not a happy show by any means, or even uplifting (though it goes for that at the very end of the series… which I guess is to be expected) – it presents its slice of life and moves on.  As does the main character.  Its thus a very satisfying glimpse into a personality that surpasses what I have glimpsed of those other shows, because though it remains grounded in teen drama of best friends and breakups, the character’s actually seem to be absorbing the events around them and not just acting for the event-of-the-week.  Perhaps this is due to it being based on a real diary.

Also of note is the filming style.  Beyond the pause-and-review nonsense, the episode’s directors do an excellent job of depicting Rae’s more manic moments, or when she slips into binges, using just enough editing tricks to get the skewed perspective across, or leaving out the pieces that she blocks out of the experience as well…

So why is it not perfect?  Well, despite the strong writing and acting, it can’t avoid being a show for teens.  I’m not really affected by it.  As a friend remarked, she would’ve really enjoyed it in high school.  So it’s something I appreciate now, and was entertained by, and, yes, at times impressed by the confidence of the writers in detailing this girl’s plight with warts and all, but, well, there are story arcs.  It’s edited for six episodes.  This is ‘good television’ that deserves awards (and Rooney just nails all the looks and attitude so well), but I gotta reserve my fives for things like Adventure Time, that really strike at my heart and make me think.  About stuff.