Gaslit

What has grabed me by the collar, in this series, is that I find myself wanting, wishing, needing for the plot to be different for the outcome, the fate, of Martha Mitchell. She saw the truth but her husband was too corrupt, too much into the game, too controling to let her speak. And she was too firmly imbeded into his talons to see a way out.

If what I have seen is all true . . . How sad for our nation! Politics is not for honest people. And if the Nixon administration was this psychologically sick then the situation has only become worse.

Some scenes are very brutal - both psychologically and physically.

My Review- Gaslit Streaming on Stan

My Rating 8/10 for the series 10/10 for Julia Roberts performance as Martha Mitchell

Not being American I didn't really know anything about Martha Mitchell even though many movies and television dramas concerning the Nixon era and it's spectacular conclusion as a result of The Watergate wiretapping Scandal which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon have been produced over the years.

Great movies like All the President's Men (1976) The Final Days (1989) Nixon (1995) Frost Nixon (2008) and The Post (2017) .

Why I mention movies is that this eight part Tele drama while being very interesting with a story that primarily concerns Martha wife of John Mitchell the 67th Attorney General of the United States who advocated the use of wiretapping without court orders would I think have made a wonderful feature movie.

With two brilliant performances from Julia Roberts as Martha and an unrecognisable Sean Penn as John N. Mitchell in two of their finest career defining roles .

Julia as the outspoken Martha Washington who wasn't afraid to tell the world about the deception ,lies and the scapegoating of the Nixon Administration.

The fashionable term used today to gaslight is a perfect title for this series as Martha Washington was definitely a victim of gaslighting- defined as referring to a specific type of manipulation where the manipulator is trying to get someone else (or a group of people) to question their own reality, memory or perceptions. And it's always a serious problem, according to psychologists.

Martha was certainly abused physically and mentally especially by her husband which led to substance abuse and her loss of any credibility or reputation.

The harrowing somewhat over the top episode 7 titled Year of the Rat is very powerful .It takes place as all hell breaks loose between Martha and John plus we witness the despicable Gordon Liddy going insane in his solidarity confinement.

Another fine performance in Gaslit from British actor Dan Stevens who portrays John Dean who served as White House Counsel under Nixon and was involved in The Watergate cover up. It's hard to imagine Dan Stevens as the young Matthew in series 1 of Downton Abbey.

Gaslit is a very interesting story based on the podcast Slow Burn by Leon Neyfakh.

This was, overall, a nice watch. Well acted and well written and I'm always a sucker for well designed and appointed period pieces. Julia has enough of the elements to remind me of the actual historical figure she's playing and I bet, coming from Georgia, she's familiar with the type. It feels like it.

But they make a key mistake I have trouble brushing away and, honestly, I don't want to: they whitewash the unpleasant parts of the woman this is about, who had views ranging from unpleasant to outright bigoted that she was just as open and loud about. By rewriting, ignoring, and washing away those parts of her we're denied the honest, complicated, powerful portrait of a flawed woman of her time who did such an important and ultimately honorable thing.

There's no reason to make her a hero to the point when people go to research her they are surprised and put off. The kind of complicated character we're talking about is pure awards-bait for actors and writers. Think of Mare of Easttown, for example, Ray Donovan, even Archie Bunker. A character does not need to be all good or all bad or purely likeable to be compelling and even respectable for the good things they did do. They really missed the boat on that part.

Good show about what happened, showing the facts and the fumbling. Shea Whigham easily steals the show, playing a psycho so well that he's terrifying. He deserves an Emmy win for this one for sure.

So far so good but big important question: where are John Dean's big hornrimmed glasses?? I am old enough to have been a young adult during this pivotal time in history. What is super ironic to me is how the very "scandalous " events that took down an administration and changed political history back in 1974 are in current times not worthy of even a second thought. It's all pretty much how it's done these days. God help us, we are living in a sad and very scary era 😳