![]() It’s a sharply bleak observation on the media and entertainment industries’ shallow treatment of Black women and other people of color, but played for a punch line. It doesn’t matter that Arabella doesn’t want to read so long as there’s another Black woman on the stage. Even after sharing that she’s gone through this ordeal, Arabella is still treated as the token dash of diversity to the event’s lineup by another Black woman. It’s a quick exchange to end the scene on a lighter note, but also a heavy sigh. Henny asks if this friend is white, and when Arabella says no, she excitedly accepts. Arabella nods and accepts her invitation to speak at tonight’s writing summit and asks if a close friend could read the selection. “I want to see that story,” she says with a smile. ![]() As if she didn’t hear what Arabella just said, her publisher asks her to commodify her trauma into a story. But she quickly covers up what she just said by thanking Zain for helping her write. ![]() She tells the group she’s just back from the police station and mentions that she knows her rapist, and names Zain as the perpetrator. What first looks to be the beginnings of a pleasant conversation sours as Zain enters, throwing Arabella’s focus. Arabella makes her way from the police station to sitting in her agent’s office for a meeting with her publisher, Susy Henny (Franc Ashman), and her assistant, Sion (Ellie James). Thanks to I May Destroy You’s brief 30-minute run time, the tonal changes feel even more jarring and upsetting. In light of this information, Kwame begins researching his own assault on his phone to see if it, too, meets their definition. Before she leaves, she asks the police if removing a condom during sex is a crime? Without hesitation, they say yes, it’s rape. That won’t be an easy conversation, and her reluctance is no longer an option now that he has to go to the police to give a DNA sample. Although Arabella looks excited at the mention of Biagio’s name and insists they talk every day, she also reveals to the investigators, along with Terry and Kwame, who are sitting beside her, that she has yet to tell him about the assault. They found a sample that might belong to Arabella’s rapist and an arrest has been made, but they need to check against any other men she may have been with consensually around that time to verify the sample is the offender’s. The cut inevitably becomes a statement that everyone remarks on.Īt the police station, we’re treated to another round of uncertainty and suspense. In a way, she gets the cut before the breakup, but Zain’s time in her life is numbered. With less time left for something new, she opts to have her head shaved, almost like a riff on the post-breakup haircut, something some folks do to reclaim your image and body from whatever was in your past. Self-care isn’t always on your time, after all. Shaken by the news, she walks out of Zain’s apartment as if in a trance, lost in thought, anger, and pain - so much so that she doesn’t notice that she’s left the flat without any pants on until walking into a shop for an emergency pair and some boots.Īrabella then goes to a salon, where she gets a high-pressure call from her agent and a call from the police investigating her sexual-assault case. In the middle of listening to a podcast while Zain showers, Arabella comes across a discussion that hits too close to home, revealing that Zain’s so-called condom accident or misunderstanding might have been a purposeful violation with excuses supplied by a Reddit forum. Healing is a nonlinear journey, one that I May Destroy You is only too happy to explore in its realistic messiness. ![]() In the morning, she shakes off dreams of her Italian maybe-boyfriend Biagio (Marouane Zotti), kisses her agency’s mandated writing partner Zain (Karan Gill) good morning, and gets up to work on her daily yoga pose. Arabella has leapt into the wide world of self-care and, in a hint of things to come, is avidly sharing her journey with her social-media followers. In the fifth episode “… It Just Came Up,” the wait is over, but relief is still far off. After several episodes of trauma in the stories of Arabella ( Michaela Coel) and her friends Terry ( Weruche Opia) and Kwame ( Paapa Essiedu), you might be wondering when I May Destroy You will get to the next stage of the healing process.
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