Once again, the BBC turned a one-woman stage show into a mini-series. The final adaptation is the winner Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s play-turn-series about a woman breaking the fourth wall on the brink of a life crisis. Why not try again? enter Moodbased on Nicole Lecky’s one-woman show Superhoe.
For the most part, the screen-to-screen formula works again. Mood courageously introduces us to an unreliable female protagonist, Sasha (Lecky), and somehow convinces us to empathize with her. Sasha has pretty much everything on her plate — she hates her mother (Jessica Hynes) and her nasty stepfather (Paul Kaye), as well as their nasty two-year-old daughter (Mia Jenkins). They kicked Sasha out of her home after she was accused of arson, a fire she may or may not have set at the home of her boyfriend Anton (Jordan Duvigneau). On the street and broken, Sasha is lost in a fun world, far from the superstar she longs for.
She wants to be a singer, rapper, sub-musician. However, all she is now is fatigue, loss, and running out of money. However, quickly, Sasha figured out how to cash in on a boat and got a little bit famous for doing it: OnlyFans. (The show uses parody, but the platforms are essentially the same; people (usually women) post their own intimate photos and videos to paid subscribers.) Carly (Lara Peake) , a woman Sasha met while hanging out with her drug dealers, convinced her to join the platform after the pair moved in together. Before long, they were using their collective following to sell videos of themselves, meet sugar-selling friends, and go viral for hot posts online.
Meanwhile, Sasha cannot grapple with the fact that Anton has turned her life upside down. Not only did he ignore her calls, but he also filed a restraining order against her, thanks to her alleged arson attempt. Somewhat similar to I can destroy you, Mood describe trauma as an ongoing non-linear state. Sasha recalls her life with Anton piece by piece, a mystery that had to be put together — and that cost her a great deal.
As fascinating as this concept in I can destroy youit doesn’t quite work in Mood, with a much lighter narrative. After two episodes, Anton’s storyline starts to get monotonous – he won’t reply to her texts, she may have been cheating; it’s all fuzzy and too vague to be curious. However, Lecky’s dedication to portraying Sasha’s emotional crisis never wavered. She pulls off a great performance full of small actions — clicking through a phone screen full of messages sent but never received, drowning herself in unfinished business — but at the heart of it all. The story makes her character decline.
However, much of the show forces Sasha to deal with Carly, her polar opposite and somehow still her best friend. Where Sasha is protected and passionate about building her career, Carly is outgoing and passionate about making money. Peake and Lecky are a great combination as the two women leading the film—it’s fun to watch as Carly encourages Sasha on simple tasks, like choosing her OnlyFans username (Caramel Lexi is the winner), but it’s also inspiring to watch the two bands come together to overcome life’s biggest challenges (read: men).
Sasha and Carly engaged in online prostitution, eventually expanding into offline prostitution, bringing Mood. Trying to understand the dangerous nature of adulthood and always wanting to be watched, Sasha sought solace in OnlyFans’ rapid popularity, finding solace in her fleeting friendship with Carly. But there are consequences: She’s not prepared for the intimate connection that fans feel they have with her, and she mistakenly thinks her videos are going viral in order to gain real fame. An inside look at the online porn industry — with Sasha still exploring it alongside Carly, who feels energized by the hustle and bustle — is as thrilling as it is informative.
Mood blends musical elements, deftly bringing them into Sasha’s soaring state of mind with dreamy tunes. Lecky is a talented performer and creative; as if this weren’t enough, she also has a deep heavenly voice. The transition to musical combinations feels like FleabagFourth Wall of Break: We get a deeper insight into Sasha’s inner thoughts, as well as an element of fantasy, somewhat magical, that gives the film a new emotional depth. (If you are like me and want to listen to all of Sasha’s songs, Mood the soundtrack is available on Spotify.)
An aspect that Mood distinguish itself from Fleabag is its length — while FleabagEpisodes only last about half an hour, Mood is a six-episode full-length season of 45-minute episodes. Here, Mood feels a touch too long and in the process creates a bit too much drama for its own good. Although the series is like a play, most of the episodes are very dramatic. Sometimes watching becomes tedious, unlike being creative easily I can destroy you or wind Fleabag.
However, with neither show being our moralist, we need a new protagonist to guide us through the perils of the female identity. Sasha should be her, with Nicole Lecky emerging as an incredibly talented writer, singer and actress. Mood may not live up to Fleabag comparison, but with the musical aspect and the addition of OnlyFans, the series refreshes the material enough to be appealing.
Mood will premiere on BBC America and AMC+ on November 6.
