'I May Destroy You' Episode 2 Review: Arabella realizing she is the victim is a gamechanger for the HBO series
Spoilers for 'I May Destroy You' Episode 2: 'Someone is Lying'
There is something about detachment and dissociation that a victim of assault feels right after the realization of what was done to them, sets in. And Michaela Coel's dark HBO comedy 'I May Destroy You' gets it really well despite being just two episodes old (in the US, in the UK the debut season has been airing twice a week, on BBC One.) Coel - writer, director, producer, and the lead actor of the series - explores her character, Arabella's morning after a night of blurry images and blackouts.
Within the short time, she has returned from Italy, Arabella has met a really impossible deadline and most likely witnessed someone getting assaulted during her night out. Episode 2 however changes the game for everyone, as Arabella realizes the victim from her blurry memories is her own self. And while the complex placement of Arabella's denial while she answers the cop's questions, paralleled by scenes of her going through the process of medical examination, it is not just her, but her closest confidants coming full circle about this knowledge is what keeps us hooked.
Episode 2, titled 'Someone is Lying' puts Arabella's friend Simon (Aml Ameen), who invited her out for the night at the club, under suspicion. The titular 'someone' in this context is hinted at him as he plays coy throughout the episode every time Arabella asks him about how their night ended. As for Arabella herself, she hasn't slept or touched her food, her phone is smashed and soon we learn that the mysterious cut on her forehead isn't the only injury sustained. Her quest to put the pieces from the night before sees her wake up before she can even fall asleep, as she keeps seeing a strange man thumping against a public restroom cubicle in her visions. And no matter how hard her friend and roommate Terry (Weruche Opia) tries, Arabella is fixated on finding this guy who might have assaulted someone in her vicinity.
Up until this point, Arabella feels like a savior - she reckons she's out to save someone who was probably assaulted and left there uncared for. And even though her ATM transactions from the night before prove she was in fact far, far away from the places Simon claimed they were at, she still has this cynical denial about the prospect of her being the victim which soon changes once she notices how shifty Simon is being. She shows up at his place and demands a concrete ending to the night before, but Simon's wife is around and he can't come clean about spending the night at another woman's place. Not that Arabella cares, but she still takes a photo of his Uber receipts and this is where we see the first layers of what might have actually happened, settle in.
Even when Simon is obviously lying about his constantly twisting story of how he walked Arabella to her office from somewhere 45-minutes away there's a sinking realization dawning on Arabella that Coel plays effortlessly. As Arabella realizes her close friend just dumped her inebriated self somewhere to go get some action, Coel is measured in her character's reactions, letting her eyes do most of the work as the smile stays plastered no matter what news she unfurls.
Thinking she can do it on her own, she even follows up with Simon's new lady - Alissa (Ann Akin) and shows up at her place randomly, only to realize Alissa is undergoing a blackout too, while Simon is ghosting her. Considering he is the common factor in their tales, Arabella suggests he might have done something wrong to them, which Alissa strongly refutes and pretty much yells at Arabella for even suggesting.
This is what propels Arabella to finally take the leap: she arrives at the station with Kwame (Paapa Essiedu), to give a statement at first, and even with her defensive air of countering and calling the incident something as serious as 'assault' she breaks into violent sobs when the female officer states the logistics of her memory and Arabella realizes the victim she was trying to save, was her. The best part and probably the most significant in changing the game for the characters of the show is Arabella's confused, dazed, and morbidly humorous reaction to the way things are unfolding.
Her Italian fling keeps trying to video call her and she keeps maintaining that air of lucid abandon as she lies in Kwame's lap and drifts off to sleep, concerned about Terry's horribly gone audition. When asked how she's feeling, Coel doesn't give her character words and just lets fumbled sighs and confused smiles do the screaming in agony. But the gears have shifted and Arabella is the victim in her own nightmares; how she processes the whole situation in episodes to come is something really worth looking forward to.
'I May Destroy You' airs every Sunday at 10:30 pm on HBO in the US and every Mondays and Tuesdays at 10:45 pm on BBC One in the UK.