Pride Month 2020: ‘Work In Progress’s Abby McEnany is among the most radical queer characters you can see on TV
Thanks to some of the best television show creators of the present times, the world now has better insight about the LGBTQ+ community. Showtime’s recent show, ‘Work In Progress’ fits into that bill and makes us feel proud of Abby McEnany, it’s leading character.
This Pride Month, we explore Abby and how she has established herself among the most radical characters of pride on television. Created by comedy and improv artist, Abby McEnany (who writes, produces and acts in the show), Abby is a 40-something, single lesbian. But that’s not how the character defines herself. Her story opens with a narration of her personality, which she states as “45, single, fat, queer dyke”.
It’s quite deprecating to call oneself so, you might wonder, but not for Abby because she stands true to what she thinks she is. She is heavyset, a nerd, very “butch-like” in her get up, neurotic and everything that you don’t want to hear about a person. And yet, she makes you fall in love with her character. And what’s more? Abby also doesn’t shy away from giving you a refreshing and unfiltered stance on mental health issues like OCD, anxiety, depression, body image issues and gender non-conformity.
In her character’s journey, Abby claims that she has “the hardest life than anyone else”. Needless to say, life for the entire community has been a tough ride for years. But Abby finds it more difficult because of her mental health issues. She loses her therapist to a sudden death, causing her more trauma, has difficulty connecting with people, even other lesbians, and to top it all, she has never been lucky in her relationships.
One of the best parts of Abby’s portrayal is that after a point. her character becomes agnostic of her sexuality and you start seeing her as just another human being, entangled in a complex web of emotions and mental issues. Her dark thoughts make you wonder if this could happen to anyone. From suicidal tendencies to self-loathing and reservations on her own sexuality, there’s nothing very cheery about Abby’s character at the first experience but that’s precisely why she becomes more lovable over time.
McEnany’s Abby is perhaps more relatable because it comes directly from her personal experience and honest perspective on her own life. For those unaware, ‘Work In Progress’s Abby is very much like what McEnany is in real life, sans the dramatization. She has herself faced similar challenges in life, including falling in love with a trans-man.
Being radical and queer have nothing to do with each other, but when you put those two attributes in a single personality, it can seem overwhelming and complex. Abby is the exact portrayal of that and yet she exudes a certain amount of warmth every time you see her. What otherwise seems difficult to talk about, Abby makes it easy to see and understand in her extremely well-laid-out character arc and aesthetic representation of who she is.
The narrative of Abby’s character is hilarious and gloriously handled, but you see the struggles very clearly and it makes you feel emotional. And McEnany is the one to be credited for creating such a realistic and brilliant on-screen character for television.
The season finale of 'Work in Progress' aired in January 2020 but during Showtime's presentation at the TCA Winter Press Tour, it was announced that the critically acclaimed show has been ordered for a 10-episode second season.
