'We Are Who We Are' Episode 1 offers stream of consciousness treatment to story of adolescent dislocation
When we first meet Fraser, his back his turned to us, musical percussion drums faster and faster courtesy the earplugs that hang from his ears for most of the episode. A minute later, you see the sign for the 'Lost/Found' section at the airport. Already, the poor boy's luggage is lost. His mother Sarah pacifies him with alcohol, while her partner Maggie, looks on excluded from their private dysfunctional unit of two. We learn in the subsequent scene that Sarah is taking over as garrison commander of the American military base in Italy, with Fraser, and Maggie (who is a military doctor) in tow.
Sarah and Fraser have a strange relationship, to say the least, that is by turns too intimate or hostile, with Fraser acting up seeking attention and competing with Maggie for Sarah's affection and attention. Maggie is the bystander, who navigates between these two overpowering personalities. That is family unit no. 1.
Family unit no. 2 is their neighbors -- Jennifer, the military wife, is deferential to Sarah and treats Maggie the way she is treated as a dependent spouse. Her husband, serving under Sarah, is less than pleased about serving under a lesbian without realizing that his daughter Caitlin is a bit of a norm breaker too, in the habit of sneaking out of the base in more masculine attire and attracting the attention of local girls.
As a viewer, used to American plot beats, 'We Are Who We Are', is a shock to the system. There is a building of a languid but disjoined atmosphere and very little plot, so to speak. So much so, that it feels like the visual equivalent of stream of consciousness prose. Fraser, the precocious, eccentric teen, is not the most comfortable audience surrogate -- and yet it is through his eyes we see most of the base -- a little America bound in strict conformity surrounded by relaxed European culture (and values) of an Italian seaside town. Within the base, he is told to take his sunglasses off and "show some respect" -- outside it, he is given an Italian welcome of chilled wine and music.
But the American base, built to resemble every American military base around the world is but a backdrop for Fraser's wild child meanderings in Episode 1 -- he is like a feral New York kitten, all instinct, curiosity, and clumsiness, that doesn't understand the ways of the domesticated base dwellers. He stumbles into a shower full of naked soldiers, stalks a group of kids his age, takes pictures of things that suddenly hold his interest, makes recordings to a "Mark", who could be a friend or lover he has left behind in New York, and is well on his way to being an underage alcoholic. He is lost but still strangely comfortable in his skin.
You also aren't quite able to define his sexuality since he seems equally enamored of male and female bodies but his neighbor, Caitlin, with her almond eyes and silent cat-like grace holds his interest more than the more conventional kids. What all this atmosphere will eventually build to is uncertain but given the miniseries' name, and the fact that 'Call me by your name' director, Luca Guadagnino, is helming the miniseries, we can expect a slow unspooling of themes like identity, attraction and finding selfhood in the episodes to come.
'We are Who we are' Episode 2 will air on September 21 on HBO at 10 pm ET.