S01.E06: The Alliance

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BBC1 is airing two episodes per week while HBO is airing only one episode per week. If you enter this thread before the US air date, you may encounter spoilers!

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Arabella attends a support group run by Theo, a high school acquaintance. In a flashback to 2004, a troubled Theo flips the narrative when consensual sex goes sideways.

Original UK air date: 6/23/20
Original US air date: 7/13/20

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Wow, Theo and her mom are fucked up. Poor Martin and baby bro.

Ryan didn't deserve to be falsely accused of rape, but he was still a shit head.  No, you don't get to take pictures while having sex without consent, you jackass. And that's what he does to a girl who he claims to like? Gross.

[Glade]

I'm not sure what qualification Theo has to be running a survivor support group given what we're shown about her past.  Lying that a black man raped and assaulted you with a deadly weapon is so disgusting, is an exploitation of her privilege and not in any way justified by his taking photos.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Holy crap. What Theo did to herself with that knife was straight out of the classic film, Cries and Whispers.

Even though their buddy was falsely accused of rape, I saw the Alliance as supporting sexual exploitation since they knew he probably took that video without the girl's permission. They were sorta racist too, IMO.

So Theo started getting exploited as a child by her own mother. Wonder if she ever got professional therapy or if the support group was her attempt at self-help.

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Lying that a black man raped and assaulted you with a deadly weapon is so disgusting, is an exploitation of her privilege and not in any way justified by his taking photos.

I absolutely don't disagree but that incident happened when she was in the US version of high school. She and Bella seem to be in their late 20s or early thirties. Likely at least ten years have passed since the incident we were shown and there's no reason right now to believe she didn't learn the error of her ways and possibly make amends. Note that the boy didn't apologize for taking video without her consent and basically tried turn it into prostitution when she called him on it. It was clear to me this was behavior he and his cohorts commonly engaged in and who knows how many girls they'd exploited. Maybe karma sent him a warning shot.

[DanaK]

Boy, this zigged in an unexpected direction, then zagged, then zigged again. None of the parties came away looking good. Except the stepdad

[Blakeston]

Theo and Ryan were both guilty of sex crimes and perpetrators of them, IMO.

It was horrific that Theo falsely accused Ryan of rape, but at the same time, I don't think she can be held fully accountable for that. She was super-young, was raised by that horrible mother who trained her to lie, and clearly had enormous psychological issues.

And Ryan certainly shouldn't have been photographing Theo without consent, and sending pics to his friend, but I think he was so jaded by his environment that he never stood a chance at being sexually appropriate at that age.

And speaking of their environment, it was pretty remarkable how Arabella and Teddy - who we know grew up to be decent people - saw the horrific situation as fodder for gossip and jokes. That school was as toxic as it gets.

[Maire]

Am I going crazy? When the three friends were looking at the phone in the schoolyard someone was getting beaten up in the background. The crowd beat her? Up and walked away leaving her crawling on the ground. It was never mentioned!

[scrb]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

Theo and Ryan were both guilty of sex crimes and perpetrators of them, IMO.

It was horrific that Theo falsely accused Ryan of rape, but at the same time, I don't think she can be held fully accountable for that. She was super-young, was raised by that horrible mother who trained her to lie, and clearly had enormous psychological issues.

And Ryan certainly shouldn't have been photographing Theo without consent, and sending pics to his friend, but I think he was so jaded by his environment that he never stood a chance at being sexually appropriate at that age.

And speaking of their environment, it was pretty remarkable how Arabella and Teddy - who we know grew up to be decent people - saw the horrific situation as fodder for gossip and jokes. That school was as toxic as it gets.

Theo was lying to her parents and she justified it by saying her mother lied in the divorce settlement.  She also muttered a racist slur as she was walking away from school

But the Alliance doesn't come off well either.  Arabella and Terry reported and was going to be okay with Ryan being railroaded before they knew the whole story.

What was the accent though?  It seems like they were mocking the accents of their parents or some who don't speak the King's English?  Because they certainly don't talk that way now?

 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

There was just so much to unpack in this episode. I need to rewatch because parts of it are spinning in my head.  Learning that Theo was told to lie about her bio dad during her parents' divorce was bizarre and, as is standard for this show, so well acted.  Martin's realization of the terrible thing his wife had done, wow.  While Theo's statements that she did this because Martin is wealthier were hateful and likely not the reason, it was still like a concussion grenade was thrown into their marriage. Then seeing lying as a key part of her personality going forward. 

Theo's non-rape scene with Ryan did bring me back to Terry in Italy.  She thought she was owning her sexuality and was a willing participant.  Thought that Ryan was attracted to her.  Then she realized he was filming it and her role in the interaction changed completely.  She went from feeling empowered to feeling used.  He did a terrible thing and, as people have said, was in an environment in which this behavior was normalized.  

However, cutting herself and claiming she was raped was horrific.  It showed the power of white women to claim rape when a black man is involved and how quickly that is believed by people in positions of power. While I cannot defend Ryan's actions I am certainly glad this didn't end with him in jail.

It was also interesting to see how Arabella and Terry played a role in this and which bonds were most important to them.  To an extent, they were setup by a young man who was not willing to say he was part of a group of guys who had sex, filmed it (likely often without consent) and shared those videos.  He knew what happened and could have stepped up.  Instead he got Arabella and Terry charged up to go to "sir", thereby keeping himself outside of the issue. 

Seeing this background does make me question anything that Theo says in her support group. While I thought Terry was being a little much with her you want a support group challenge to Arabella, she was seemingly right that one she found on facebook was not the way to go.  Arabella needs more than her friends' support to heal.  She would be much better served by a support group run by a professional and with anonymity rules in place. 

Also, Kwame seems to have no support at all.  If ever someone needed help, it's him. 

[Blakeston]

I got the impression that Theo in the present day understands exactly how wrong her childhood actions were.

She was the victim of both sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by her mother. She was probably pre-pubescent when her mother coached her to say that she'd been molested in front of an audience. I can't imagine how much it would screw a child up to make a statement like that.

[After7Only]

16 hours ago, Blakeston said:

It was horrific that Theo falsely accused Ryan of rape, but at the same time, I don't think she can be held fully accountable for that. She was super-young, was raised by that horrible mother who trained her to lie, and clearly had enormous psychological issues.

 

This is probably some version of the backstory of most sociopaths.  Also the backstory of many people who realize what has happened to them was messed up, get help/therapy and move on to live normal-ish lives.  I think the issue of accountability is separate.  Bad behavior does not exist in a vacuum for anyone.   She does deserve to be fully accountable for her actions.  As did Ryan for his.   He was also young, raised in a male dominant society where his actions were normalized in his peer group.  

Took me a bit to get into this show, but I am enjoying the exploration into the spectrum of sexual assault and it's ramifications.   

[meep.meep]

On a technical side, the three young actresses playing Arabella, Terry, and Theo were superb.  They must have watched the film of the adult actresses playing the same parts - had all the mannerisms and vocal quirks down pat.  I have great trouble understanding Michaela Cole, and it was the same with the girl playing her younger self.

And it really played against your pre-conceptions.  I thought that Theo's step father was going to be shown as a molester, instead he ends up the victim of her mother's problems.

[DanaK]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

And it really played against your pre-conceptions.  I thought that Theo's step father was going to be shown as a molester, instead he ends up the victim of her mother's problems.

Yeah, I kept expecting that to be the case

[Sheenieb]

2 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

However, cutting herself and claiming she was raped was horrific.  It showed the power of white women to claim rape when a black man is involved and how quickly that is believed by people in positions of power. While I cannot defend Ryan's actions I am certainly glad this didn't end with him in jail.

It was also interesting to see how Arabella and Terry played a role in this and which bonds were most important to them.  To an extent, they were setup by a young man who was not willing to say he was part of a group of guys who had sex, filmed it (likely often without consent) and shared those videos.  He knew what happened and could have stepped up.  Instead he got Arabella and Terry charged up to go to "sir", thereby keeping himself outside of the issue. 

Yup, Ryan was a shithead, but lying about being raped was beyond the pale. As disgusting as it is to even type this, the pictures he took saved his ass. 

I'm not sure if this was the show's intention, but I took it to mean that when the black boy was in trouble, it was the black girls who stepped up to bail him out. His friend could've went to the principal, but he chose to not to. 

I did enjoy the actresses who played young Arabella, Terry, and Theo. That was great casting; especially young Theo. I could definitely see her as grown up Theo. 

[Blakeston]

 

20 hours ago, After7Only said:

This is probably some version of the backstory of most sociopaths.  Also the backstory of many people who realize what has happened to them was messed up, get help/therapy and move on to live normal-ish lives.  I think the issue of accountability is separate.  Bad behavior does not exist in a vacuum for anyone.   She does deserve to be fully accountable for her actions.  As did Ryan for his.   He was also young, raised in a male dominant society where his actions were normalized in his peer group.  

Theo and Ryan definitely needed some sort of intervention and consequences here. But being treated the same way as fully accountable adults who committed sex crimes - which could mean incarceration for both of them - doesn't seem like the answer to me.

[marny]

20 hours ago, Sheenieb said:

Yup, Ryan was a shithead, but lying about being raped was beyond the pale. As disgusting as it is to even type this, the pictures he took saved his ass. 

 

The pictures were what got him into this problem in the first place.  Theo liked him. We saw them exchanging text messages the night before where she wanted to say "i love you", so we know she was willing to have consensual sex with him. But instead he chose to exploit her and use her for his own cred by taking photos that he sent out immediately.  Was she right to accuse him of rape? Of course not. For many reasons. But am I glad that he spent a few minutes panicking as his punishment for being a disgusting shithead? I'll be honest and say yes. Do I think it taught him anything about how to treat girls/women? Probably not.  Especially when he was immediately accepted afterwards by his friends as a hero, and the girls in the group never acted at all bothered by the fact that he's a disgusting shithead who sends out embarrassing photos of classmates he has sex with.

Just because Theo's actions were even more terrible doesn't make Ryan a decent human being.

[scrb]

Ryan wasn't taking pictures to exonerate himself.

He was using them as trophies to share with his male friends, to boast with each other.

[Sheenieb]

22 hours ago, marny said:

The pictures were what got him into this problem in the first place.  Theo liked him. We saw them exchanging text messages the night before where she wanted to say "i love you", so we know she was willing to have consensual sex with him. But instead he chose to exploit her and use her for his own cred by taking photos that he sent out immediately.  Was she right to accuse him of rape? Of course not. For many reasons. But am I glad that he spent a few minutes panicking as his punishment for being a disgusting shithead? I'll be honest and say yes. Do I think it taught him anything about how to treat girls/women? Probably not.  Especially when he was immediately accepted afterwards by his friends as a hero, and the girls in the group never acted at all bothered by the fact that he's a disgusting shithead who sends out embarrassing photos of classmates he has sex with.

Just because Theo's actions were even more terrible doesn't make Ryan a decent human being.

Didn't say that he was a decent human being. I just don't think a rape accusation should be used as a scare tactic. I wouldn't have cared if he got expelled from school since what he did to Theo was humiliating and a violation of her trust. That would've been his rightful punishment.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Sheenieb

[Blakeston]

I don't think there's any way Ryan could walk away from this unscathed.

School administrators had just seen photographic proof that he had sex with another student at the school. That alone could get him expelled.

He could also be in a whole lot of legal trouble for taking the photos. It would be pretty easy to prosecute him for creating and distributing child pornography, too.

Even if the school decided to just wash their hands of the whole thing, tons of people would be talking about him having sex at school, and being accused of rape. There would almost certainly be people who (at the very least) would harbor suspicions that he really was a rapist, particularly with him being black and the girl being white.

He may have been released, and welcomed back by his clique, but he'd almost certainly have repercussions from this for years to come.

[kieyra]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

He could also be in a whole lot of legal trouble for taking the photos. It would be pretty easy to prosecute him for creating and distributing child pornography, too.

Even if the school decided to just wash their hands of the whole thing, tons of people would be talking about him having sex at school, and being accused of rape. There would almost certainly be people who (at the very least) would harbor suspicions that he really was a rapist, particularly with him being black and the girl being white.

He may have been released, and welcomed back by his clique, but he'd almost certainly have repercussions from this for years to come.

Even taking into account that the events depicted happened so long ago that everyone was impressed by a phone that takes pics? (Meaning, so very long before the metoo era, and before people had really come to grips with the child-porn implications of teens 'sexting' each other.)

[Blakeston]

On 7/16/2020 at 3:18 PM, kieyra said:

Even taking into account that the events depicted happened so long ago that everyone was impressed by a phone that takes pics? (Meaning, so very long before the metoo era, and before people had really come to grips with the child-porn implications of teens 'sexting' each other.)

I'm not sure how those things have historically been prosecuted in the UK. But people have been charged with distributing child porn electronically since the '90s. If a prosecutor wanted to go after Ryan, it would have been pretty easy.

[kieyra]

2 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I'm not sure how those things have historically been prosecuted in the UK. But people have been charged with distributing child porn electronically since the '90s. If a prosecutor wanted to go after Ryan, it would have been pretty easy.

People being charged—including minors?

Asking, not arguing. I don’t know either. I feel like I wasn’t aware of this until the 2010s (the “oh shit if the kids take pics of themselves and text them, they’re technically distributing CP” thing). But I’m not a lawyer or a teen. 🙂

[rlc]

I want to be clear that I am in no way, shape, or form looking to justify Theo’s actions. The show is doing an incredible job in showing many of the ways that a person can be sexually assaulted, and the nuisances behind the many ways that ones own behavior can contribute, but that rape is still rape, and sexual assault is still assault regardless of how you arrived there.

Theo was 100% wrong to falsely accuse Ryan of rape, but he did sexually assault her by taking photographs and sharing them. Theo was a damaged little girl who was taught to lie about sex as a 7 year old girl by her mother, so she lashed out in the only way she knew how.

Watching Arabella realize what has happened to her during the course of this show has been one of the most painful, poignant, and realistic things I have ever watched. Yes- she drank and took drugs before the first rape. Yes, she initiated sex before the second rape/assault. Neither of these scenarios in any way discount what has happened. Yes, Kwame met up with someone for a planned sexual encounter. He was still raped.

Watching them come to the realization of what has happened as the series unfolds is the realist portray of this I have ever seen. I was date raped when I as 17. I broke up with my boyfriend soon after this occurred because I didn’t like the way he acted at the time, but it took years for me to realize that what had happened was rape. Any non-consensual sex, regardless of how much consensual sex you have had with that person is rape. It is often very difficult to understand and come to terms with that.

Any time a minor accuses someone of rape, there is more to the story. Children don’t come up with things like that out of the blue.

This show is an incredibly difficult watch, but one of the best things on television.

 

[peachmangosteen]

On 7/13/2020 at 11:35 PM, Maire said:

Am I going crazy? When the three friends were looking at the phone in the schoolyard someone was getting beaten up in the background. The crowd beat her? Up and walked away leaving her crawling on the ground. It was never mentioned!

You're not crazy, it happened. It made me think this show is even darker than I thought and that it's message is basically that humanity sucks lol.