Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You is remarkable in how it's able to explore so many different layers of power

The Atlantic

"The most obvious way to interpret I May Destroy You is as a brilliant, explosive consideration of modern sexual mores, and of how flimsy the line can be between gratification and exploitation," says Sophie Gilbert, adding: "But Coel, who created the show in part based on an event that happened to her, is also aware of how exploitation can play out in art—how one woman’s traumatic experience can easily be manipulated and transformed into sales figures or a social-media storm. Or a television series. As a character, Arabella is brash and irresistible and sexually fearless. As a woman, she’s also inherently vulnerable when she sleeps with strangers. And as a black woman, she’s exposed on yet another level, whether to companies seeking out people of color for online kudos or to fans who desperately want her to mirror their own under-portrayed perspectives. A writer less volcanically talented than Coel might struggle to weave one of these themes into a 12-part series; that she’s able to explore so many different layers of power while creating such a compulsively watchable show is striking."