On Becoming a God in Central Florida brilliantly depicts an economy based on scams

The New Republic

The Showtime series starring Kirsten Dunst "is a black comedy and it looks kitsch and bright as candy; it also deals with income inequality and destitution in a way that cuts close to the bone in 2019, when 40 percent of Americans still make less than $15 an hour," says Philippa Snow. "For the most part, it succeeds in making capitalism look evil, stupid, and untenable. FAM is at least partially funded by the sale of motivational tapes, written and recorded by a mysterious self-made billionaire, and backed by music that may or may not be Enya. The mysterious billionaire has the ridiculous name Obie Garbeau II, and an unusual style of dress makes him resemble a spiffed-up Colonel Sanders. (As if we had not already guessed that he was bad news, he is played by Ted Levine, the actor best known for portraying Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.)" She adds: "One of the great injustices inherent in making a work of entertainment out of stories like these is the inconvenient fact that scammers, much like gangsters, are typically more interesting and more charismatic than the victims they exploit."

ALSO:

• Alexander Skarsgård is utterly devine in his unrecognizable On Becoming a God role: "He’s a gangly guy with bad posture, a mullet-like haircut, and ill-fitting suit," says Hanh Nguyen. "There’s still an earnestness and charm underneath, but Skarsgård is no longer polished and godly; he’s human." As co-creator Robert Funke explains, "it’s really hard to make him less hot."
• How to dress like Kirsten Dunst's Krystal Stubbs