REVIEW: ‘I Hate Suzie Too’ Is A Stellar, Visceral Demonstration Of Anxiety

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There are all kinds of depictions of anxiety on-screen these days. But few are as visceral as Billie Piper, and Lucy Prebble‘s I Hate Suzie Too, a comedy-drama from HBO Max, Sky Vision, and Bad Wolf. The three 50-minute episodes follow up on Suzie Pickles after I Hate Suzie’s first series saw the former child star’s already troubled life turned upside down by being caught cheating on her husband with her current series’ showrunner. Now, she’s fighting her ex-husband (Daniel Ings) tooth and nail for any amount of custody over their son (Matthew Jordan-Caws) while competing on the country’s most popular celebrity dance competition show to afford the legal fees and attempt to rehabilitate her public image.

It does take a bit to adapt to the show, even with a recap from the first season at the front. The tone is quite different now, and the story takes absolutely no time priming you. It’s all in on every aspect instantly. But once you’re in, you’re in.

Where the first season and its 30-minute episodes focused a lot on comedy and the follies of Suzie’s predicament, I Hate Suzie Too takes a much more dramatic approach. Everything is about Suzie now, even when it’s about the people around her. Her anxiety, her narcissism, and her manic-depressive swings are the primary focus at all times, in the dialogue, in the acting, and the camerawork.

Every line Piper gives is layered with possibilities. Is she being sincere? Intentionally cruel or myopic in a self-harmful way? Or is she simply dense? It’s a script that obfuscates Suzie’s autonomy, begging you to consider whether she is in control of her words and actions or not at any given time. Because sometimes, you can feel sure she’s making a conscious choice in how to proceed, and the rest of the time, you can be just as certain that she’s lost her capacity to self-regulate. In this way, you’re completely engrossed in Suzie’s mindset, struggling to discern between real and imagined meanings being what’s going on.

Even while every person around her acts selfish or cruel, Suzie manages to at once seem even more selfish and cruel than them and seems like the victim of their selfishness. Her selfishness becomes a coping mechanism against the way she’s treated, yet, it also drives the people who matter the most away from her when it becomes unforgivable. I love this dichotomy and only wish there was more time to explore the other characters’ feelings a bit more.

And Piper acts this so perfectly. Her dynamics are a bit exaggerated, to be sure, but it’s impossible not to be sucked in by her performance anyway. In part, because the bombastic visuals warrant a bit of melodrama, but even more so simply because she is so darned good and playing the role of somebody completely broken. Her face, her voice, her body language, and even her gait are all over the top, yet because this makes sure you know precisely the kind of role it is she’s playing, you can skip past pondering Suzie’s state of mind and fall right into the deep chasm that is her mental state.

None of this would succeed without the visual aspect. Much of what takes place in these three episodes takes place in narrow hallways and in long runs up and down them and into and out of small rooms in between. Cameras turn on odd angles, Suzie’s outfits and her dances match her increasingly manic state, and we get close to her face whenever her expressions most need to be highlighted.

I Hate Suzie Too is a dramatic evolution of the show, demonstrating Billie Piper’s power as an actor and Lucy Prebble’s power as a writer. It’s an excellent demonstration of how cruel the world is for people whose autonomy has been stripped away into massive anxiety and mania at the whim of people who would just as soon blame her for it all. The show was great the first time around, and it’s just as great now, even in its more narrow, dramatic focus.

I Hate Suzie Too is streaming on HBO Max on December 22.