On March 20, a new show called “The Act” premiered on Hulu. It is based on a real life murder and tells the story of Dee Dee Blanchard and her daughter Gypsy Rose. Gypsy is a young girl who is confined to a wheelchair, has a feeding tube, a deadly allergy to sugar, and is bald from the effects of chemotherapy. Neighbors come together to build a home through Habitat for Humanity, and strangers send donations for Dee Dee to help with her medical bills.
However, we soon learn that all of these “illnesses” are completely fake. Gypsy can walk, does not need a feeding tube, does not have an allergy to sugar, and her mother shaves her head to make it appear that she has cancer. The lengths that her mother goes to in order to convince doctors of her daughter’s sickness are horrifying and shocking. The reason for her mother’s madness is because she suffers from a mental health condition called Munchausen syndrome by proxy, when a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care.
The acting by both Patricia Arquette (Dee Dee) and Joey King (Gypsy) is brilliant. They look so incredibly similar to the real life people they portray. Joey King’s high pitched voice and baby outfits are ridiculous trying to convince everyone that she’s so young, yet we soon learn she is not 15 years old and is in fact 19.
There are eight episodes that detail the relationship between the overprotective and abusive mother and her young and innocent daughter. During each episode there are flash forwards that give the viewers some insight on what takes place at the end of the story and each episode is more intense and suspenseful than the next. The fourth episode will premiere this Wednesday. You’ll be hooked from the minute you turn on the television to the minute the show ends with its creepy and spooky music.