When I first saw a trailer for “Dietland,” I couldn’t understand the “Devil Wears Prada” meets “Fight Club” divided by “9 to 5” story it was trying to sell. But after actually seeing a few episodes of “Dietland” … well, the same confusion holds true. Marti Noxon’s adaptation of Sarai Walker’s novel is purposefully strange and gleefully defies categorization. At first, it looks like the show will be about Plum Kettle (Joy Nash) ghostwriting for an ice queen magazine editor (Julianna Margulies) while struggling to accept herself in a world that too often tells her she’s too big to fit in or find lasting happiness. Then it pivots into an ominous case of corporate espionage as Plum is recruited by a secretly seething coworker (Tamara Tunie) to turn on the beauty industry that’s shut women like her out. That becomes further complicated when a seemingly benign guru (Robin Weigert), whose mother used to peddle a bogus diet, brings Plum into her fold, for vague purposes that will be revealed at some point, probably. All the while, the show indulges in surreal touches like Plum’s memories taking the form of bleak animated sequences and dreams morphing into elaborate fantasies. But “Dietland” isn’t satisfied by simply deriding the beauty industry through Plum’s weight struggles and sporadic speeches about the “dissatisfaction industrial complex.” As Plum keeps narrating this pivotal part of her life from some undefined future with a voice so wry you can hear her constant eye rolls, the bigger overarching mystery belongs to a pitch black revenge fantasy. A feminist terrorist group that collectively goes by “Jennifer” is targeting and killing men who have done women wrong, keeping the city on edge. Every so often, Jennifer peppers the skies of “Dietland” with dead men falling onto the concrete below as dire warnings. There is a version of “Dietland” that could probably bring all these threads together in a way that underlines its palpable rage. But the show’s tone shifts so wildly from scene to scene — and sometimes even several times within a single scene — that it becomes almost impossible to grasp exactly what it’s trying to do. Some definite upsides to “Dietland” lie in the performances. Margulies, in her first series regular role since “The Good Wife,” seizes the opportunity to play a character as different as ruthless editor Kitty with an acid bite of disdain in every sharpened line. But Kitty isn’t the star of “Dietland”; Plum is. She forms the apparent link between every disparate storyline. Nash’s Plum is biting and smart, but is always longing for acceptance from a perpetually fat-shaming world, not to mention acceptance from herself as she avoids staring too long at her reflection lest too much eye contact with herself becomes a glare. Her journey to find and love herself becomes entwined with other people’s ideas of how to use her for their own means, with women like Julia (Tunie) and Verena (Weigert) trying to seduce her with the radical idea that self-acceptance is well within reach. There’s also the undeniable fact that “Dietland’s” unflinching anger in the face of sexist injustice is, to say the least, timely. Even when its deliberately heightened version of our world doesn’t quite land, its tapping into women’s anger as an omnipresent threat to the status quo rings truer than ever now, as more and more alleged predators are finally being taken to task for decades of abuse. “Dietland” imagines a world in which women, after centuries of buildup, take that powder keg and decide to blow the whole thing into the sky. Come to think of it, the Jennifer subplot feels ripped from a “Good Wife” or “Good Fight” episode. It’s similarly exaggerated, ripped from the headlines, and at least somewhat self-aware that it’s often downright ridiculous. To call “Dietland” a product of the #MeToo reckoning, however, would mean ignoring one of the main points that “Dietland” hammers home with such blunt force. As the show points out again and again — with, it must be said, a heavily female creative team behind it — women have been withstanding truly extraordinary amounts of garbage treatment from all sides for about as long as society has existed. “Dietland” wasn’t borne of a single #MeToo incident, but a steady and suffocating avalanche of them over time. But for every moment that strikes just close enough to reality to make a pointed mark, there are about five more that feel far more scattered to the winds. “Dietland” wants to be a satire and a drama and all that lies between depending on its mood, and that determination to be everything often has it feeling more like nothing. If “Dietland” wants to be truly scathing, it would do better to streamline its fury and focus at more specific targets. TV Review: “Dietland” Drama series (10 episodes, 2 watched for review): AMC, Sun. June 4, 9 p.m. Credits: Executive producers: Marti Noxon, Jacqueline Hoyt, Maria Grasso, Bonnie Curtis, Julie Lynn, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross. Cast: Joy Nash, Julianna Margulies, Robin Weigert, Tamara Tunie, Erin Darke, Adam Rothenberg, Tramell Tillman, Rowena King, Will Seefried, Ricardo Davila.<doc-sep>Sometimes a television comedy’s premise is promising, but the execution is flawed. Sometimes the cast is wonderful, but the direction is bad. Sometimes all the right elements are there, but the timing is wrong. It’s rare when everything comes together as perfectly as it does for the dark comedy “Dietland.” The Skydance Entertainment/AMC Studios production, which premieres Monday, follows the passive, plus-sized writer Plum Kettle (Joy Nash), who works for the NYC-based fashion magazine Daisy Chain. Its offices are populated with a size 2 staff, and even they look like husky trolls next to the emaciated models that grace the magazine’s pages. Plum’s quiet life as a ghost writer for the publication’s self-absorbed editor Kitty (Julianna Margulies) is turned upside down when a radical terror group avenging the oppression of women attempts to induct her. Three of the season’s 10 episodes were made available for review and in them we learn the underground movement is not just reacting to infuriating and inhumane beauty edicts such as shunning carbs. The extremist movement known only as “Jennifer” is a reaction to all that has made women believe they require fixing: fad diets, the sadistic fashion industry, useless beauty products, bikinis, institutionalized ageism and anger-quelling antidepressants. “Dietland” is a wonderfully absurd exaggeration of the rage that’s driving sea change like the #MeToo movement. The Harvey Weinstein effect is satirized here, his depravity and the victim’s fury filtered through dark humor, and that dark humor woven into a quirky yet compelling drama. Advertisement RELATED: AMC’s ‘Dietland’ presents a different kind of transformation story Sexual predators have historically had more protections, authority and leverage than the women they prey upon. Jennifer is kidnapping, killing and dropping the bodies of rapists from the sky, literally, to kick start a revolution against the patriarchy. It’s based on Sarai Walker’s book “Dietland,” and though the show’s creator Marti Noxon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Mad Men”) sought to obtain rights to the book years ago before #MeToo, Weinstein and #TimesUp, her efforts now appear prescient. The predominantly female produced, written and directed series plays with topical issues of empowerment, rape culture and objectification in sharp-witted and insightful hour-long episodes. “Dietland” is the smart, funny and brutally honest missing piece between “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Big Little Lies,” and the progeny of films such as “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Thelma and Louise.” Nash is spectacular as the non-spectacular Plum, a single woman in her 30s who spends her time watching nature shows and writing Kitty’s heartfelt responses to readers’ letters. She’s intelligent but defeated by years of fat-shaming, and perhaps some family secret that will later be revealed. Nash portrays her internal battles with skill and feeling, adding a depth and a connectivity to the show’s witty and raw commentary. Joy Nash as Plum Kettle in a scene from “Dietland” (Patrick Harbron/AMC) As the vain Kitty, Margulies returns to her first regular series TV role after “The Good Wife.” She’s bold, fierce and delivers some of the best lines in a show full of smart dialogue. When the perimenopausal Daisy Chain diva laments what it’s like to age as a woman in the fashion industry, she says: “Around here if you look like someone’s grandmother, you’re out!... Mark my words, I won’t be left behind!” Following a hack of the office computers, she begins to distrust Plum and says: “Large girls pretend to be joyful and harmless. But really they’re jealous of people like me. No matter how well you treat them, they fester.” Advertisement Kitty claims to be helping women with magazine advice about how to please their man in bed, eliminate those bumps on the back of their arms, stop cutting themselves, and of course, lose weight. Plum has struggled with the latter all her life. She’s tried every diet imaginable, including attending “Waist Watchers” meetings where they discourage “bad behavior, like eating.” She goes unnoticed by most around her, except for leering men who make crude jokes about her size. Then Daisy Chain assistant, Leeta (Erin Darke), approaches her about using her writing skills for a real cause. She introduces Plum to Julia (Tamara Tunie), a subversive figure who works in the magazine’s beauty products storage basement dispensing remedies to desperate women, but is also deeply connected with the resistance. She has her eye on Plum, as does detective Dominic (Adam Rothenberg), who is investigating the hack at Daisy Chain. He’s the first man to flirt with Plum in ages, but is he just using her for inside info? And then there’s the women’s collective led by the daughter of disgraced diet gurus, Verena Baptist (Robin Weigert). She wants to atone for the damage done by her parents’ bogus weight-loss religion, and also wants Plum on her side. Advertisement Plum, who narrates throughout, isn’t so sure: “Verena was the poster child for skinny entitlement,” she says. “She thinks she gets it, but she’s never been in my extra-wide shoes.” “Dietland” is sprinkled with animated interludes, and when Plum daydreams, it often includes her staring at a svelte image of herself in a size 8 (or is it 6?) red dress. Other depictions of characters’ alter-egos, or bloated sense of self, are just as colorful. Kitty’s diva-like behavior — demeaning those around her, hiding her hideous habit of eating from the paparazzi — is the perfect delivery system for darker lines that could literally be pulled from “The Handmaid’s Tale.” “Jennifer won’t stop until they free women from oppression. And that will never happen. Men would rather destroy the world than have us rule it,” she says. Even the strident is silly in “Dietland,” which makes this show a refreshing change of pace in deadly serious times. Advertisement ---------------- ‘Dietland’ Where: AMC; also SundanceTV and WE When: 9 p.m. Monday Advertisement Rating: TV-14-DLSV (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14 with advisories for suggestive dialogue, coarse language, sexual content and violence) lorraine.ali@latimes.com @lorraineali<doc-sep>
AMC is no stranger to dark drama, and Dietland, based on the hit novel by Sarai Walker, is just up their alley. This darkly funny female revenge fantasy starring Julianna Margulies examines toxic notions of the patriarchy, misogyny, and beauty culture – but in an era where every series is a social statement, is Dietland too on the nose? DIETLAND: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? Opening Shot: The first thing we see is a woman covering up a black eye with makeup, and it is followed by a montage of different women all seemingly attempting to bend to our impossible beauty standards. They weigh themselves, straighten their hair, try to squeeze into a pair of pants, run their hands over blemishes, cut their breasts with a razor. Some of it is hard to watch, but the point is clear: it’s killing us. The Gist: Dietland tells the story of Alicia “Plum” Kettle (Joy Nash), a ghostwriter for the editor (Julianna Margulies) of one of New York’s top fashion magazines. She is introduced to us via cheeky voiceover, and tells us she’s telling us this from the future – but not a future where fat-shaming has stopped. Plum’s days are spent answering letters for her editor and attending Waist Watchers meetings as she prepares for weight loss surgery, but everything changes when she is sucked into a world of female empowerment and revenge on the men who have abused and assaulted them. This isn’t any walk-in-the-park revenge, either. These men disappear and suffer violent deaths at the hands of these women – they aren’t holding anything back. While the series initially appears to be Plum’s story, it soon reveals itself to be about something much, much bigger. It’s a smart, innovative blending of Plum’s difficult journey to self-acceptance and the distinctly female rage that drives women suffering in this male-dominated world, and it doesn’t pull any punches. Where many shows would shy away from going too deep into these issues, Dietland tackles misogyny, rape culture, toxic beauty standards, and more without so much as a flinch. Our Take: It might take a little getting used to out of the gate, but Dietland‘s tone is fresh and resonant as hell. It’s not an exaggeration to say that there’s pretty much nothing like Dietland on TV, and that’s a testament to creator Marti Noxon’s knack for world-building. With a bizarre blend of voiceover, haunting animations, and compelling drama, the series quickly establishes itself as something totally unique. Some of it may be hard to stomach – the violence is unflinching – but when was the last time we got to watch women take revenge on television this way? Dietland will inevitably be touted for its relevance during this #MeToo movement, and it’s true that it certainly hits home a little harder in this new age of transparency – but Sarai Walker’s novel was published in 2015, long before the Harvey Weinsteins of the world began to see their demise. The series, while set in the near future, is a tale as old as time, a revenge fantasy that has perhaps been spinning through the minds of women for longer than we can really understand. As this social rebellion grows, Dietland plays like a gender-flipped Fight Club for 2018. We can’t wait to see where it goes next. Sex and Skin: While Dietland certainly doesn’t shy away from skin, the series focuses more on these women taking back their bodies from the men who have sexually abused them. If you’re here for super sexy stuff, you should probably look elsewhere. Parting Shot: After being approached by Julia to give away the Dear Kitty emails to take part in something of a revolution, Plum is initially hesitant. On her way home, however, a group of young men catcalling her lights some kind of fire in Plum – and she sends the email list. Meanwhile, as one of the murdered men we’ve heard about is examined, a roll of paper is found inside his mouth. It says one word: “JENNIFER”. Erin Darke’s quirky Leeta establishes herself as one of the most intriguing supporting characters from the first time we see her follow Plum out of the coffee shop, and she only gets more interesting from there. Her bold aesthetic combined with her generally sweet nature makes her completely disarming, and while she can certainly get a little intense, she seems to genuinely want the best for women like Plum.