Prime Video is easily the bottom rung on the streaming ladder when it comes to the quality of their offerings, probably due to the fact that everyone has Amazon Prime for the delivery benefits, leaving their streaming to feel more supplemental than essential. Their flagship series The Boys left me cold, but nevertheless went on to become their biggest hit to date and quite possibly keeps the platform afloat on its own. Keeping this in mind, I was trepidatious to begin Swarm, their latest offering. I knew my fears were unfounded after those initial 30 minutes pulled the rug from under me several times.
Swarm is the story of Dre (Dominique Fishback), a troubled young black woman who worships at the altar of singing superstar Ni’jah (Nirine S. Brown) – the show’s very blatant Beyoncé surrogate – to the point of her obsession turning murderous. We’re firmly in American Psycho territory, but given an Instagram-friendly aesthetic makeover and a compulsion to draw from some of the biggest pop culture moments in recent years for inspiration. I definitely get shades of Zola, A24’s underrated tweet-turned-movie caper. I think the limited scope of these events, and counting on audiences to be in the know, is Swarm’s only real weakness. Terminally online residents, check in here. Personally, I’m finding the show to be a real winner in an age of endless content where not everything is worth the time we end up investing.
The sharp satire of ‘stan’ culture is often frighteningly well-observed, owed greatly to Fishback’s fearless performance. There’s an untapped wealth of alarming situations taking place on social media every day which showrunners Glover and Nabers clearly have familiarity with. We see parallels to Beyoncé’s elevator bust-up, and even a dreamy sequence which references the bizarre ‘biting’ incident of 2018. The tidbits are all here and they expect you to know them, if you’ve watched this far. I do wish there was more identity given to Ni’jah to explain the fanaticism Dre displays, although I’m all too aware that this is often the case in the real world.
The meta is the point here, and not just in relation to the aforementioned Beyoncé. Paris Jackson and Billie Eilish are among the cameos. Paris, daughter of Michael, is used in a very amusing way which bleeds into the real world conversations surrounding her identity. I can’t yet speak for Eilish but I am keenly aware of the role she plays here. It’s an interesting bit of meta commentary which doesn’t feel too obvious or well-trodden. Malia Obama even has a writing credit on one episode. There’s a lot being cooked in this kitchen, and a large portion of it goes down very smoothly indeed.
At the time of writing, I’ve still got a few more episodes to go, but thanks to the breezy runtimes and slick pacing, it’s the first series in a while which doesn’t feel like a chore. More of a compulsion, and while I write I can actually feel it gnawing in the back of my mind. Now… who’s your favourite artist?
Movies Before Bedtime 