‘Gaslit’ Is So Gross It’s Distracting

Within the first six minutes of Gaslit, the series shows a homeless man defecating on the sidewalk. You see everything — the squat, his shadowed bare bottom, the poop. There’s even an audible splat when he finishes. There is a fascinating and wonderfully acted portrait of history hiding in the STARZ limited series, but you’re going to have to get through some gross glorification of the 1970s to find it.

The problem isn’t that this pooping introduction is pointless. It’s a cringe-worthy scene clearly meant to show that D.C. in the 1970s was a filthy time: morally, politically, and literally. No, it’s the near idolization of this moment that’s frustrating. Shortly after this nameless man wipes himself off, a Vietnam protest is shown. Seconds later, John Dean (Dan Stevens) tries unsuccessfully to hit on a couple of women driving beside him. All of this chaos is given the same weight, dubbed gritty, rebellious, and cool by the screaming guitar accompanying these moments. It’s a comparison that immediately feels uneasy. Protestors and women with enough agency to reject a man’s creepy advances can be cool. But a city that’s failed its citizens so badly that defecating on the street is common? That’s just sad.

There’s more. In the scene before John’s return to office, he puts his clothes back on while talking to a woman he had sex with during his lunch break. The more they talk, the more obvious it becomes that she’s a prostitute that’s been employed by some of the biggest names in D.C., and she has dirt on them all. Yet as John realizes that he’s not the most connected person in this particular room, the male gaze is front and center. Their entire conversation takes place as John dresses and this nameless woman remains naked. The camera even takes care to show off as many R-rated angles as possible, focusing on her only when her full body is on display. It’s a scene designed to once again show off the moral grime of D.C. while focusing on a woman in control. Yet this misguided grasp at some form of empowerment can’t resist showing off her breasts and butt. It’s a scene so unnecessarily gratuitous, it feels like last decade’s era of prestige TV.

These are two fleeting moments in what is actually a quite complex first episode. But they also set the tone for this project. They also aren’t alone. Both The Deuce and Vinyl played with this conceit, mixing sex, nudity, and rampant drug use with a tone that idolized the ’70s. It’s a choice that can feel jarring at best and trivializing of the problems of this decade at worst. Unfortunately, these moments in Gaslit fall into the latter category.

It’s infuriating because Gaslit is a good show. Julia Roberts is excellent as Martha Mitchell, balancing the character’s quippy charm with genuine empathy. The series has also recruited an all-star cast to stand as Martha’s eventual army of rivals. Sean Penn, Dan Stevens, and Hamish Linklater are all delightfully insidious, each in their own way. Likewise, Betty Gilpin and Allison Tolman are as excellent as always, serving as skeptical sirens for the horror that’s to come. But all of this great work is hard to appreciate when a show starts with naked women and poop. Gaslit is absolutely worth your time. Just maybe skip over the first seven minutes.

New episodes of Gaslit premiere on STARZ Sundays at 8/7c p.m.