I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started watching Am I Being Unreasonable?, streaming April 11 on Hulu. Starring and written by Daisy May Cooper, Am I Being Unreasonable? is a darkly comic thriller that explores the trials of parenting, the excitement of new friendship, and the ramifications of a guilty conscience. It doesn’t sound as funny or as wild as it is—but this six-part British series, which first aired in the U.K. last September, is a hilarious and unexpected ride from start to finish.
Nic (Cooper) is a lonely and unsatisfied woman who feels trapped in her life and loveless marriage. When the show starts, it seems the only pleasure she derives from her life is being a mother to her 8-year-old son, Ollie (Lenny Rush). That is, until she meets Jen (Selin Hizli), the mother of a new kid at her son’s school. Nic has a big and raucous personality, and Jen is a little more demure, but the two become fast friends after running into each other at the school carnival, where they quickly realize they have the same type of humor and outlook on life.
It’s the kind of connection that Nic is sorely lacking, made stronger when she and Jen share their mutual disdain for the other mothers and reluctance to stay sober for the duration of the event. After Jen unveils a case of canned gin and tonics from her bag, Nic professes, “Oh yes, I could kiss you!” Unbothered, Jen replies, “Don’t do that. It’d make it weird.”
Having been unable and seemingly unwilling to make friends with a single mom at the school, Nic finds a kindred spirit in Jen, who also appears to be quite lonely. By the day’s end, the two are drinking and giggling in Nic’s living room, playing a round of Sticky Heads. Once Nic’s husband Dan (Dustin Demri-Burns) leaves the room to put the kids to bed, however, there is a notable shift in the conversation—as Nic admits she no longer has any romance or passion in her life.
It’s not just because her sex life with Dan is lacking. It’s because she was having a years-long affair with another man, Alex, until his untimely death, which remains shrouded in mystery. It is only later that we find out that Alex (David Fynn) was her husband’s brother.
While the affair and Alex’s death certainly remain at the crux of the series, the humor and absurdity of the show provide much-needed comic relief. In between her budding friendship with Jen and her grief over losing Alex, Nic offers much of the show’s humor. In one episode, Nic struggles to host Ollie’s birthday party while dealing with a massive hangover from her night with Jen. Feeling the effects of that hangover in her bowels, Nic rushes to the bathroom and lets it rip, before realizing someone else is also in there.
From outside the stall, Lucy, another mom from school, tries to ask Nic a question. Nic tells her to wait until she’s finished and proceeds to continue doing her business—but when she hears the sink faucet running, she realizes Lucy is still in the bathroom, witnessing her very noisy flatulence, and proceeds to yell her name in frustration and embarrassment.
Hilarious moments like this are peppered all throughout Am I Being Unreasonable?, adding some lightheartedness to the severity of the show’s central themes. As a dark comedy and a thriller, the series successfully balances the nuance of this unusual genre pairing, providing plenty of heart, mystery, and laughs, and sometimes all three at once.
As funny as she is, however, Nic is also going through it. Lapses in her memory, as well as randomly life-like flashbacks, cause her great strife, as do her past transgressions, some of which she remains unaware of. In one major flashback, we see Alex get his coat stuck in the doors of a high-speed train, leading to his end. While everyone is aware of his death, neither Dan nor Alex’s wife Suzie (Amanda Wilkin) seem to have the full story; they both try to ask Nic about it, who promptly dismisses their questions.
These flashbacks and memory fragments become more frequent and jumbled as the series progresses, eventually altering Nic’s sense of reality. But it is through them that the history of Nic’s relationship with Alex is unraveled, which seemingly begins at the most inappropriate of places: her wedding. As the show continually makes clear, however, Nic’s memory may not be the most reliable source.
All of this comes to a head when Jen shows up to school wearing the same type of coat as Nic, leading to a hallucination that turns ugly. From then on, the women put almost all their cards on table, leaving them to bond on a much deeper level and have a heart-to-heart— admitting that they would make the perfect romantic partners for each other, if only they were a different gender. But one tragic secret has still yet to come out, even to Nic herself.
The central mystery continues to build through these various relationships, each one toxic and messy in its own way. Nic’s tenuous connection to reality makes the show both hilarious and gripping, especially as it builds to that ending.
But while Cooper’s performance as Nic carries the show, the absurdity, intrigue, and idiosyncrasies of Am I Being Unreasonable? make it a huge success. Although the show never settles on answer to the question posed in the title, it successfully adds itself to the ever-expanding category of shows about messy, complicated women without falling prey to the staleness of traditional sitcoms. And it does this all without forgetting to make you laugh.
