Roar – A Review

Anthology series played a huge role in early television. While The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presentsare probably the most well-known today, there were others like Kraft Theatre. These shows existed within a theme, so audiences knew exactly what to expect from the half-hour or hour. Growing up, I was exposed to anthology series in the form of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Goosebumps, and Freaky Stories. American Horror Story and its ilk have proven the appetite for serialized anthology series, but Black Mirror and the recent Twilight Zone reboot have proven that people still will show up for bite-sized individual narratives that will be over within the span of an episode. Roar, from Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch the creators of Glow, is one of the latest offerings. The theme of this one, drawn from a short story collection bearing the same name, becomes clear just from scrolling the titles for each episode and their one-sentence blurbs. They are about women, and they are in the vein of Twilight Zone where there are supernatural or heightened reality elements.

The first episode up stars Issa Rae who, as the one-line description says, plays a woman who disappears… literally. This episode is not written by the co-creators but Janine Nabers. Traditional anthology series, like Roar, can be viewed in any order, but most people are still likely to check out the first episode listed to determine whether a show appeals to their taste. The first episode sets the tone of what to expect. It’s rare for showrunners not to lead with their own. The first episode up deals with a Black female writer, Wanda (played by Rae), who, during what should be a moment of success where she is center stage (and her opinion matters), finds herself disappearing. The episode wastes no time letting us know that race will be at the center of the episode, from the quant ad highlighting diversity, to the woman reading her book and their awkward interaction. It all comes to a head when she meets with the Hollywood executives that want to mine her real life and trauma for a virtual reality experience, and she finds herself disappearing. An act of coping with micro-aggressions made visual.

It takes grace to not lead with an episode you penned. It also spoke to the kind of show they want their anthology series to be/represent by choosing the first episode to be something intersectional. She is both Black and a woman. Both those things contributed to Wanda’s eraser from her own narrative, which, as a memoirist is one she herself penned. When Glow was cancelled before season 4, it came with it news that the BIPOC cast had spoken with the producers about wanting better representation. While the show listened to their demands, their untimely cancellation meant we never got to see the creators walk the walk. Choosing to lead with this episode felt like a deliberate choice to honour intentions Flahive and Mensch had to make a truly more inclusive and representative depiction of all their female characters going forward.

Later episodes reteam the Glow creators with Betty Gilpin and Alison Brie for a reunion of sorts, even if the former co-stars don’t share the screen together but instead headline separate entries. Gilpin stars as a woman who is kept on a shelf – literally. Brie stars as a woman who solves her own murder – literally.

Roar is available on Apple+

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