The UnREAL Finale: A Beautifully Depicted World of 'Manipulating Sluts'
EntertainmentWhen UnREAL, Lifetime’s show placed on the set of a Bachelor-esque show, launched, it was lauded for its wholly real depiction of the behind-the-scenes machinations the producers of reality television shows take part in to make the most captivating television possible. But as the series went on, it became less about the specific ways reality television is made, and more a portrait of what happens when a dozen or so people people all want something for themselves, and will do anything to get it.
The show’s creators, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro and Marti Noxon, have consistently made it clear they wanted UnREAL to be like Breaking Bad, a program with brief moments of hope, where you’d feel like characters could make good decisions, but they just never would. In writing Monday night’s finale, they certainly made their vision a reality: it featured one manipulation after another, as producer and lead character Rachel (Shiri Appleby) thought she’d get her happy ending running away with Everlasting star Adam, only to find out Adam has dumped her. In a twist, Rachel then teamed up with her boss Quinn (Constance Zimmer) to get Adam left at the altar, but then found that Quinn was the reason Adam broke it off with her in the first place. That’s not to mention Jeremy, Rachel’s very nice, on-again, off-again boyfriend, who pretended to propose to her in front of Everlasting’s cast and crew, before calling her out for sleeping with Adam.
And that was just the finale—every episode of the first season of UnREAL has been a complicated web of lies, as each character attempts to use the people around them for their own gain. “See the thing is, Rachel, you’re a manipulating slut, and you’d happily manipulate me,” contestant Grace says in a moment of true clarity, after Rachel tries her darndest to play the “friend” card and get Grace to do what she wants.