Overview

• Netflix premiered the eight-episode limited series on September 25, created by and starring Mae Martin.
• The series is fictional but informed by reporting on the troubled teen industry and survivor allegations of abuse, with a Synanon-inspired “Hot Seat” exercise drawn from the group’s confrontational therapy practices.
• Mae Martin plays Alex Dempsey, a trans police officer who arrives in a Vermont town with his pregnant wife and becomes entangled with two students seeking to flee a strict academy run by Evelyn, portrayed by Toni Collette.
• Martin has said the role let them explore a character’s pull toward hypermasculinity and a conventional family ideal within a community that presents as welcoming.
• Early notices describe an offbeat blend of dark humor and horror, singling out Collette’s unsettling performance and a strong young ensemble.