Ride Or Die

Seems like I haven't done one of these for too long, and being still sick gave me some time to binge-watch the entire show in three days. So I wanted to write up my media literacy review while it's still fresh in my somewhat foggy mind.

I'd watch anything with Hannah Waddingham. I became a fan from her role in Ted Lasso, where she shows her comedic chops as Rebecca Welton, Richmond football club owner. The story I wrote about her new love interest in Season 3 (then thought to be the last one) is now my most-read story here on Vocal.

After Ted Lasso, I started to look for other shows with this amazing British highly accomplished musical theater singer, TV presenter, and actor. I loved her in 2024 The Fall Guy where she played a comically bad movie producer. My absolute favorite was her 2023 Christmas special on Apple TV+, and I also found a couple of her appearances on Jason Sudekis/Ted Lasso fundraisers. She has an absolutely amazing, spectacular voice that should be featured in every role she gets, even if it's just singing in the shower.

But coming back to the media literacy review of visual content: for a movie or a TV show to leave a lasting impression on you as a viewer, it has to affect you on at least one (the more the better) of the following levels: cognitive, emotional, aesthetic, and moral. Ride or Die hit me at all four, and I hope Amazon renews it for Season 2 as it has a lot of potential, especially with the train cliffhanger that it left us on. So, here are my impressions from all the media literacy dimensions as applied to the show:

Cognitive dimension (What have I learned from the series?)

Not to spoil the show, I will not focus on the content. But the media literacy geek in me was happy beyond the words that cognitively, this show not only meets the bare minimum of the Bechdel test but passes it with flying colors.

The test (originally named after cartoonist Alison Bechdel who came up with it) is a popular benchmark used to evaluate representation of women in film and television. To pass the test, a piece of media must meet three simple criteria:

1. It must feature at least two named female characters.

2. These two women must talk to each other.

3. Their conversation must be about something other than a man.

Believe it or not, even five years ago many movies and TV shows completely failed the test. Ride Or Die not only has the two named female characters, they are the show's leads: the friendship between the high-level international assassin Judith Burton (Hannah Wassingham) and Debbie Claybourne (Octavia Spencer), a British MP's wife running his political career, is the driving force and the entire arch of the show. Forced on the run across Europe, they talk to each other constantly, often at Gilmore Girls' speed, and on all sorts of topics, starting with books and antiques, and ending with designing elaborate plans to outwit the Albanian mafia. Oh, and (spoiler alert!) the "villain" in the show is a female as well.

Affective dimension (How did the show make me feel, which emotions did it evoke?)

I laughed a lot. The show's genre definition as action comedy fully meets its expectations, and some of the situations and lines from the show will stay with me for a long time, especially the way they talk about and perform sex (not going overboard), and about killing "bad people." I also cried on a couple of occasions, when the friendship nearly broke down and when both character's lives were in danger. The Telma and Louise moment at the end of the show literally gave me goosebumps.

Aesthetic dimension (How did the show give me the aesthetic pleasure?)

In addition to excellent casting choices (add Bill Nighy as the assassins' ring director) and new shining actors I've never seen before, the show tickled my international traveler's taste buds. It was mostly set in London, but it also "travels" with Judith and Debbie to Monte Carlo, Monaco, and Switzerland, featuring spectacular European cities and landscapes.

It is beautifully shot and even the flashbacks, where Bill Nighy's character had to look a lot younger, were well- and tastefully done. The woman lead fighting highly-skilled professional assassins and winning gave me some weird aesthetic pleasure as well, especially in the train fight scene where Judith was nearly incapacitated with a drug.

The show's story arch had no obvious holes and it was incredibly well-constructed, leaving enough hooks for the second season (Judith's real name is not revealed and the last train ride is a cliffhanger, as I already mentioned). Besides, the entire premise of the show -- mature friendship between two female characters that is constantly tested for loyalty and honesty, just like the friendship between Rebecca and Keeley in Ted Lasso -- gave me a great aesthetic pleasure.

Moral dimension (What moral and ethical lessons does the show teach us?)

This one's easy -- as humans, we all have a need for genuine connection and deep friendships with people who are not family. Sometimes, these friendship get tested to the point of irreversible damage and breakage. But when the friendship is authentic and sincere, the friends need to give each other a second chance even when they feel betrayed. That way, they grow together and become better as humans.