On this chapter of The Queerest Things I Watched Last Week, keeping with the Halloween theme lately, I recap the Monsterland Plainfield, IL episode starring queer faves Taylor Schilling and Roberta Colindrez as lawyer wives who bring co-dependency to a whole new level.
- Monsterland– Season 1 Episode 5 “Plainfield, IL” [Live]
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My wife and I started Monsterland when it came out at the beginning of October and we stopped watching it pretty quickly. It starred some of our favorite actors which is what drew us in, but it seemed over-the-top creepy with little redeeming story. I don’t mind some gore, but this felt full of gross-out violence for no reason and not in a fun horror way. After dropping to the bottom of my watch list it popped back up to the top when I found out there was an episode with Taylor Schilling and Roberta Colindrez playing wives. As the resident LezWatch extreme Horror watcher (“extreme Horror” = too much for Melanie) I volunteered to take the episode on.
I wasn’t looking forward to watching two queer faves have horrible torturous things done to them, which is what I expected based on the other episodes, but I was presently surprised by a comedy-horror vs. horror-horror story. I loved Monsterland Plainfield, IL.
The story follows the 16 year relationship history of Shawn (Roberta) and Kate (Tayor). They met at law school in the city and followed the road of life to Shawn getting a fancy job and the two of them having a kid and a big house in the suburbs. The story takes place mostly in the present day starting with a 15 year anniversary celebration.
I was watching and bracing myself for the other horror shoe to drop. When was a sinister monster going to pop out and eat their faces off? But it kept progressing like an interesting queer drama. Throughout the episode you flash back to previous points in their relationship and it’s revealed Kate battles bipolar disorder and it has been hard on them as a couple. I do not feel good about mental illness being a vehicle for horror, but what do other people think? It seemed somewhat disrespectful to people actually dealing with mental illness, but should I suspend this because it’s essentially a zombie horror story? I dunno.
I won’t give the rest of Monsterland Plainfield, IL away completely, but let’s say the lesbian co-dependency trope plays a hilarious part in the story. Do you stick it out with your partner no matter what? Even if they’re not 100% alive?
This week: I hope to catch up on the newest season of Fargo so I can give you all an update on its queer characters.
Hi, I am bipolar and I watched this episode and bawled. I didn’t find it horrifying as much as hitting too close to home. My husband is a saint to have put up with me for 20 years. I have had two hospitalizations in that time, raised a beautiful son and had long periods of stability. But I think anyone who sticks with someone with the kind of problems people with bipolar have would have to be kind of codependent. Some times you want to drag the other person down into that dark place with you, and sometimes you are selfish and don’t realize how your moods effect everyone else. When my son was born I made my husband promise that if I ever got so out of control that I was a danger to myself or others that he would put our son first. I’m an adult and no matter how crazy I get my sons needs take precedence. I could empathize with the characters depression but not her choice to abandon her child. I know however the monster of depression is not so easily escaped. Though the episode ended on a hopeful note, it still left me shaken to the core.
Thank you so much for sharing your story.
Well, I didn’t find it horrifying, I thought it was really well done. It hit me HARD.
I was in Shawn’s shoes once, except I broke up with my ex when things got really dark. I just couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t help her and it was killing me, making my struggle with my own mental illness even worse. I had to put myself first. Hardest and saddest decision I ever had to make, and I still feel like shit about it.