It's 1992 Orlando-Adjacent. Krystal Stubbs (Kirsten Dunst) is struggling working minimum wage at a water park. Her husband Travis (Alexander Skarsgård) is also struggling selling insurance. He joins Founders American Merchandise which turns out to be a cult-like pyramid scheme run by Obie (Ted Levine). She tries to stock the water park with FAM products but the manager Stan Van Grundegaard refuses. On his FAM superior Cody (Théodore Pellerin)'s urging, Travis stops his life insurance to pay for the system tapes and quits his job. He drives into the swamp and gets eaten by an alligator. With mounting debts, no life insurance, and a repo woman at her door, Krystal is forced to work for Cody within the system. Ernie (Mel Rodriguez) is a nice co-worker at the water park.
It takes a couple of episodes to get into the flow and it does hit a bump or two along the way. Nevertheless, this is a compelling perversion of the American dream. It's a terrific satire. Kirsten Dunst is hitting whole new levels of performances recently. She has left the young ingénue character behind and has landed on a much more interesting mature character type. Two other standout performers are Mel Rodriguez and Théodore Pellerin. It's disappointing to lose this show after one season due to the pandemic. It deserves better.
It takes a couple of episodes to get into the flow and it does hit a bump or two along the way. Nevertheless, this is a compelling perversion of the American dream. It's a terrific satire. Kirsten Dunst is hitting whole new levels of performances recently. She has left the young ingénue character behind and has landed on a much more interesting mature character type. Two other standout performers are Mel Rodriguez and Théodore Pellerin. It's disappointing to lose this show after one season due to the pandemic. It deserves better.