Flack: Celebrities Behaving Badly and the PR “Fixers” Who Enable Them

Famous people getting into trouble and the “fixers” who get them out of it. Fixers from the political world of Veep (Mike McClintock, played by Matt Walsh) to the Hollywood of Entourage (Shawna Roberts, played by Debi Mazar) to the criminal violence of Ray Donovan (played by Liev Shreiber), fixers find themselves in comical dilemmas and life or death situations. The publicists of Flack go to extremes to protect the reputation of their clients. So extreme that you may have no sympathy for anybody.

Season 2 of Flack has recently been released on Amazon Prime Video. It stars Anna Paquin (The Piano, True Blood) as Robyn, the publicist who is unraveling before our eyes dealing with her entitled celebrities and personal demons. Anna Paquin is superb in portraying the train-wreck Robyn. You may even pity her despite her reckless behavior. You feel her pain. Caroline, the boss (Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda), is over-the-top and controls the lives of her employees. Eve, Robyn’s assistant, is fashionable, unapproachable, and has some of the best cutting lines on how she really feels. Melody, the naive young intern, is the one sympathetic character who wants to be in the game, but knows deep down that she’s not cut out for it.

This show was hard to stick with after the first few episodes. These “fixer” situations can be hilarious, but Flack pushes the limits on how far they go to fix things. Nothing is off limits no matter who might get destroyed in the process. Representing people who may be fabricating stories of sexual assault? Check. Faking a sex tape? Let’s do it. Having a famous footballer pretend he’s gay? Got a better idea? Concealing illegitimate children? It’s our only choice. And, the all too common covering up affairs. Of course.

Season 2 is more engaging and ramps up Robyn’s anguish and loss of direction in life. In the first season, while still dealing with her mother’s suicide, she slept with Eve’s boyfriend, told her boyfriend she wanted a child, but took birth control, and took lots of drugs. In the second season she takes more drugs. Some “cleaners” flush evidence down the toilet; Robyn snorts it up her nose. Responding immediately to her client’s messes anytime day or night under Caroline’s demands is taking a toll on her. Her sister, the one person Robyn can turn to, is not talking to her. Just when you think she’s hit rock bottom, the ending of the season takes Robyn down another notch. This seemed to be piling it on to me.

Robyn’s spiral makes her unable (or unwilling) to respond quickly to the never-ending constant tribulations of her clients. This allows the other characters to develop in season 2. Caroline, Eve, and Melody all have time away from the celebrity-world madness with their family, and in Caroline’s case former lovers (a welcome Sam Neill).

No matter how you cut it, Caroline and her team are enablers. They’ll do anything – never mind the collateral damage – to protect their client’s image. It’s comical, but so cynical. It would be dismissive if it wasn’t so close to reality these days where for many people life is content. If your every movement is documented for your followers, it’s going to be more and more difficult to avoid screwing up in the public eye. In fact, I see many job opportunities in the public relations field ahead. Despite my misgivings about the show, it definitely has its entertaining moments and at six episodes per season (about 45 minutes each) the show is not too much of a time commitment. I’m still rooting for Robyn and hope there’s a season 3 of Flack.

D² Rating ◼◼◼☐☐

Trivia ? – Anna Paquin is the second youngest person to receive an Oscar winning Best Supporting Actress at age 11 for The Piano in 1993. Who was the youngest?

Answer: Tatum O’Neal won the Best Supporting Actress Award at age 10 for Paper Moon in 1973.