Swarm (TV series)

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Swarm
Swarm TV.png
Release poster
Genre
Created by
StarringDominique Fishback
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes7
Production
Executive producers
Running time27–39 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original networkAmazon Prime Video
Original releaseMarch 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)

Swarm is an American satirical[1][2] psychological horror thriller television series created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers. The series follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), a young woman whose obsession with a pop star takes a dark turn.

Swarm debuted on March 17, 2023 on Amazon Prime Video. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the screenplay, direction, cinematography, soundtrack, and balance between its bright, vivid aesthetic and its elements of psychological horror. Fishback's performance in the series has received widespread acclaim, while the guest performances of Chloe Bailey and Billie Eilish have also received popular praise.

Synopsis

The series tells the story of Dre, a young woman who is obsessed with a pop star (whose oeuvre and aesthetic are very similar to that of American singer Beyoncé), with a fanbase known as "The Swarm" (with Beyoncé’s fan base also known as the "Bey Hive"). The show is a deep dark dive into Dre's life, her fandom, and how it takes her to dark, unexpected places.[3][4]

Cast

Main

  • Dominique Fishback as Andrea “Dre” Greene, a young woman whose obsession with Ni'Jah, a world-famous popstar, leads her on a dark and murderous path across the United States.

Recurring

  • Chloe Bailey as Marissa "Ris" Jackson, the sister of Dre
  • Nirine S. Brown as Ni'Jah, a pop star whom Dre idolizes
  • Karen Rodriguez as Erica, Marissa's friend and boss

Guest

  • Damson Idris as Khalid, Marissa's boyfriend[5] ("Stung")
  • Rory Culkin as a man Dre meets at the club and goes home with. ("Stung")
  • Atkins Estimond as Reggie, a man Dre is hunting who tweeted negative stuff about Marissa and Ni’Jah ("Honey")
  • X Mayo as Cheeks ("Honey")
  • Paris Jackson as Hailey, a stripper who has an abusive boyfriend and who goes by the name Halsey, a reference to her supposed bi-racialism ("Honey")
  • Byron Bowers as George, a sound man whom Dre uses to get closer to Ni'Jah ("Taste")
  • Kate Lyn Sheil as Cricket, a girl who offers Dre a place to stay during Bonnaroo. ("Running Scared")
  • Billie Eilish as Eva, a women’s empowerment cult leader that takes Dre under her wing ("Running Scared")
  • Victoria Blade as Salem ("Running Scared")
  • Rickey Thompson as Kenny ("Girl, Bye")
  • Leon as Harris, Marissa’s birth father who blames Dre for her death ("Girl, Bye")
  • Heather Simms as Loretta Greene, a detective in the “real world” who has started to piece together that these killings have a common thread, the victims have all insulted a superstar with a vicious fan base on social media. ("Fallin' Through The Cracks")
  • Kiersey Clemons as Rashida, a graduate student with whom Dre falls in love. ("Only God Makes Happy Endings")
  • Cree Summer as Rashida's mother ("Only God Makes Happy Endings")
  • Norm Lewis as Rashida's father ("Only God Makes Happy Endings")

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Stung"Donald GloverTeleplay by : Janine Nabers
Story by : Janine Nabers & Donald Glover		March 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
A title card explains that "any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events" depicted "is intentional." In Houston, 2016, withdrawn Andre "Dre" Greene lives with her foster sister Marissa. While Marissa's interest in pop star Ni'Jah has waned with age, Dre is as obsessed with her as ever. Marissa's boyfriend Khalid attempts to seduce Dre, and Marissa storms out when Dre tells her. Ni'Jah releases a new album, and an empowered Dre goes to a club and loses her virginity. She wakes to find that Marissa has committed suicide after an argument with Khalid, and Ni'Jah's fans on Twitter claim she did it over the new album. Dre goes to Khalid's house, and despite his clear display of remorse, impulsively kills him.
2"Honey"Adamma EboJamal OloriMarch 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
Now 2017, Dre works as a stripper in Fayetteville, Tennessee, trying to find Reggie Wilkins, one of the people who tweeted about Marissa and Ni'Jah. A stripper with an abusive boyfriend latches onto Dre, and she kills the boyfriend after witnessing them arguing. The stripper discovers her moving the body and decides to help, but Dre kills her after burying him. A group of strippers ask Dre for a ride to a house call. She gets a flat tire on the way back, but Wilkins, a tow truck driver, encounters them and offers to fix the car at his house. Dre goes back into the house when he finishes and attacks him. He gets the upper hand and starts to strangle her, only for the strippers to come looking for her and kill him. She drives off, leaving them with the body.
3"Taste"Adamma EboJanine Nabers & Kara BrownMarch 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
Four months later, Dre is tracking down and killing people who insult Ni'Jah on Twitter. She travels to California and stalks her next target, only to notice a man working at the release party of Ni'Jah's husband's new album. She follows him home and seduces him, getting him to take her to the party and locking him in a freezer. She infiltrates the party and approaches Ni'Jah, but, overwhelmed, bites her and flees.
4"Running Scared"Ibra AkeIbra Ake and Stephen GloverMarch 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
Another four months later, Dre is driving to Bonnaroo to see Ni'Jah when she is tailed by a police officer, only to be rescued by a girl at a gas station. The girl leads her to a "female empowerment" group of white women run by Eva, who takes a liking to Dre. She discovers that her bloody car has been cleaned and her phone is missing. Through a series of intense "counseling" sessions with Eva, she reveals her background with Marissa and that she enjoyed the murders. She panics during a ritual and tries to leave, but Eva attempts to manipulate and blackmail her into staying. Dre takes her phone back and runs Eva over, driving away and killing a group member who clung to the top of her car. She makes it to Bonnaroo but finds that it is already over.
5"Girl, Bye"Ibra AkeTeleplay by : Janine Nabers & Malia Ann
Story by : Janine Nabers & Ibra Ake		March 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
A month later, Marissa's phone number is deactivated by her father Harris, leading Dre back to Houston. She encounters her and Marissa's old boss and fabricates a story about doing Ni'Jah's mother's makeup for a living. She breaks into Harris's house and steals his pistol, which she uses to try and get his wife to turn the number back on. Harris, blaming Dre for Marissa's suicide, tries to kill her. She flees into Marissa's old room and freezes when she sees her old shrine for Ni'Jah, and narrowly escapes out the window.
6"Fallin' Through the Cracks"Stephen GloverKaren Joseph Adcock & Stephen GloverMarch 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
The true crime documentary "Falling Through the Cracks" is shown, which follows detective Loretta Greene, who is trying to solve Dre's murders. She establishes a connection between the victims and their dislike of Ni'Jah, tracing it back to Khalid. She finds Dre through Marissa's Instagram page and visits Marissa's mother, who tells Greene about when Dre stabbed one of Marissa's friends, the incident that got her kicked out of the family. Dre's caseworker refuses to give up her background to Greene, and accuses the filmmaker of wanting to ignore his own flaws by digging for Dre's. Greene wonders why she is so interested in the case and if Dre could have turned out different had she raised her. She finds that Dre has been arrested after running onstage during a Ni'Jah concert, and goes to talk to her. Interview footage of Donald Glover is shown where he claims he is working on a show about Dre.
7"Only God Makes Happy Endings"Adamma EboJanine NabersMarch 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
In Atlanta, June of 2018, Dre, having ditched her phone, goes home with a graduate student named Rashida. As the police find her car, she starts a relationship with Rashida despite her dislike of Ni'Jah. She eventually meets Rashida's parents and moves in with her. Dre gets Ni'Jah tickets for their anniversary, leading to an argument that ends when she strangles Rashida. She burns the body, but accidentally leaves the tickets in Rashida's pocket. She kills a man for his ticket and runs onstage, but Ni'Jah, who Dre sees as Marissa, stops her security detail from restraining Dre and lets her speak to the crowd. She tells the fans that she loves them and leaves with Ni'Jah, tearfully resting her head on her shoulder as they get in her car.

Production

Development

In February 2021, Donald Glover signed an overall deal with Amazon Studios.[6] One of the projects in development included Hive, which would revolve around a figure inspired by Beyoncé, with Janine Nabers acting as co-creator and showrunner.[7] Glover is also credited as creator and executive producer, and directed the first episode.[3]

Writing

Glover compared the series to "post-truth Piano Teacher mixed with The King of Comedy".[3] Glover and Nabers wanted to create an anti-hero story, using Tony Soprano and Don Draper as inspiration.[3]

Malia Obama is among the writers of the series.[8] Nabers said "We really wanted to give her the opportunity to get her feet wet in TV and see if this is something she wants to continue doing."[9]

Casting

In April 2022, Dominique Fishback was announced as the lead actress of the series, also joining as a producer.[10] Glover contacted Fishback to play the role of the lead's sister. Fishback convinced Glover to give her the lead role.[3]

The series also stars Chloe Bailey as Dre's sister, Marissa and Damson Idris as Marissa's boyfriend.[5]

Release

Swarm premiered at the 2023 South by Southwest Film Festival on March 10, 2023.[11] All seven episodes were released on Prime Video on March 17, 2023.[4]

Reception

Dominique Fishback received widespread acclaim for her role in the television series, with critics lauding her performance in the pilot episode's final scene.

Swarm has received positive reviews from critics, with the performance of Dominique Fishback receiving ubiquitous praise. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Swarm holds an approval rating of 85%, based on 35 critic reviews with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Swarm can be as unpleasant as a hornet sting, but Dominique Fishback's ferocious performance and the creators' bold creative swings add up to a truly subversive take on toxic fandom."[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, has assigned the series a score of 67 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]

At RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen gave the series 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it a "blood-splattered pop culture provocation" that "plays out like a funhouse mirror reflection of very real, however bizarre, trending topics of the recent past." He also wrote that Donald Glover's directorial pilot episode was "terrific" and that "the series' satire is all the more heartbreaking and compulsively watchable because of [Dominique] Fishback's dedication to every facet of Dre."[14]

References

  1. ^ "Swarm review – Donald Glover's Beyoncé-inspired serial killer satire is cold and dull | Television | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  2. ^ "'Swarm' delivers a stinging satire about excessive fandom". CNN. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  3. ^ a b c d e Desta, Yohana (January 30, 2022). "Swarm: Donald Glover's Beyoncé-Inspired New Series Has Notes of Don Draper and Murder". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Chapman, Wilson (24 February 2023). "'Swarm' Trailer: Donald Glover Takes on Stan Culture in Amazon Horror Comedy". Indiewire. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  5. ^ a b Remley, Hilary (January 30, 2023). "First 'Swarm' Images Introduce Dominique Fishback and Chloe Bailey in Donald Glover's New Series". Collider. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  6. ^ Petski, Denise (February 17, 2021). "Donald Glover Inks Overall Deal With Amazon Studios". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  7. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (February 17, 2021). "Donald Glover Sets Rich Amazon Overall Deal (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  8. ^ Sharf, Zack (March 25, 2022). "Donald Glover Confirms Malia Obama in Writers' Room of New Show: 'Her Writing Style Is Great'". Variety. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  9. ^ Brathwaite, Lester Fabian (January 31, 2023). "Donald Glover's new show, Swarm, is like 'a sister to Atlanta' — and dangerously in love with Beyoncé". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  10. ^ White, Peter (April 14, 2022). "Dominique Fishback Set As Lead In Amazon's Donald Glover & Janine Nabers Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  11. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 1, 2023). "SXSW Second Wave Includes UAR's 'Bottoms', Donald Glover's 'Swarm' Series, Michelle Yeoh's 'American Born Chinese' & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  12. ^ "Swarm: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  13. ^ "Swarm: Season 1". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  14. ^ Allen, Nick. "Swarm movie review & film summary (2023) | Roger Ebert". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 2023-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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