“A lot of people develop their sense of humour as a defence

mechanism.”

— Judd Apatow

This couldn’t be truer for the mother-daughters trio. Josie and Billie along with their mother Deb use every possible moment to indulge in making fun of mental health but use the psychological damage card to get out of icky situations while blaming others. Pathological people pleasers, the three are anything but normal.Their self-esteem runs low like their bank balance.Their personalities are unhinged and they have a poor judgment. However, these women lead the sitcom.

Living in complete denial, their father gone, Josie portrayed by Kat Sadler and Billie essaedby her real-life sister Lizzie Davidson go all out pulling the audience to the stage. The characters’ personality traits are derived from the sister’s real-life experiences, specifically Kat’s. The sisters are manipulative and ego-manic. Josie is tackling depression and despondency; Billie is dealing with obsessive love disorder, overconfidence and a deluded sense of reality.Their mother only adds fuel to the fire.

Louise Brealey appears as Deb, a single mother in complete denial of their dire circumstances.She is adamant that having a husband or boyfriend is the only way to resolve their family’s debt and mental health issues. The acting is simply remarkable.However, the sitcom itself seems to be a lost cause. The women in Such Brave Girls are hardly brave at all.

In the 21^stCentury, most shows are focused on the liberation of women and feminism but this show’s take on feminism is in poor taste.The girls’ actions frequently result in negative consequences. For example, when Billie decides to pair up with the girl his boyfriend is cheating on her with, she betrays Billie. Similarly, Josie rejects the bartender Sid’s help as she tells herself she’s a strong woman.She doesn’t know who she is and is afraid of confrontation. The problem stems from the mother, who teaches her daughters that for a peaceful life they need to be dependent on men. She instigates negative dialogues to achieve this aim.In the process, she destroys her daughters’ self-esteem and adds insult to their injuries.

The women in Such Brave Girls are hardly brave at all.

“Mom she’s talking about her mental health again.”

The loosely autobiographical sitcom’s approach is rather unique.Ther is a very realistic depiction of how mental health is not only not treated properly but is also made fun of. This endless loop of humour as a defence mechanism is used not only by the person dealing with the trauma but also by her family. The show has a very firm grip on how unresolved childhood traumas manifestin adulthood depression, panic attacks and complete denial.

“What do they even talk about? Trauma’s all we’ve got.”

The family comes out as an archetype of a person who refuses therapy based on the fear that they wouldn’t know who they are without their trauma. For everyone working in the mental health department, the series is stupendous in the portrayal of a family that looks dysfunctional to the world but is in dire need of therapy.

The BBC production is available on Hulu.However, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The audience should strictly be limied to adults.Also, anyone who is triggered easily should avoid the show. The humour while meant to be a light take on the persisting stereotypes runs high and dry within single episode.

At best the show can be categorised as a drama.It is slightly unsettling and starkly insolent towards those struggling to cope with maintaining their mental health. The approaches used by the characters brimwith negativity and thrive on using trauma as a weapon to conquer the world.More often than not, the effort ends in a disaster for them.

Due to the stubborn personalities of the three, the grim plot hardly progresses.The series ends with cliffhangers such as the return of Seb, Dev’smixed feelings, Nicky’s absence and an opening for the possible return of the sisters’ father. When one knows that it is something of an autobiography, the show seems realistic but watching it as a sitcom with no background one is left feeling out of sorts and woebegone. The raucous series hence leaves one empty with ambivalent and ambiguous feelings, close to what one feels when they watch 2 Broke Girls.

The writer is an undergraduate student of psychology at FC College, Lahore