Review of “Swarm”: The Obsession Taken to the Limit and to the Grotesque

In 2016, Donald Glover made his debut as a creator with his series “Atlanta”, a satirical comedy with horror overtones that was praised by both the public and the industry, and which won Golden Globes and Emmys for its novel and interesting narrative form. Seven years later, the actor, musician, producer, and writer returned with a horror series that has hints of comedy. This is “Swarm”, released in mid-March on the Prime Video streaming platform. This time around, Glover worked closely with playwright Janine Nabers to create and write the series and with her brother, Stephen Glover, as executive producer.

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“Swarm” has 7 episodes of between 27 and 34 minutes that explore the obsession of Dre, the protagonist, with the pop artist Ni'Jah and her extreme acts to get to know her and show her devotion to her, to the point of becoming a serial killer. While the subject of fan obsession is not new to film and television, “Swarm” delves into it through a fascinating yet bizarre character who is uncomfortable but impossible not to empathize with. It is a dark series that suddenly makes you laugh.

Real life as inspiration

Donald Glover, who is also known as Childish Gambino in the music world, understands firsthand what it takes to be an artist with fans. But for "Swarm" he used a very effective formula: the fan of the pop artist. Ni'Jah, the singer Dre is obsessed with, is obviously based on Beyoncé. And it is that the series does not bother to be discreet about it.

At the beginning of almost every episode, there is a disclaimer which ensures that any resemblance to reality is intentional. From the first chapter they show us the fictional artist with the same aesthetics, the same topics that she deals with in her albums and even the same scandals as those of Beyoncé. What's more, the title of the series alludes to the name of Beyoncé's fans, the Beyhives, which in turn is a modification of the word "beehive".

This formula seems to have a clear purpose: to bring to light the "stan" culture that is born in the middle of the battlefield of social networks. Today we see hundreds of fans on platforms like Twitter who defend their favorite artists tooth and nail and even threaten those who disagree with them. On the other side, we see "haters" who make hateful comments for no apparent reason or motive. "Swarm" seems to question freedom of expression and the limits behind it.

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Dominique Fishback's spectacular performance

Dominique Fishback was the actress tasked with playing Dre, and she couldn't do better. The character is extremely strange. It is about a failed young woman with a childish character who, after the apparent suicide of Marissa, who appears to be her sister, is left devastated and without any emotional or financial support. She is obsessed with an artist who has no idea of her existence, but for whom she is willing to do anything and in the wake of Marissa's death, which has been linked to Ni'Jah's latest album on social media, she begins to kill one by one any person who shows hate or disgust for the singer.

Dre's strangeness is not only measured by her childish character and by the fact that she becomes a young murderer, but by the small acts or compulsions that permeate her in each of the events that the series gradually shows us. Fishback makes the character even weirder from simple looks, body movements, or even tones in her voice. This shows not only great direction, but also a great mastery on the part of the actress who evolves with the character and who transforms throughout the series.

An almost flawless narrative

For those who have seen "Atlanta", it is more than clear that Glover maintains his narrative style in "Swarm". "Atlanta" is considered a contemporary classic for its ability to step out of its comfort zone from time to time and explore genres to reach the meta-narrative. It is there when Glover's training in Dan Harmon's “Community” is noticeable, a sitcom in which he participated as one of the protagonists and which deeply explored the narrative resources offered by different genres of cinema and meta-narration.

This style is seen in the penultimate episode of the series, which is a fake crime documentary in which they tell us that the series created by Glover is based on a true story and takes us into the case that a detective solves little by little. The episode makes use of both fictional and real files in which the name of the artist with whom Dre is obsessed is censored, which in real life would be Beyoncé. At the end, the episode closes with a fragment of an interview with Glover in which he talks about a new series that he is directing, making reference to "Swarm".

The mockumentary serves to explain the reason for Dre's actions and at the same time explores the need for morbidity in cases like this that are particularly frequent in a country like the United States.

Despite the fact that the series is well constructed and manages to mislead the viewer, which is apparently its mission, it ends in a way that is not necessarily bad, but that suggests that it was not known where it was going. It ends suddenly, with an apparently happy ending, but it's not real, and it takes weight from the whole series. It is a narrative construction that was constant for 6 episodes and ended with an overly open ending that, beyond allowing theories, jeopardizes the narrative excellence of the series in general.

However, it is a series that is worth watching, which, beyond being entertaining, is uncomfortable and brings the viewer closer to a heartbreaking reality.