What is worse: to slap a 5 year old child, or the aftermath of that slap that shakes the ideal life of an ordinary family? Unfortunately, in the new NBC TV series The Slap both will happen and made me analyze the entire situation; a situation which could have been prevented but was incredibly hard to avoid.
The Slap is a good example of what can happen if a little child can’t behave himself due to bad parenting. Saying that, bad parenting does not mean he deserves to be slapped by a stranger, or in this case, by a friend of his father. Having a temper and Greek blood circulating in his veins, causes Harry (Zachary Quinto) to lose his patience and slap a little child in the face. A bat is waved dangerously close to his son’s face, which drives Harry to commit this unthinkable act; because of the actions of a 5 year old boy and the hazardous behaviour that was actually condoned by his parents.
This triggers a bombshell, where Harry slowly becomes a man he does not want to be. This event also unfolds other secrets of the family; Hector (Peter Sarsgaard) is having an affair with an 18-year old teenage girl, who is babysitting in his house. And while it all happens right under his wife’s nose, his unfaithfulness catches the attention of Anouk (Uma Thurman) on that fateful day. What we see next is unimaginable, but also predictable, when Rosie (played exceptionally by Melissa George) reports Harry’s brutal behavior to the police. The police have a hard time building a case against a rich man, and say that it could have been possible, if Harry`s unacceptable behavior had not been the first time…
If you have read carefully what I said about Harry, then what comes next should not surprise you much: when the police get a second chance to arrest Harry… Hector convinces his cousin to apologize for his actions before the boy and his parents. That would be too good to be true, but will that help the audience to receive the answer to their question – does this mean that Rosie is willing to forgive Harry, or she is just after his money? This question is left hanging in the air, and only Melissa George`s performance will tell you more than she will reveal. Especially the scene where we find Rosie breastfeeding her five year old son, Hugo (Dylan Schombing), which is quite impressive; both actors are truly remarkable at making the audience hate them endlessly. Hating, not because of his breastfeeding, but the speech they give after Harry tries, as calmly as possible, to apologize.
The Slap has a stellar cast, such as Peter Scarsgaard, Uma Thurman, Thandie Newton, Zachary Quinto, Makenzie Leigh, and Melissa George, whose performance left me speechless. Even more, The Slap has a powerful, unpredictable, and a ‘full of surprises’ plot, where you don`t know where the next episode will take you – and it has only eight episodes… Saying that, it uncovers strong family traditions, which cannot be followed when you`re in a foreign country, such as the United States. Teaching your wife how to behave, and treating her rudely are unwelcome actions in a free society, where this kind of treatment is considered a crime.
This show offers so many things I want so much to see on TV; not just a great cast, or outstanding plot, but more importantly, a performance that must convince us to go on watching this show. It is remarkable to see how the entire cast found a balance and went to the core of the issue. They understood the characters they portrayed so well that you don`t see these actors as Hollywood stars, but rather, real people with their private problems, on a rough and unenjoyable journey through. But whatever The Slap is going to offer us next, for us, as the viewer, all we must do is patiently wait and enjoy the ride…