The Act: Series React and Reaction

First of all, I cannot believe this is based on a true story. Then again, this crap is too bizarre to make up.
The title act occurs at the very end of the eight-part miniseries, when Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King) hides in her bathroom, hands over her ears as her online boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn (an extremely creepy Calum Worthy) stabs her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard (Patricia Arquette) to death. And then, after cleaning off the bloody knife, he flings her on the bed and sticks his penis up her vagina and declares to her "Welcome to rest of your life." As far as I'm concerned, prison is nearly an improvement. It's not exactly rape; she believes she loves him, but it wasn't exactly consensual, but when you've had the childhood Gypsy has had, she probably doesn't completely understand the actual rules of society.
Dee Dee has made some ridiculous and unacceptable life choices. First of all, what in the world are you doing sleeping with a seventeen-year-old when you're twenty-four and name your child Gypsy? And then she steals her grandfather's checkbook and writes bad checks and lands in jail. She gets pity after caring for her ill mother and decides to fake a variety of ailments so she can defraud numerous people from all over the world. She babies and smothers Gypsy, lying about her age, lying to Gypsy about her illnesses. Gypsy can walk just fine and eat sugar, just like everyone else. And if Gypsy was allowed to have a normal life, she wouldn't have thought that Nick was such a catch when he can barely string two words together. Sure, she did ask him to kill her mother, but instead of telling the police, he does it. Nick is currently a life sentence, while Gypsy is only serving ten years and she still wants to have kids when she gets out. Yikes.
While the story is bizarre, King and Arquette give brilliant performances and the set demonstrates all the little nuanced details that show how sick these people are truly are. The script is top-notch and though you will cringe almost the whole time, it is nevertheless worth watching. Grade: A-
-AnnaSophia Robb and Chloe Sevigny give excellent supporting performances as another mother-daughter duo Lacey and Mel neighbors of the Blanchards. Mel is shocked speechless when the truth finally comes out and she is pissed, as she should be. But she's also pissed that she didn't figure it out.
-I found it disturbingly hilarious that Nick was arrested for jerking off to porn at a McDonalds for nine hours.
-Also, Nick picked hot fried chicken over tossing the murder weapon, a choice I'm sure he'll regret for the rest of his life.
-Nick's mother, Juliette Lewis, does hint that Nick has a mental disorder and the mind of a teenage boy, but nothing is specifically named.
-Dee Dee should really have taught Gypsy that fairy tales aren't real.