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Swarm TV Review

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Swarm, starring Dominique Fishsback as stan turned serial killer Dre, is a wild ass ride. It’s funny and violent and completely unconcerned with smoothing its hard edges or softening its stance. On the one hand, I enjoy almost everything about it. On the other, I can plainly see why it drew the criticism that it did, especially in how it frames its protagonist. Still, I fall in the camp of “let Black people be messy, unrepentant, and irredeemable.” Sometimes, it’s really not that deep. Sometimes—ever so often—what’s at the surface is really the entire point and everything that’s read into a story, character, or performance is entirely created in the mind of the viewer.

I went into the show completely in the dark, and that was for the best… for me. I do think this is a show where having some sense of what it’s about is helpful, maybe even necessary. The action doesn’t really pop off until the very end of the first episode, and there is a good little while when you’re not entirely sure what the fuck is going on or what you’re even supposed to be waiting for. I can see that being a challenge for folks. Still, Dominique Fishback is pulling out a performance that keeps you intrigued. Everything about her is puzzling, from her look, to her mannerisms. She’s an enigma. The premiere’s supporting cast of Chloe Bailey and Damson Idris also pull you in, even when you’re pretty sure this isn’t the show you thought it was finna be.

Light Spoilers Ahead

Swarm is not subliminal whatsoever. It doesn’t feel like a wink or an iykyk. It’s pretty straightforward, even when there’s some meta shit happening. The “swarm,” or the toxic fans of Beyonce stand-in Ni’Jah, is so clearly a reference to the Beyhive–though the show’s stans feel a lot more doll-adjacent. They use real-life events involving real-life Beyonce… There is no inside joke here. Except for all the things you only get if you mind Beyonce’s business, as many of us do. What the show does, overtly, is use stan culture to frame Dre’s behavior. We’ve all seen stans in mentions, sometimes our own, we know what that looks like. But, Dre being a sociopath and being a stan are not related except that Ni’Jah is a totem, and disrespecting her idol is a trigger.

We learn in episode 4, Running Scared, that Dre BEEN violent. The spilled milk.. is blood.  That’s expanded on in episode 6, Fallin’ Through The Cracks where we learn in the true crime documentary about Dre, that she was attacking other lil’ kids. What becomes clear is that Dre just enjoys fucking people up. She enjoys inflicting pain. And while disrespecting Ni’Jah is one surefire way to catch blunt force trauma, anything that separates Dre from her sense of comfort or normalcy–whatever that is for her—is cause for extreme violence. Stanning isn’t necessary to tell this story, it’s just a really fun way to explore this kind of character and it offers an interesting perspective on what a Black woman serial killer might be driven by.

To the criticism that this show perpetuates misogynoir… yeah, can’t argue. It operates on some harmful assumptions about Black women and does not interrogate those biases whatsoever. Some folks think Donald Glover hates Black women. I have a more nuanced take on that—which I will not get into here, if ever—but I do think choices were made that show a lack of care or respect for the character. There was a specific choice not to humanize Dre, which I respect because as said above, some folks really are messy, unrepentant, and irredeemable.

But even if you don’t want to make your serial killer sympathetic—a truly honorable choice—you should want to make them “human.” And if their lack of humanity is the point, the language you use around that should be more thoughtful… Glover is not beating the allegations here.

“I kept telling [Fishback], ‘You’re not regular people. You don’t have to find the humanity in your character. That’s the audience’s job’…‘Think of it more like an animal and less like a person.’”

The use of it here.  This is, at the end of the day, a Black woman (or non-binary) character being portrayed by a Black woman. Black women are dehumanized, objectified, and left unprotected because we are not seen as people worthy of respect or consideration. Dre is a singular character, but she does not exist in a vacuum. This is careless at best, actively harmful at worst.

“Actors in general, they want to get layered performances,” Glover told Vulture. “And I don’t think Dre is that layered. I wanted her performance to be brutal. It’s a raw thing. It reminds me of how I have a fear with dogs because I’m like, ‘You’re not looking at me in the eye. I don’t know what you’re capable of.’”

It’s giving what he’s accused of, I fear. Glover’s questionable relationship to Black women aside, Fishback does manage to imbue Dre with real emotional nuance and her performance has a heft to it that simply does not happen if she’d approached Dre as an unthinking, unfeeling animal. What Fishback (and showrunner Janine Nabers) manage is to make Dre a compelling character. And to tell a story that is engaging because of how it plays on visceral, human emotion.

It also should be noted that the one-off characters introduced in each episode are equally entertaining to watch. Billie Eillish as Eva is a standout performance, as well as Byron Bowers (George Clemons), Leon (Harris), Keirsey Climmons (Rashida). All the strippers in episode 2 are great. There is a lot to like, even if the brief synopsis does not immediately pull you in. If you like dark psychological thrillers with a dash of humor and pop-culture references, Swarm is for you. This isn’t necessarily a review, but I’ll go ahead and give it 4/5.

If you do not click inline links, I got you:

  • Tagline: A young woman’s obsession with a pop star takes a dark turn.
  • Release: March 17, 2023
  • Showrunner: Janine Nabors
  • Starz: Dominique Fishback
  • Platform: Amazon Prime
  • Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This content is available exclusively to members of Nicole's Patreon at $5 or more.

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