Makeover Sequence

In The Curse, a couple's dreams of reality stardom become a nightmare.

- KATHRYN VANARENDONK

FROM THE START, The Curse appears to be the ideal vehicle for its creators' storytelling obsessions. Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie's Showtime drama stars Fielder and Emma Stone as Asher and Whitney Siegel, a couple desperate to sell their liberal-fantasy ecoconscious home-flipping scheme as a new series on HGTV, with Safdie playing their shameless producer, Dougie. The concept is packed with ideas to pull apart. Whitney and Asher know they look like white saviors who want to reshape the New Mexico city of Española in the image they (mostly Whitney) think is best. Whitney tells herself and everyone she meets that she's not like that. She knows about race and colonial history! She's not a slumlord like her parents! The thematic layers continue: In the style of Chip and Joanna Gaines, Whitney and Asher try to present their happy marriage as an ideal to strive for. Whitney's "passive" homes will support local businesses and turn Española into a haven for homeowners. The Curse then raises its already high-wire conceit: After Asher gives a young Black girl, Nala (Dahabo Ahmed), a $100 bill for the sake of good footage, then insists she give it back when the camera stops rolling, she appears to curse him. Asher is shaken. The whole world of the show opens up. How much of what comes next is paranoia? How much is supernatural?