If you thought 50 Shades of Grey was hot, look no further for your next binge watching session than the new Netflix original show, Gypsy.
While Gypsy doesn’t want to admit it, the similarities between the new Netflix psychosexual drama and 50 Shades Of Grey are plain for all to see. After all, they share the same director, Sam Taylor-Johnson. Tyler-Johnson oversaw the first two episodes of Gypsy and executive produced its entire run as well as directed 2014’s 50 Shades Of Grey.
Gypsy was a much more satisfying experience for Sam Taylor Johnson, though, as she recently admitted that she was constantly at loggerheads with 50 Shades Of Grey author E.L. James over how to bring her tale to the big-screen. The result was a $571 million smash hit, but one that was anchored with negative reviews.
Both Sam Taylor Johnson and Lisa Rubin, the creator and writer of the series, are insistent that Gypsy and 50 Shades Of Grey are vastly different. During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Rubin recalled how managers originally just wanted her “to write, essentially, Fifty Shades Of Grey.” Gypsy was her response. In Gypsy, Naomi Watts plays Jean Holloway, a therapist confined by Connecticut suburbia, who starts to stalk and strike up relationships with the individuals with whom her patients are obsessed.
Despite Sam Taylor-Johnson and Lisa Rubin’s objections, you can’t help but feel as though Gypsy wouldn’t be on-screen without 50 Shades. In the same way that infamous movie introduced sadomasochistic to the mainstream, Gypsy presents sexual fluidity: The sexual awakening of Naomi Watts’ Jean is particularly striking, subversive and original. Jean’s plight echoes Mad Men’s Don Draper, and it is great to see a female character — who is expected to be ecstatic about her seemingly blissful life — being show in such a complex and ultimately flawed fashion.
Gypsy is far from perfect. Episodes are not without their slogging sections, and the show veers into the melodramatic a little too often. But the bold hand the Netflix original show uses on its characters, depictions of sex and take on femininity and intercourse makes Gypsy ultimately a way deeper experience than 50 Shades Of Grey — which is clearly something Taylor-Johnson and Rubin intended, even if they won’t admit it.
Gypsy is now available to watch on Neflix.
