Television review: Impeachment

I’ll let you in on a little trade secret: reviewing television for the JC usually involves a Jewish point of interest. Made by Jews, starring Jews, about Jews? I need Jews! And sometimes you even get all three, the holy grail. Oops, bad reference.

Impeached: American Crime Story may partly be about a prominently Jewish woman, Monica Lewinsky, who’s also one of the producers, and no Jewface is required in her excellent portrayal by Booksmart’s Beanie Feldstein, sister of Jonah Hill. Yet you would’ve thought ethnicity incidental to the real events and their recreation of a philandering American President, and how the Republicans sought to utilise that in their attempt to bring him down.

Then you arrive at the above scene. And it’s got me a bit baffled. It’s obviously deliberate. With so much attention to detail in capturing the looks and mannerisms of all the characters and their environment, nothing’s included without precision and intent. This may be schlock but it’s expertly made schlock. “What kind of name…” It’s like Bill Clinton’s never met a Jewish person before, never even heard of Jews. Surely he would’ve already known, or at least guessed Monica Lewinsky’s heritage? So what then, he just wanted her to say it, like some kind of identity foreplay? The result is certainly funny, as Beanie almost pants, “It’s Jewish.”

There’s a lot of funny moments, but this is definitely the first time I’ve ever seen Judaism on screen utilised as an aphrodisiac.

Assuming it did pretty much happen that way, I’m just not sure if something else is being alluded to. Were there those who did consider Lewinsky’s Jewishness playing a part in what happened? Is this a wind up on them? Later there’s a quick cutaway of a book ‘Oy Vey!’ that Lewinsky gives as a romantic gift. Did conspiracy theorists from both left and right somehow make that a factor? What role did antisemitism play in the the scale and type of abuse she received afterwards? Age, geography and interest mean an unfamiliarity with the particulars, and where it feels half the pleasure derives from the cleverness of the facsimile, not knowing the original picture means you’re missing out.

You also need to prepare yourself for having no one to root for. Lewinsky’s involvement behind the scenes may’ve just been a cynical bid from the programme makers for legitimacy, but it’s admirable that her complicity isn’t whitewashed. She comes across as spoilt, a bit bratty, and literally hunts Clinton down. But she’s young and naive, and really this is a show about exploitation. Not just by an older man, it’s particularly painful seeing Lewinsky being essentially groomed by supposed friend Linda Tripp. Pretty much everybody is just trying to get one over on everyone else. Maybe that makes for good TV, or maybe it’s just politics.