To be disturbed by Netflix 'Breeders'

[Overhype]

With Martin Freeman. Is this bordering on abuse dressed up as acceptable parent burn out? It is supposed to be loosely based on Martin Freeman's own experiences? I'm sure it is exaggerated, but I an finding parts of it not funny at all. It just gets good, than an extreme "joke" is thrown in which is to me far too aggressive. I find Ally such a pathetic wet rag of a character, smiling and excusing her husband for his vile swearing rants at their children?
No parents is perfect, but there are certain parts of this that make me question how it even passed as a comedy. I'd imagine some parts of this would be triggering for some people who won't have a clue that they'll take it so far, and are expecting to see a comedic representation of "normal" patenting. It all seems to be excused by Paul saying he loves the kids, as if that cancels out his aggressive nature. When social services get involved it is passed off as being somehow over the top, when in actuality it isn't imo.

What do you think?

They are both the most annoying characters. I think they've tried to show parents are flawed and do things wrong etc, presumably to be relatable but his character is more than than, hes truly unlikeable and nasty, esp to Luke. And Ally is a drip too. I gave up with it. He's just horrible.

Couldn't watch past the first episode and have never been able to look at Martin Freeman in the same way since. Abusive behaviour dressed up as comedy.

I’m with you on this! I watched all of it to see if it would get better, and it sort of did - but I found the parents behaviours towards the children disgusting at times. I was shocked when I googled to see if the Internet agreed with me, and there was so much praise for how normal it all was. Never have I ever screamed savagely at my children, hurt them or threatened them. Screaming, swearing at, and being threatening are things I don’t think should be ‘normal’ for parents, they should be a sign to seek support. MF character never seems to really address his wrongdoing, just naturally mellows with age.

ETA I divorced my husband for this type of behaviour and was often given a head tilt and a bit of quizzical ‘it’s normal, though’ response from certain family members and acquaintances. Some people really do seem to accept aggressive and nasty behaviour towards their kids as men just being men!

Yes, and I couldn't get past the murdering "joke", and duvets etc. All of the swearing, and reprimanding the poor little boy for his genuine fears, at 7 years old. I fear some people will watch this, and think "oh my behaviour is not so bad" and excuse themselves because afterall it is passed off as comedy.
I liked the series "kids ruin everything", and was expecting a similar thing, but this made me say "Jesus" out loud. I don't know if they do a split screen if the child actors are there, it was awful even for them as they're so young!

I enjoyed it. It has a lot of that situational comedy build up British comedy is so good for. The bit with Martin Freeman in the hospital with his mum really cracked me up. Each to their own I suppose. I never understood the hype with the Royale Family or shameless but I know they were popular.

Felt exactly the same. I can't stand him now and yes, she was a wet rag in the face of it. He was awful to his son especially.

Its not a documentary?

Couldn't get past the first episode. Horrible bullying behaviour dressed up as parenting!

Yeah we watched series 1 & 2 but I can’t keep watching series 3. He’s so… argh what is the word?? Toxic! He’s just like FIL who were NC with.

Think I didn't watch past ep 1 of season 3 I felt exactly the same he was just abusive to the eldest child (can't remember his name). There was nothing funny about it I felt really uncomfortable hated both parents and couldn't believe it was presented as a comedy or normal.
Grim

Another here who couldn't watch past first episode! Awful!

I thought it was outstanding. Best thing I've seen in years. I binged it.

But, the character was horrific and definitely needed more therapy and I was appalled the way he told the daughter off at motorway services.

I laughed so hard when Ally asked if she could buy HRT on the dark web.

I'd imagine some parts of this would be triggering for some people who won't have a clue that they'll take it so far, and are expecting to see a comedic representation of "normal" patenting.

So all comedy has to be safe and "normal"? That's ridiculous. Comedy in particular has always pushed boundaries. Nobody has a right not to be offended, particularly when it's not actually being offensive against any group.

Oh wow I didn’t even know it’s meant to be a comedy! Will have a look at the Netflix categorisation.

No, it isn't that. For me it was dressed up as something it wasn't. Abuse passed off as comedy to me is never ever acceptable. Yes comedy is supposed to push boundaries, but imo certain parts of this crossed them. I have seen many many dark comedies, but this didn't sit right with. Thank you for your opinion, which is valid.

Exactly the same, I couldn’t watch a grown man shout and swear at children.

“It’s not a documentary” yes, this is true! Crucially, though, the way it was marketed and reviewed used words like ‘real’ ‘honest’ and ‘relatable’ and so did lots of the comments singing its praises.

It’s been sold to people as a real slice of life as a parent, somehow saying/showing what we all experience but can’t or won’t articulate. I’ve been seeing it billed as some sort of truth bomb that anyone with children should watch and enjoy because we all know kids are maddening little shits. Kids turn us into toxic bastards don’t they, haha!! It’s meant to be a dark comedy, but it’s mostly just quite sad.

@EverybodyLTB you have just articulated what I meant so much better! That is exactly what I felt was wrong. I expected along the lines of past series' with a similar theme. I didn't expect the sheer level of aggression shown towards kids, that we are supposedly meant to laugh at. The message conveyed here imo, is that this is acceptable, excusable behaviour for sleep deprived parents to engage in. It isn't. I am by no means a "perfect" parent but I did not relate at all to this, and found it disgusting. I am surprised it is being shown by Netflix tbh.

Surely lots of comedy shows have pretty abusive behaviors in them, but the point is those behaviours and characters are not rewarded, they hardly behave well in the inbetweeners

I honestly don't believe that the inbetweeners depicting an exaggerated form of teenage behaviour is a fair comparison at all. This is a grown out of control man shouting aggressively, fing and blinding at his young DCs, making reference to murdering and wrapping them in duvets while his wet rag of a wife looks on. I also don't find the behaviour on this show is being passed off as wrong, the show belittles it if anything, and normalises it. Take the social services incident as an example which is completely diminished.

I've just finished series 2 and I'm really enjoying it. The MF character is very unlikable and some of his behaviour is despicable. But that's the drama element of the show, not everyone has to be a shining example of humanity. Some of the other characters are fantastic, particularly Paul's parents and Ally's dad, who's played by the brilliant Michael Mckean.

I also think it's very funny at times but that humour doesn't come from the abusive nature of Paul's parenting. Nobody's asking you to laugh at a man screaming at his kids. The idea that anyone may use this as some kind of parenting handbook is ridiculous.

👏

I didn't particularly like it when it used to be on Sky. My ex husband used to love it. I saw that Freeman's character shared many traits with my exH. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We felt the same. I'm normally quite OK with a bit of dark comedy and I get it's not meant to be a parenting manual and I understand the idea of characters having flaws.

I found the few episodes I watched really uncomfortable viewing and it kept making me think of things we'd learned in safeguarding training.

I agree and stopped watching it!